There is amazing value in debriefing. Occasionally, and usually, when things go wrong, we look to debriefing as a way to understand what we could’ve done better. That’s certainly a good use for debriefing, but what is the best use? I would say that trying to understand mistakes and errors is not the best use. The greatest benefit of debriefing is understanding what went right and making that a habit, will have a greater incremental impact on the business.
For a moment let’s just consider some of the benefits that would come if we were to implement immediately a practice of debriefing daily to discuss everything that went well and understand the why the who, the how and the when, etc. To understand how all of that success became possible. What would happen to your organization after a week after a month after a year following this behavior?
- Would your people feel more recognized and appreciated? Many organizations struggle with recognizing the right people and doing so with enough frequency. How many leaders have intended to say something in order to recognize exceptional work only to forget or do so way after the accomplishment in question? A daily de-brief would allow you to recognize and praise the person immediately and in front of a group of peers, it doesn't get much better than that.
- Will morale and sentiment improve? When you are always focused on fixing problems people can start to think that the company is pretty bad. It is easy for leaders to sound too critical and too negative and the culture will reflect these emotions in some fashion. A daily debrief allows us to hear every day what went right and after a short time we will feel more positive about the organization, how could we not?
- Would we get a more accurate benchmark on performance? All companies have people that are good at managing up, people that are a little deceptive about their daily activities, and those who appear to perform but we might wonder if they really do. The daily debrief will easily separate the wheat from the chaff and business leaders will quickly get a clear understanding of who is really pulling their weight and getting things done that matter.
- Would we establish a true cadence for accountability? Everywhere leaders try to ensure they hold their people accountable and that usually leads to some form of micro-management, it's all we know how to do. However the daily debrief eliminates the need to do that. Management will quickly learn who is holding themselves accountable and getting things done and what is more because it is developed with this positive approach it never feels like micro managing. Coaching opportunities will be identified, as will opportunities to dig in one on one to learn more, but it will all begin through a positive exchange.
- What would happen to our team relationships? Surely we would see this improve. And across the organization, we would notice a marked improvement in our culture. We all know what happens when we start to appreciate our employees and when our employees begin to see each other as friends, tighter relationships are connected to improved productivity and efficiency, something all companies are striving for.
Just to clarify what the daily debrief might look like - we are not describing an hour-long in-person meeting. This would be a brief conference call or zoom meeting, people could call in or sign in from home or even on their commute. Everyone would share their big wins from the day and people would be allowed to comment, praise, or ask questions to learn. Depending on the size of your team this could be as short as five minutes. What a fantastic use of time! So why not try it, and please let me know how it goes.
