The amount of projects that we all have at work has
increased. Let’s face it. We’re working with
fewer people in our department, but the demand or expectations of our
assignments has not changed. We have to
think about how we work and balance our time because this is our reality.
I’m often asked what could I have done differently to
resolve this problem? Sometimes I have
an answer right away. Other times I think my plan was solid and I can’t think
of another way to handle the situation. It’s
critical that teams have time to reflect or debrief after projects. During this time, teams are able to review
the lessons learned, recognize what didn’t work, and decide how to improve their
situation.
There’s an art to debriefing that’s just as important as taking the time to debrief. You have to
remove the supervisors, managers, or anyone that influences pay, raises, or
employment. If you want honest feedback,
your team has to be comfortable talking about the issues. All of the feedback gathered must be anonymous. Again it’s about honest feedback and
improving the process. Gather all of the feedback and allow the team to talk
through the feedback. During the debriefing, you will be surprised on some of
the creative ideas or improvements the team can come up with to resolve
projects. The information you obtain can
be used an applied to the next project.
It’s very important to apply debriefing suggestions to the next
project. When your team sees you
implementing ideas, they will be more vested in creating a work environment
that no only just gets their work done, but works smarter.
Do you allow time for your team to debrief? How do you handle debriefing meeting? Are willing to start debriefing?
You know, it's unfortunate that we often feel intimadated to debrief freely and provide feedback to one another -unless we are on an equal playing field. I have worked to create an environment where the people who answer to me feel comfortable to make suggestions and share without the constant fear of saying something "dumb". However, just today during an evaluation meeting, I could sense the hesitation from an employee who is usually very confident and outspoken. It takes a tremendous amount of work and depends upon the culture of the work place. There are studies about whether the leader influences the culture, or vice-versa. Even the thought that collegues need to be annonymous is sad but perhaps true. Trust is a major concern at work. I could tell today that I am still not trusted -and I guess it remains to be seen whether I am trustworthy.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the thought...