Debriefing is a structured communication process used to take stock of a situation or experience. Like briefing, which takes place before a team project, this practice is often used in professional, military, or sporting circles, to learn from past actions.
More specifically, debriefing involves analyzing the various stages of a situation or mission, where the participants review actions, decisions, and results. This approach will help you to study and understand what went well and what could have been improved, in order to optimize future performance. For example, as a group, employees can discuss their emotions and stress levels in relation to the project or event, beyond the impartial analysis of the project.
The benefits of debriefing are manifold. It encourages communication, emotional exchange, and collaboration between team members after the work phase. By discussing the actions taken and results achieved at a post-event meeting, participants can share their ideas and perspectives, learning from each other and encouraging the emergence of new ideas and strategies.
In sales, debriefing can be used to analyze salespeople’s performance and identify best practices. After a sales period, the salespeople can get together to discuss the customers they met, the situations that worked and those that didn't. This practice reinforces the salespeople's skills and improves the company's results.
When debriefing, it’s important to identify the key elements that contributed to the results achieved.
- Objectives: analyze the objectives that were set at the start to assess whether the results achieved are in line with initial expectations.
- Actions taken: detail the actions taken to achieve the objectives.
- Results obtained: understand the results obtained to assess whether the objectives have been achieved and identify any unexpected results that could be useful in the future.
- Problems encountered: identify the problems encountered during project implementation to understand the obstacles that hindered the achievement of objectives, and to identify solutions to avoid these obstacles in the future.
- Lessons learned: draw lessons from the experience. This step enables you to capitalize on successes and failures to improve the team's future performance.
