How to Prepare People for Future Work and Keep Them Involved

When we finish a job, we would like to leave people better prepared to be involved and involve others in the future, whether it is similar work or something completely different. It can take time and energy to do this. At the end of the work, it might seem easy to think we don't need to invest any more in reviewing what we did. In fact, we might want to avoid going over the difficulties.

Next time we come to do something, we may wish we had captured the lessons and noted ideas for the future. And by then it might be too late. People will have moved on, forgotten a lot of what happened. Lessons will be lost forever.

Building in time at the end for reflection and learning can be invaluable. It can help you with answers about effectively involving people. It can help you improve your individual ability to contribute. Collective reflection can help a whole team learn how to work together better and improve their products and services.

Reflection and learning needs a deliberate decision to take a step back and look at the connections and patterns in what we have done. When we reflect, we slow down our thinking and consider what we did and why. We notice what assumptions we made about other people. We consider how we reacted to what they did.

People can do this individually. It can be part of the final gathering. It can be written up as a report.

The U.S. Army has developed a disciplined method for doing this; they call it the After Action Review (AAR). After any combat mission or exercise, all the observers and participants gather to share and compare their versions of what happened and identify potential operational improvements.

To start preparing for future work, think about your own effective involvement. If you were the leader, take the time now to look back on the entire process. Think about the people you invited to join you; the way people responded to your invitation; the commitment generated during the planning work; the way involvement grew and developed as the work was done.

Learn something about yourself. Think back to your experience of the project. When were you energized and excited? What was happening at those times? What created the climate for you to feel that way? The answers to these questions can tell you a lot about what you value, how you like to work, and the kind of environment that makes you productive and satisfied.

Here are some of the questions we find useful when reflecting on our work:

• What did we plan for? How did what happened differ from our plans?

• Did we achieve our goals? What else did we achieve that we didn't anticipate?

• Why do we think things developed the way they did?

• What do we remember as the key events?

• What assumptions did we make about ourselves and about other people? How did those assumptions prove to be accurate or inaccurate?

• What have we learned as a result of this project?

You can organize your answers to these questions by using the Reflection Tool

What did we plan for?

What happened?

Why did it happen?

What were the key events?

What assumptions did we make?

What have we learned?

Have everybody reflect on the same questions. As you and your team members consider these questions, you will build up a collection of fascinating stories about the meaning of the project. Although the stories will have many similarities, they will have differences as well. No two people will remember the events of the project in exactly the same way. That's fine, of course.

One thing we can be sure of. Everyone will have experienced things differently. They will have made different assumptions and reacted to different things. Sharing these at the end of working together can be very powerful. As we publicly share these assumptions and beliefs we learn a lot about ourselves. We also create a common understanding of what makes things work and what gets in the way. We create the opportunity to be better at involving others in the future.

You may want to capture your lessons in a final report, with credits to all involved. The next time your organization launches a project, the leaders will want to study your report and build on the insights it offers.

Don't be too hard on anyone (including yourself) when developing a final report. If you're a perfectionist, you play an important role in your group: You set high standards and push people to achieve them. But be a realist, too. Expect some glitches in any work, and don't beat people up too much about them.

Avoid blame. Someone once said to Julie after she was involved with something that went badly, "You are not to blame, but you are responsible for your own contribution." It sounded a little crazy at the time—but it makes sense. Take an honest look at what happened, including any mistakes you made, and without "blaming" yourself or anyone else, try to see what you did to contribute to those mistakes.

Be nondefensive in making your plans for the future. Avoid apologizing, justifying, or defending yourself. Stand by what you've done and be positive about what you will and will not do in the future.

Remember, even tragedies have an ending. Whatever happened in your project, you need to create closure for yourself and the other people involved. When disappointments fester, the opportunity for learning is lost and you become more likely to repeat your mistakes.