Debriefing a mission is standard practice for people in the military. Debriefing some of the things we do at work and in life can give a lot of benefits - time for reflection, celebration, learning and enhancement. You can debrief anything, from a hard conversation to a long and complex transaction.
I learnt this framework for debriefing from my friends and mentors Liam Forde and Sarah Friis. It's very simple but effective, and revolves around three questions:
- what went well
- what didn't go so well
- what could be done differently next time.
Depending on the situation, the debrief might best be dealt with at a personal level – what do I do well, what didn't I do so well, what could I do better next time.
If there are two or three of you debriefing, you can run it by answering those three questions yourself. You can then have the other people answer the questions about you as well, so you get instant and valuable feedback. If there was no-one else there with whom you can de-brief, like a debrief for a hard conversation, you can still grab someone and say 'let me do a debrief with you'. You can then (respecting the confidentiality of the other party to the hard conversation) ask yourself the three questions while the other person listens. Last resort is to do it in writing – I often debrief in my daily journal.
If the mood takes you, there are two further questions you can ask to get some positive closure on the issue you are debriefing:
- what do I congratulate myself for from the situation
- how am I going to celebrate.
I have found this to be a very powerful process. It can take some discipline, and sometimes you have to push people if you are using the personal variant of the first question – what I did well – although they usually have no trouble with the other two. Taking positive reinforcement from the debrief is a valuable component. So if you really want to capture all the learnings and benefits out of any situation, do a debrief.
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