Strategic policy design

Create a culture of continuous performance improvement and adaptive learning by systematically reviewing team successes and failures. Considered one of the most successful organisational learning methods, the after-action review (AAR) was developed by the United States Army in the 1970s to help its soldiers learn from both their mistakes and achievements.

Since then, many companies have used the AAR for performance assessment. And, yet, as American systems scientist Peter Senge notes, efforts to bring the practice into corporate culture most often fail because ‘again and again, people reduce the living practice of AARs to a sterile technique’. The process itself is an active discussion centred around four key questions: what did we intend to accomplish (what was our strategy)? What did we do (how did we execute relative to our strategy)? Why did it happen that way (why was there a difference between strategy and execution)? What will we do to adapt our strategy or refine our execution for a better outcome (how do we repeat our success)?

The AAR is not merely an opportunity to focus on team performance — it also serves as a catalyst for cultural change. To set the stage for effective AARs, leaders must first create a climate of transparency, selflessness, and candour. Everyone — leaders included — must openly share where their own performance may have contributed to a team failure, and acknowledge the people and practices that helped create the team’s success.


From “After-Action Reviews: A Simple Yet Powerful Tool”