“More than a casual conversation to discuss what did and didn’t go well, debriefing digs into why things happened and explores implications for the future.”
Debriefs aren't new.
In fact, they have been in existence in the military for decades.
Known as “after-action reviews”, or the unfortunate moniker “post mortem”, they have been essential in reviewing successes and failures of missions and critical actions for years.
They are used by sports teams, athletes, product design sprint teams, start-ups, software development teams, and individuals seeking to learn from personal and professional experiences to better themselves.
At its most simple, a debrief is a consideration of what worked, what didn’t, and what to do about it.
As CEO of your own business, it’s an important part of your weekly cadence, and a habit to instil for better performance and results
The CEO Debrief is a self review process that leads to performance acceleration
It’s meant to move the ball forward week after week after week by focusing on your wins, what’s working, and what’s your next best step.
The best part?
It’s cheap (no cost, in fact, other than time), it’s effective (as we will see later), and there are no barriers to entry.
So why don’t all teams, leaders and businesses do it?
Simply because they don’t know how.
“The reason debriefing isn’t practised more often in organizations is that leaders simply don’t know how to do it and those that try their hand at it don’t have the simple structure and basic training to capitalize on its full value”
A DEBRIEF IS CRITICAL FOR GROWTH, RESILIENCE, INNOVATION AND AGILE PERFORMANCE, AND CAN TAKE AS LITTLE AS 30 MINUTES A WEEK.
Which, to my mind, makes it a no brainer.
Key Takeaways:
A CEO Debrief helps us to identify what’s working and what’s not working
Debriefs have historical roots in the military
Debriefs have no barriers to entry, but yield big results.