Lessons Learned - Where to Begin?
- Amit Starikovsky
- Sep 1, 2007
- 6 min read
Many organizations seeking to implement "lessons learned" processes start by selecting and implementing an existing debriefing methodology, assuming this is the first step toward adopting a "learning organization" approach.
On the surface, this seems like a relatively simple process: choose a comfortable and easy-to-use methodology, appoint a group of debriefing leaders responsible for investigating ongoing events, and teach them how to manage debriefings in all relevant aspects: using the methodology, facilitating discussions, paying attention to cultural aspects, and more. Then, define criteria for conducting debriefings and ensure they are carried out and distributed throughout the organization.
Several factors lead organizations to choose debriefing implementation as a starting point: First, there's a need to select one structured method that ensures uniformity in the organization's investigation process on one hand, and consistency in producing quality lessons on the other.
Second, focusing on debriefings, while conducting complementary cultural activities (see review on: "Complementary Cultural Activities in Lessons Learned," 2know, June '06) helps promote a learning organization culture and can bring about actual cultural change. Additionally, maintaining a routine of debriefings advances the organization in ongoing correction and continuous improvement, which is ultimately our purpose here.
However, many other ways exist to implement lessons learned concepts and become a learning organization.
In truth, the "debriefing" is just one method in the organizational toolbox.
To expand the discussion, let's first focus on the purpose of the lessons learned process: First, the process aims to prevent repeating mistakes; second, to more easily reproduce successes; and third, to reuse knowledge already accumulated in the organization and prevent reinventing the wheel each time.
As mentioned, organizations tend to choose the debriefing method, when in practice, it's not always the most appropriate choice.
Implementing debriefings is complex and includes many challenges, some objective and some subjective.
First and foremost, debriefing requires skill: to produce quality and applicable lessons, the investigator must be proficient in the methodology and its application. Often, investigators struggle to distinguish between different debriefing stages, which delays the process and affects its quality.
Additionally, debriefing requires significant organizational resources, especially time: to conduct a thorough debriefing that doesn't settle for simplistic aspects of the event, there's a need for in-depth discussion with as many participants and perspectives as possible. This requires participants' time, and the results won't always be as hoped, since managing debriefings requires skill.
Organizational employees' psychological fear and reluctance toward the term "debriefing" creates a cultural barrier, making the challenge more complex. Even attempts to call it "event analysis" or "directed learning" have failed to neutralize this concern. It's also important to pay attention to the investigators' ability to maintain cultural emphasis during the debriefing.
However, many organizations think that the best way to deal with these issues, especially the cultural ones, is simply to start conducting debriefings, establish facts on the ground, and thereby gradually create the cultural change that will enable the implementation of debriefings in the organization.
In our experience, starting with debriefings is appropriate. It can succeed only if there is a suitable cultural foundation, expressed in people's willingness and desire to learn, management's tendency to look for solutions rather than culprits, and an atmosphere of organizational openness to criticism and changes.
Organizations that lack these characteristics and hope to create change through debriefing may find themselves in a situation where the costs outweigh the benefits. Debriefings might lead to or strengthen feelings of suspicion, persecution, and blame-seeking. In other words, they not only fail to contribute to the desired cultural change but may even hinder it.
It is clear, then, that alternatives for implementation should be considered in a cost-benefit analysis.
Indeed, based on our experience, it is recommended and worthwhile to begin implementing lessons learned through the process of establishing an insights repository: Insights are defined as:
Lessons learned through a directed learning process - whether debriefing, quality improvement teams, or any other method.
Experience - learned during ongoing work processes.
The insights repository is based on insights collected in the organization, presented to the user as concise and focused knowledge pieces, like "bottom lines" (in contrast to the unusual and dramatic events emphasized in debriefings). In additional layers, which can be accessed if the employee wishes to delve deeper, the rationale (why?), the debriefing from which the knowledge piece was learned, and other in-depth information of various types are added.
The insights repository addresses the three defined goals of lessons learned: it enables learning from past mistakes and avoiding their repetition, it allows presenting successes and reproducing them, and of course, presenting accumulated knowledge and using it without reinventing the wheel.
How does using the repository address all these issues?
First, the insights in the repository are formulated as concise knowledge items, making them short and allowing for focused and clear reading. Due to their brief and focused nature, they include recommendations for optimal performance. Incidentally, unlike lessons (related to directed learning processes), they typically include recommendations and emphases, not just "do and don't" rules.
In addition to the formulation, the insights repository includes categories and keywords that allow users to locate the right knowledge in a simple, user-friendly, and focused manner.
The value of using an insights repository is clear, but what's the advantage of starting specifically with its implementation?
First, establishing an insights repository includes little (if any) participant resistance. The method is based on interviews with users defined as "knowledge nodes" or "tribal elders." These interviews are conducted from an expert perspective and don't include the resistance associated with debriefings, which is usually expressed through lack of cooperation. On the contrary – the interviewees' desire to contribute from their experience and knowledge is substantial, and they become active partners in establishing the repository itself and later in its marketing and implementation.
Second, the potential is much greater: the process of collecting insights is like "harvesting" – abundant knowledge held by experts that we collect and "harvest," knowledge that has already been learned and would be a waste not to utilize, certainly more than what is learned in an average debriefing. The quality of this knowledge is usually higher as well, since it has typically been tested and proven successful, rather than just being a proposal for a better future.
However, the significant advantage of establishing an insights repository compared to using debriefings comes from the cultural aspect, as creating the repository generates significant visibility throughout the organization and demonstrates even to the biggest skeptics the benefits of implementing organizational learning processes; the user first utilizes existing insights and only later will be required to contribute by producing lessons and adding their insights.
The substantial added value comes from the benefits seen in the repository, its use, and the fact that it is not "frightening" and/or intimidating. These prepare the ground for institutionalized lessons-learned activities and expand the tools available in our toolkit for implementing organizational learning, thereby effectively influencing the creation of a supportive organizational culture, which is critical to the success of the process.
After establishing the repository, ensuring its use is a significant challenge. But don't worry—many tools exist to address this challenge, and our experience proves that it can indeed be done in a way that allows implementation of all the advantages inherent in the repository (see tip on the subject: "Using Lessons and Insights", 2know, July '07).
It is recommended that lessons be produced and promoted only after the groundwork has been laid.
To summarize, establishing an insights repository is one of the tools for implementing lessons learned processes in an organization, where this process focuses on broadly extracting accumulated knowledge and making it available for reuse, and promoting the extraction process after people have already become accustomed to using knowledge and understand how much a repository of insights helps them improve their professionalism.
The process is not perceived as threatening at the employee level, and they are interested in cooperating with it due to its benefits. At the organizational level, it's about "going along with it while feeling without it," hence the great advantage in implementing an insights repository and the warm recommendation to start precisely from this place.
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