We often spend time identifying and setting goals (New Year Resolutions), identifying areas of our lives we wish to improve but tend to forget about reviewing the journey we have been on over the last 12 months.
"What's the point? It's history, in the past; I'm looking to the future now"
For me there are two very good reasons to review:
- Recognise the successes you've had and celebrate them
- Learn from the past to improve your chances of a more successful future
AAR's actually came from the military and were a way of learning from peoples experience and sharing the knowledge with others. So after a mission the commanders would sit down and review what was meant to happen, what actually occured and what they would do differently if they were to repeat the mission (learnings!).This would then be shared across other relevant military units.
The AAR format is a very simple technique to use for any kind of review, be it a project review; change implementation; coaching conversation, military exercises or reviewing progress against goals!
So what's the process............
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| What went well? |
Start by identifying what went well - the positives. What things did you do that worked? Often this is not as easy as it looks as people naturaly tend to focus on the negatives or the things they would change. Steer away from this for now and focus time and effort in understanding the positives.
Identifying successes is important for morale and reminding us why we do what we do but it also allows us to identify and carry on doing the things that work for us.
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| What didn't go so well? |
The second step (and usually the easier step!) is identifying what didnt work so well. There is often a long list of things that didn't work or even things that did work but could have been better - capture them all.
This is the bit we are usually good at and the important thing here is not to dwell on the failures or short comings but instead capture them so they can be used to learn from.
It's not about blame, life always provides us with 'opportunities' to overcome (!) so there are always things we can improve upon.
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| What would I do differently? |
The third part is then asking yourself what you would do differently if you had to do it all over again. This part should include the learnings from what didn't work but also from what did work.
Here you can map out your blue print for success.
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| Who do I share this with? |
Finally who do you need to share this information with, who would benefit from this knowledge? Knowledge Management is an important but often overlooked activity. Rarely is success achieved on our own, often we need the help and support of others. Sharing your learnings is a great way to ensure others can benefit from your experiences and avoid making some of the mistakes you made. (How often have you heard someone say "oh yeah I did that and it didn't work for me either" - if only they'd have shared)
AAR's don't need to be formal, 'group in a room' sessions, they can just as easily be a quick 5 minute review at the end of a meeting. Often I quickly perform them at the end of a training session on a flip chart. For more complex reviews it's always good to get as many of the people who were involved so that you get a broader input and perspective.
If you need a simple template to help you with an AAR then CLICK HERE to get a simple Word template to use.
So back to Christmas. Before you start thinking about next years goals take some time out to perform an AAR of the last 12 months and your progress against this years goals. Celebrate your successes and carry on doing what works. Identify what didn't work and learn from it so that 2013 has a much better chance of being the year you achieve all your goals.
Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year to All
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