In Retrospect

Happy New Year to all my newsletter readers!

An important part of any continuous improvement system is performing retrospectives. To find opportunities we need to step back and take stock of what went well, what could go better, and what needs to change for the next time around. Just like the earth circling the sun, there is always a next time. Retrospective gives us a chance to improve for the next time. Let’s explore some important practices for retrospective.?

First, I think it is important to note that retrospectives should happen at different time intervals and at all levels of the company. We need yearly retrospectives and weekly retrospectives. Frequent retrospectives help us explore our near term actions and near term results. We can react quickly to the problems we find in weekly or daily retrospectives and make quick adjustments. Less frequent retrospectives are important too. We use these to check our long range actions, budgets, resources, and the big bets that we made. Did those things come to fruition? If yes, great! If not, then what did we learn? Too often we like to sweep the big bets under the rug when they do not work out. It is a terrible thing to do and a missed opportunity. These big decisions consumed a lot of time and effort. If it did not work out, I want to understand why, especially before I make my next big bet. As a result, I may learn something that can be turned into a competitive advantage. For me personally, I do a formal retrospective once a week on Fridays. I create tasks for the next week based on what I learned. I also do a yearly retrospective in December. This consists of looking more globally at the business and the outcomes of the year. I use this to build my goals for the following year.?

Second, a retrospective requires deep thought. I can always tell if this is the first time a team has done a retrospective because I typically hear, “Everything is going fine.” The assessment of “fine” is a surface level thought. Imagine a flat surface. You run your fingers across it and it is smooth; it is just fine. But what will you find with a magnifying glass? Perhaps you will discover some cracks and grooves in the surface. What does the surface look like under an electron microscope? Being thoughtful and looking deeply exposes more opportunities for improvement. It requires that we slow down to explore. It also requires that we inspect without judgment. It takes more effort but this is the only way that a retrospective is worth the time that you need to commit. My retrospectives are journaled. This forces me to think about the words to use to describe what happened. It forces me to be honest with myself. I always reread my journal entries and it never fails that I realize I missed something. I use what I learned as I start the next week.?

Lastly, retrospective requires selflessness. We have to admit fault if we are to learn anything for the next go-round. This is why a retrospective without judgment is important. If we are protective of our self-image or our ego we fail to find useful opportunities for improvement. We will stay at the surface level and fail to learn anything. I always say, “be hard on the process and easy on the people,” but I will often be hard on myself in order to gain that deep introspective learning. In team sessions I start the retrospective off with my own mistakes. This softens up the group and makes it “okay” to find faults with ourselves and each other. We are all human!

A good retrospective puts into perspective all that was accomplished and all that we did to achieve our goals. It provides a sense of gratefulness for the things that went well. It also provides an opportunity for us to recognize and thank those individuals that made it all possible. With that in mind, I always like to start the year with some thank yous.

Thank you to everyone that helped Chalmers St. serve clients this year:

Jennifer Kroll, Mir Ateeb Ali, Mike Shannon, Vaishnavi Padala, Logan Biddle, Alpine Supply Chain, Worx Solutions, D&C Professional Services, Clear Simple Business, EPS Zone, Training Within Industries Institute, Quality BMS, On Purpose Growth

And to all of our customers that did business with us this year:

Kurita America, Valid USA, Netcom, IT Supplies, Chime Financial, Johnson Controls, DeSpir Logistics

Thank you all and have a fruitful 2022!