Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
I’ve mentioned before that I’m a big fan of debriefs. Whether you conduct them on an individual, team, or organizational basis, debriefs can enhance performance. And debriefs aren’t just for big projects. For example, recruiters and hiring managers might want to debrief after they hire someone. The question becomes what’s a good debrief tool?
For a long time, I’ve used a two question debrief:
- What did we do well? Start with this question. It’s easy to go straight to all the things that went wrong. Take a moment to celebrate your successes – because you had them.
- What could we do differently next time? Please note: I didn’t say what went wrong. It’s possible that there are just different things you’d like to try next time.
Recently, I was reading my Hobonichi newsletter and the author talked about using a goal-setting tool called KPT. It’s an acronym that stands for keep, problem, try. As I was reading the article, it made me think that KPT could be a great debrief tool as well.
- KEEP – What are those things that worked well, and we need to keep doing? You know that everything was not a disaster. So, identify those things that you want to keep for the future.
- PROBLEM – Yes, there might have been problems or challenges along the way. Now is the time to make note of them so they don’t happen again.
- TRY – Finally, what things do we want to try in the future? Maybe there’s something on the “keep” list that we want to enhance. OR possibly there’s something on the “problem” list that we have an idea on how to fix it.
The thing that I liked about the KPT approach is the “try” component. There are always things we want to keep doing and stop doing which is the reason that the “try” list becomes so important. It helps us to set goals (as the author of the Hobonichi article mentioned) but it does it in the context of current performance. The “keep” and “problem” lists help us acknowledge current performance. The “try” list pushes us to get better.
I could see KPT being a visually appealing way to do a debrief, especially with remote teams. There could be three lists: Keep – Problem – Try. Participants could add their comments to each list. Then the list would be discussed. In fact, maybe when a project starts, the project team could create a Keep – Problem – Try list and people could add / edit / subtract from it as the project goes along. That could be fascinating from the standpoint of things that start out being problems but become keepers (or vice versa).
The important takeaway is to find a method for doing debriefs. Because they’re important for achieving high performance. Train employees on how to do a debrief – for themselves and for the teams that they’re on. To me, debriefs are part of what Dr. Peter Senge calls a learning organization. People, teams, and organizations learn from the activities they do and debrief.
Organizations that are striving to improve performance – and we all know they are – should examine their debrief process. Are people using it? If they are, is it working the way it should? Could we make some adjustments to get better results? These are all questions worth asking.
Image captured by Sharlyn Lauby at the SHRM Talent Conference in Orlando, FL
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