How to Learn from Experiences With an After Action Review

Sometimes, we need to learn things the hard way! We all make mistakes in life, that is how we learn and how we grow – the key is not making the same mistakes twice.  Let me take you back to something that happened to me back in 2011. It was a Saturday morning, and I was at the gym working out with my usual posse of friends before heading to a big college football game later that day.  It was near the end of my workout and I was doing abs with my good friend Jeff.  We were doing an exercise where one of you is doing sit-ups on a decline bench and the other is throwing a 15-lb medicine ball that you catch, do your sit-up and throwback.

Exactly like this:

When ‘it’ happened, I was the one standing and Jeff was the one on the bench. As I said, we all make mistakes, the key is to learn from our experiences, so we don’t make the same mistake twice.  I am happy to say that using a technique called an after action review, I have not made the same mistake since. What was the mistake I made, and how did I use an after action review to learn from it? You will have to wait until the end of this blog post to find out!

Before we get back to that hot Fall Miami day 7 years ago…

…let’s briefly introduce you to something that I have used in both my professional and personal life known as the after action review.  Most of us are not good at learning from our experiences, both in our personal lives and in business, as has been documented by many social scientists. However, one of the few organizations that does a phenomenal job of systematically learning from their experiences is the U.S. military. And back in the 1970’s, they created something called the…

After Action Review

Which is a professional discussion that is used to give feedback to soldiers and units on their mission and task performances – both in training and in combat.

There are two types of after action reviews: formal and informal. They are both conducted using the same format, both involve the exchange of ideas and observations, and both are focused on improving training efficiency. The main difference between the two is that formal after action reviews involve more resources, planning, preparation, coordination and personal.

What is the Objective of an After Action Review?

The main objective of conducting an after action review is to improve individual and team performance of the soldiers to meet or exceed expectations.  To do that, soldiers and their leaders need to know what happened (or didn’t happen) during their training events, why they did or didn’t happen, and how they can sustain their strengths and improve upon their weaknesses. By using after action reviews, leaders and units can increase their chances of getting maximum benefits from every training, mission or task.

Why Should I Use an After Action Review in My Life?

I will answer this question with a question.  What is the point of doing or experiencing something if you do not learn from it? By conducting an after action review, whether formally or informally, in a group or individually, it gives you a chance to take some time and think and reflect. It gives you time to reflect on what you wanted to happen, what actually did happen, what you learned from it, and finally what you can do in the future to either sustain your outcomes or make them better.

How to Conduct an After Action Review – Use It or Lose It

After action reviews that are used in the military involve 4 phases (planning, preparation, conducting, follow-up) and each phase consists of several steps. For our purposes, we are going to simplify things down to a 4-step questioning process that you can use individually or in groups – either at home or at work. If you think you would like to explore the exact steps and protocol used by the Army, you can check out the official document provided by the Headquarters of the Department of the Army which outlines AARs in detail here.

This 4-step questioning process is one that you can conduct individually, either in your head or by writing things down, or as part of a group (think your team at work or maybe your family).

The 4 questions, based on the after action review process used by the military, are as follows:

(1)  What was supposed to happen?
(2)  What actually happened?
(3)  What did I/we learn?
(4)  What are the actions/steps I/we can take either now or in the future to improve my/our outcome?

To give you a bit more guidance, the after action review guide provided by the military also provides some excellent…

Guidelines and Key Points to Remember…

When conducting an after action review, which obviously is dependent on whether you are doing it solo or as a group exercise:

  Conduct the after action review either during or right after the event/situation – so things are still fresh in your mind.
  Involve all participants in the discussion.
  Ask open-ended questions.
  Look at both strengths and weaknesses.
  The spirit of the discussion is key! Keep it positive, open and honest. The idea is not to blame or criticize, but to learn and improve!
  Make sure to link it to further actions and improvements – identify what you can improve, either fix the problem ASAP or revise how you will do things in the future to either sustain/improve a current practice or create a new one.

You are probably wondering about some places in your life that you can use an after action review, no worries, I got your back.

When to Use It:

Some of the ways you can use after action reviews in your life are:

Individually:

  To learn from your action/experiences: Any time where you have set out to do something in your life.
  When mentoring or coaching someone.
  If someone is sharing an experience/event with you.
  After a job interview, date, meeting, visit.

As a Group:

  During or after a meeting.
  When teaching things to your kids/family.
  At the end of a project, conference, event.

Back to My Story…

So, as I was tossing the 15-lb medicine ball to my buddy Jeff, a cute blonde girl came up and started talking to me. I kept throwing the ball to Jeff while talking to her, then all-of-a-sudden she accidentally knocked over a water bottle and it hit my foot. Without thinking, I looked down to see what it was and BOOM! I got a 15-lb medicine ball in the eye and within 10 minutes was sporting one of these:

Yup, I got a black eye. Both Jeff and the girl felt bad, but it was neither of their faults as the blame solely rested with me. After seeing stars for a couple of minutes and quickly putting some ice on my face, it was time for me to ensure that it never happened again by doing a quick informal after action review in my head.  I used the 4 questions from above, and it looked something like this:

(1)  What was supposed to happen?

I was supposed to catch the ball and throw it back to Jeff, so he could work his abs.

(2)  What actually happened?

I let myself get distracted and got a ball in the face! Jeff had a less than optimal ab workout and the cute girl felt bad.

(3)  What did I learn?

Don’t let yourself get distracted!

(4)  What are the actions I can take either now or in the future to improve my outcome?

Make sure to always keep your eye on the ball!

A few hours later, we met up with my Dad who was in town for the game and seeing as how I was wearing sunglasses on a cloudy day, he asked what was up. I lifted my glasses and said, ‘I took my eye off the ball’.

He smiled and said, ‘I bet you won’t do that again.’

‘Nope’, I replied.  Thanks to using an after action review, that is one mistake I won’t be ever making again.

You may be wondering what happened with the cute blonde girl…

Well, I learned long ago from a good friend’s after action review that real gentlemen don’t kiss and tell.

Until next time, blondes have more fun, keep asking ‘what did I learn?’ and as always…PYMFP!
–Rick

What Do You Think?

Have you ever used an after action review in your life or something similar? What situations can you see yourself using it in the future? Please share in the comments below!

If you enjoyed this post, it would mean the world to us if you shared it with people you care about via any of the social media platforms below!

Popular Previous Posts:

This is How to Use Systems Thinking to Improve Your Life
69 Ideas to Recharge Your Batteries to Full Power!
This is How to Break Bad Habits By Untangling Them
18 Popular Sayings and Quotes That Make No Sense (to Me!)
3 Strategies That Will Show You How to Build Resilience

References

Training Circular 25-20 – A LEADER’S GUIDE TO AFTER-ACTION REVIEWS – HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY – Washington, DC, 30 September 1993

http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/aars-intro