Lock in the Learning

The challenging days are almost certainly not behind us, but now is a great time to capitalise on what you've learned in the past few weeks.

If you haven’t noticed, we are in the midst of the learning opportunity of the century right now. Notwithstanding this learning opportunity has caused mass unemployment and is challenging the very way we conduct business across the world, this is the crucible in which the leaders of tomorrow will see as the formative days that tested us.

It’s no secret that adversity is the best teacher of all – much of 20th century management thinking found its origins in the lessons from World War 2 – but what is less well done is actually learning in the midst of the challenge.

(I am deliberately not using the word crisis. No has ever leader ever led out of a challenging situation by calling it a crisis.)

So, while we are still very much in the early days of COVID-19, we are also at the first point where most leaders are able to finally stick their heads up, take a (socially distanced) breath and look around. Teams are in routines working at home, operations managers have experimented with their rosters and found ways of keeping teams socially distanced and productive (no mean feat) and there is, in many countries a sense of routine.

This is, therefore, the best time to start to reflect on what we learned during the first phase of COVID-19. While some of us may have adopted a daily reflective habit, to capture learning, personal insights and memories, the chances are that this is not happening in a systematic way across business, so there is a huge risk that the lessons so hard-won in the past 6 weeks may be lost to the fallible memory of leaders.

If you haven’t stopped to reflect on how you’ve survived the last few weeks, you need to STOP and do it now. The longer you leave it the harder it gets!

What we are talking about here is known in the military and elite sport as an After Action Review, and they conduct them with an understandable fervour – but the impact of pausing to review your actions is much wider than special forces teams.

So what’s in a good review? It’s not rocket science, but there are a few key things that will really help you get the most out of your time:

1.      NO Blame. Even in the supercharged emotions on fast-changing operations, the best teams resist the urge to blame anyone for what happened. Making this clear upfront will help you to create the necessary psychological safety to critically examine what happened.

2.      Stop/Start/Keep. This is the KISS Principle in action (Keep It Simple Stupid). Focus on categorising actions into three groups: What did we do that we could/should have not done (Stop); What did we not do that we could/should have (start); What did we do that we want to keep doing in the future (Keep)? 

3.      “What led to that decision?” This question is aimed at the “Stop” actions – things you don’t want to do again. It is always helpful to understand why a particular decision was made; was there insufficient information? Was it based on an unhelpful belief or cognitive bias? Did the situation change so rapidly that you were overtaken by circumstances? Whatever the reason, it’s always important to understand why things didn’t work out. (Notably, I’m not a fan of the 5 Why’s method – the why question can badly damage psychological safety to the point that the method can feel like an inquisition.)

4.      Future focussed. Remember that the purpose of this activity is create learning, so keep a future focus. If the discussion starts to bog down in the past too much, keep an eye on how this will help us in the next situation.

5.      Identify and celebrate wins. Where things have gone well it is really useful to identify and publicly celebrate them (as appropriate). In situations like COVID-19 you will likely have seen individuals rise up and perform way beyond expectations. Celebrate them!

6.      Do something with the data. The best AAR is a complete waste if you don’t do anything with the data. Who needs to know about your conclusions? How will you share them? What’s the best way to communicate them to the people who need to know about it? And remember, acknowledging that things didn’t always work out is as important as building confidence that ‘we’ve got this’. 

The coming weeks are a critical phase of this event; it is the opportunity to set up habits for reflection and learning that will become the stories about which the next generation of leaders speak. So, get to it – take some time to pause and reflect on how things have gone for you, your team and your business. Don’t let the opportunity pass you by.