I’m sitting in the passenger seat, admiring the blue sky as my husband drives down the highway. We are en route to our first vacation as a family of four. My children are safely in their car seats. We leave the house 15 minutes early and more smoothly than we expected. I feel calm and excited. I turn to my husband and ask, “Want to do an after-action review for success?”
I start a simple, structured conversation. First question: What did we set out to do? Answer: Pack our car and start driving on a Friday morning. Second question: What happened? Answer: We left 15 minutes early, and everyone felt calm. It only took us a few moments to align on factual answers to the first two questions.
Then we move on to the third and fourth questions to contribute our unique perspectives. How did it happen, and what can we learn from this? We spend a few minutes talking about our vacation preparations and what we might do differently next time. Feeling connected and accomplished, I turn on the radio and enter “vacation mode.”
I share this example to highlight the simplicity and utility of an after-action review, or AAR. AARs originated in the U.S. Army in the 1970s to help soldiers learn from past events and improve future performance. The business world has adopted this practice too, including companies ranging from Chevron to Etsy. When I first started using AARs, I was surprised by how refreshing the dialogue felt. Here are some ways to make AARs powerful and effective.
Learning potential
Successful organizations are always learning and improving. Many employees aspire to learn from prior work and recommend changes for future assignments yet struggle to implement measurable change. It is common to see organizations attempt to create time for their employees to learn. AARs are wonderful because they are not time-consuming. They typically take about 30 minutes to an hour to complete, and they do not require prework by participants. In my vacation example, my husband and I spent less than 10 minutes reflecting on the AAR questions.
The AAR format is simple and accessible to all members of an organization. The four questions provide enough structure to guide a conversation without overpowering it. This allows participants to focus on details that matter most to them. Since the four questions are always the same, with practice anyone in an organization can be empowered to initiate an AAR without a formal management request. I have discovered that the most useful AARs have occurred spontaneously by those employees performing the work.
The output of an AAR is usually a written summary of how an event happened and what was identified for the future. Responses are typically recorded in a text document, which can be saved as a PDF file to keep the record intact, and later distributed to participants and managers.
Some situations in which I’ve used an AAR include the completion of a project milestone, a successful audit preparation, the implementation of a new technology such as equipment or software, and after operational upset (i.e., something did not go as planned).
The four questions
Before starting the AAR, designate someone to serve as the facilitator. The role of the facilitator is to guide participants to answer the four questions:
- What did we set out to do?
- What actually happened?
- How did it happen?
- What can we learn from this?
It is important that the facilitator establishes psychological safety among the participants. This means making sure that all participants feel they can contribute their point of view without fear of retribution. At the start of the AAR session, the facilitator should remind participants that the purpose of the AAR is to learn rather than blame. For virtual meetings, it is a best practice to have participants turn on their cameras.
Here are some other fundamental elements that make an AAR successful:
- Schedule the AAR soon after the work is finished.
- Invite the people who participated in the work, not the managers. In the presence of managers — even among those who are the most supportive — participants often sanitize the information they share, which stunts opportunities for learning. You can share a summary with managers after the AAR.
- Ensure the necessary cross-functional participants are available. If you start an AAR and realize you are missing some contributors, pause the process and reschedule.
- Follow the sequence of the four AAR questions. Spend most of the allotted time on questions three and four.
- Write down what people share as they say it. Make the words visible to all participants so they can follow along. If you find it challenging to simultaneously facilitate a conversation and take notes, delegate a colleague to scribe for you.
Recommendations
Some AARs I have been part of have been less effective than they could be. A common pitfall is inviting too many participants, which prevents the people most active in the work from having enough time to contribute. Another mistake is conducting an AAR weeks or months after the work occurred; enthusiasm and memory fade with time.
An AAR is an invaluable way to learn from work. If you are ready to begin, I recommend introducing the concept to your leader and practicing by conducting AARs within your team first. This will help you gain confidence as a facilitator and demonstrate the value of setting aside time to learn.
It is also important to celebrate the AAR. Each time you bring people together for an AAR, use the opportunity to thank them and acknowledge their contributions.
