Who Do We Choose To Be?

INFORMATION: RESTORING SANITY

The Principles and Process of an After Action Review (AAR)

AARs are used by a number of federal agencies that deal with crises such as wild fires and natural disasters. Police forces also use them after significant incidents. I’ve worked with a few organizations who relied on this process after a crisis, including the National Park Service and a few corporations.

Any incident is an extraordinary opportunity for learning, not only relevant to the incident, but also about the organization’s culture. How well did we communicate? Where did trust or distrust factor in? Were our values evident in our behaviors?

I love this process for what it yields in terms of actionable learning. Its entire focus is on performance and ...