,
I have long thought that the real value in an after-action review was not all the lessons captured and stored but simply taking the time to "pause and reflect" together and the actual conversation that takes place,
so I was pleased to see this blog post
‘Pause & Reflect' session or an ‘After Action Review'?
from Paul Corney.
Pausing and reflecting is probably also an easier concept to introduce to an organisation than more formal after-action reviews.
I also like the idea of "the power of 3" - that most people can remember 3 things and act on them.
I lean much more to "the power of 1" though :-)
I think people are far more likely to remember and act on just one thing than three.
It's why at the end of most of my Knowledge Cafes, I go around the circle and ask everyone to share one "actionable insight" with the group - one thing that they are taking away from the conversation and plan to do or has had a significant impact on the way that they see things that will almost certainly alter the course of future decisions that they make.
Paul also mentions reverse brainstorming.
I am not too sure if its the same concept that I work with but It probably is as I learnt it from Victor Newman whom Paul mentions in his post.
This is the Reverse Brainstorming process that I use.
