February 2016

Every February I think of the movie Groundhog Day. Bill Murray plays Phil Connors, a grumpy TV weatherman who gets stuck in a time loop, doomed to repeat Groundhog Day in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, over and over again. The seemingly never-ending day is agonizing to Phil. No matter what he tries, he can’t break out of the loop.

Sometimes it feels as if our organizations are stuck in time loops – repeating the same mistakes and ineffective behaviors over and over. We talk about improving and hope things will be different next time, but we can’t seem to break out of the loop to change the behaviors that make a difference.

In the movie, Phil wants to win over his female colleague, but his efforts keep failing. He finally realizes that he can take advantage of his situation. Each time the day repeats, he has an opportunity to learn more about her, find out what works and what to do differently the next time. In the end, he wins her love.

We have the same opportunities in the workplace to learn from any activity so that we improve our performance the next time we do something similar. After every project, meeting, and interaction with clients or stakeholders, we can perform an After Action Review. It doesn’t have to be long or drawn out. The goal is to quickly assess what went well, and what we could do differently next time to get better results.

How to perform an After Action Review

Do it right away. Review while the activity is fresh in your mind. Our memory is notoriously unreliable and you won’t remember details days or weeks from now.

Ask key questions and write down the answers

1. How well did I achieve my intended outcome?
2. What opportunities, actions or follow-up did I identify from the activity?
3. How effective was my behavior and that of the other people involved?
4. What could I do differently next time to get better results?

Take action
Capture the information, share it with others doing similar work, and consciously change your behaviour to incorporate what you’ve learned. Strive for continuous improvement. You’ll get better results, and increased productivity.

Unlike Phil, you’re not stuck in a loop repeating the same day over and over again. So break out of the loop of repeating the same mistakes over and over again.