What Is the Definition of the Term After Action Review

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After Action Review (AAR) Procedure

Learning From Your Actions Sooner Rather Than Later

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You finish a project, and then you study information technology to determine what happened.

A typical project review is done "postal service-mortem" – after the fact, and well past any opportunity to alter the outcome.

Yous stop a projection, and then you lot study it to determine what happened. From there, you decide which processes to keep and what yous'll exercise differently next time.

That may help the side by side project – just it's too late for the project yous've just finished: you may have used too much time and too many resource in the project being reviewed, and you lot could have avoided some of this if you'd done a review part of the style through.

Wouldn't it be better to evaluate along the way – so that you can capture lessons learned afterwards each milestone, and ameliorate performance immediately?

Organizations of all types, across all industries, could benefit from an ongoing review process. The Later on Activeness Review (AAR) process was developed by the war machine as a way for everyone to learn quickly from soldiers' experiences in the field.

With this system, critical lessons and knowledge are transferred immediately to get the most benefit. The "field unit" has an opportunity to talk about what happened, and other teams can then use this experience right away. In this mode, the functioning of the whole organization improves in a timely fashion.

Benefits of an AAR

AARs provide an opportunity to assess what happened and why. They are learning-focused discussions that are designed to help the team and the arrangement's leaders discover what to do differently. For example, when conducting arrangement-broad training, yous might complete an AAR afterwards the starting time training session to clarify what to do improve in the next session. Or, if you're changing your manufacturing process, yous could do an AAR later on completing the first 100 units, instead of finishing the unabridged run.

Depending on the nature and size of a project, you may actually do the AAR later completion. The common cistron is applying the AAR process to all recurring, or repeating, events and activities, equally well as those that pose a challenge. The AAR approach supports a continuous learning culture – and the want to discover and utilize all-time practices and innovative approaches.

It's of import to note that AARs aren't limited only to large or formal projects. You lot can use them after staff meetings or regular operational functions, like month-finish accounting. Besides, when a prophylactic incident occurs, an AAR can reveal of import lessons.

An added benefit of the After Activity Review procedure is improved communication and feedback within teams themselves. Because the focus is on learning instead of blaming, the process itself leads to improved understanding of team operation, and helps people think about how best to work together to produce better results.

The AAR process is related to the Deming Cycle, or Plan-Do-Cheque-Human action (PDCA), and it'southward a great addition to whatever continuous improvement initiative. The Deming Cycle is a broader approach to solving problems and managing change. AAR is a useful tool that works with PDCA, but they're not substitutes for ane another.

Conducting an Afterward Action Review

An AAR is a structured meeting that does the following:

• Focuses on why things happened.
• Compares intended results with what was actually accomplished.
• Encourages participation.
• Emphasizes trust and the value of feedback.

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For the AAR process to be successful, the team needs to discover for itself the lessons provided past the experience. The more open up and honest the discussion, the improve. Here are some of the key elements of an effective AAR:

• Discuss the purpose and rules – The AAR does not seek to criticize negatively, or find mistake. The accent should be on learning, so brand this clear right from the outset to reach maximum involvement, openness, and honesty.
• Encourage agile participation – When setting the rules, talk about trust. Emphasize that information technology'due south OK to disagree and that blame isn't part of the discussion. Personal attacks must be stopped immediately. Setting the right tone for an AAR is extremely of import.
• Utilize a facilitator – A neutral party helps focus the give-and-take. This person asks questions and tin often atomic number 82 the discussion in such a way that information technology remains nonjudgmental.
• Talk almost Squad performance – The AAR is not near private functioning. Look at how the team performed, and don't assign blame.
• Conduct the AAR every bit soon equally possible – For feedback to be effective, it should be timely. Past doing an AAR speedily, you'll get a more authentic description of what happened. It also helps ensure that all (or almost) of the team tin can participate.

• Focus the discussion with good questioning – If you ask, "How do yous retrieve that went?" this tin can exist as well broad a topic to discuss. Instead, directly participants to remember almost specific issues or areas: "How well did you cooperate?" "How could communication take been better?" "What planning activities were nearly effective?"

  Word questions typically centre around 3 themes:

  1. What was supposed to happen? What did happen? Why was there a divergence?
  2. What worked? What didn't work? Why?
  3. What would you practise differently next time?

  Start past getting participants to concord on what was supposed to happen. If the original objectives were unclear, then it's unlikely that the project or activity was very successful. In one case you have agreement, you lot can discuss actual versus intended results. Yous may need to return to the objectives as you lot motility on to what worked and what you would do differently.

  Remember to enquire open questions, so that participants don't think that there's a "right" or "incorrect" answer:

  • What would you accept preferred to happen?
  • What would yous do differently next time?
  • How could the state of affairs have been prevented?
  • In your stance, what is the ideal procedure?

  Sometimes it's helpful to have participants each write down their ideas, and then ask everyone to share. This helps you avoid groupthink, and it allows quieter individuals to contribute.

  Write the key discussion questions on a whiteboard or flipchart. This helps participants focus on the main purpose of the coming together.

• Let the team talk – This is an do in good communication, not just feedback and continuous learning. The improve the squad members communicate with one another and work out differences, the stronger they'll be in the hereafter – as both individuals and team players.
• Record the recommendations – Write downwards the specific recommendations made by the team. Then forrard this information to other team leaders and stakeholders. This is how AARs contribute to organization-wide learning and improvement.
• Provide follow-up and training – If no one follows up on the recommendations, then fourth dimension spent on the process is wasted. Create a system to ensure that the ideas gathered in the AAR are incorporated into operations and training activities.

Key Points

Afterwards Action Reviews provide an effective approach for capturing lessons learned from activities and projects.

Rather than waiting until the stop of a long project to evaluate how well the team did, AARs incorporate continuous learning right from the start. They're also dandy for ensuring that the lessons learned from one projection or team are shared with the residuum of the organisation, with a view to improving overall performance.

Continuous improvement helps u.s.a. handle the changes that are happening effectually u.s.a.. AARs help us go along open a steady dialogue about learning and improvement. They as well allow organizations to larn and adapt, and so that they can keep upwardly with – and stay alee of – modify.

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Source: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newPPM_73.htm

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