Taking Our Quarterly Debriefs Agency-Wide

Borrowed

"Team learning is vital because teams, not individuals, are the fundamental learning unit in modern organizations. This is where the rubber meets the road; unless teams can learn, the organization cannot learn."

From The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization by Peter M. Senge [Book]

Learned

Last quarter, we decided to try something new—an agency-wide debrief instead of our usual individual team sessions. The idea was to encourage more cross-team knowledge sharing and allow everyone to hear from different parts of the agency. It was a good experience overall. People shared key takeaways, and having our regular freelancers in the mix brought a fresh perspective to the discussion.

One thing that stood out, though, was timing. The open format worked well, but for this quarter, we’ll look at tightening things up. We tried doing a "tag-team" system, which generally seemed to work, but some folks spoke longer than others, leaving us rushed at the end. Maybe we don’t need strict timers for each person, but setting a time limit for each question could help us move through the topics more smoothly.

Debrief Questions:

• How has our team evolved since the last debrief? What milestones did we hit, and what progress are we proud of?
  
• What lessons did we learn as a team, and where did we hit roadblocks that could have been avoided?
  
• How can we improve collaboration, strengthen our culture, and deliver more value to Barrel and our clients? Think about our workflow, tools, communication, or any repetitive tasks that hold us back.

The format led to some great insights and discussions on how we can improve our ways of working. What I loved most was how this debrief allowed everyone to hear how others interpreted the quarter.

In the past, we’d run individual team debriefs, discuss them as leadership, and then bring a summary to the Town Hall. But this format was more engaging. Since members of every team work together on projects, it makes sense to have these conversations collectively.

The Feedback: We sent a survey out after the debrief to hear what everyone thought. Mostly 8-10/10 ratings, with a couple of 7's who cited the timing issues.

Here were some highlights:

• "It felt like we all came prepared with something to contribute, which made it a pretty engaging debrief and interesting to see what other teams have on their minds. The tag-teaming kept the discussion flowing and nice to see people volunteer as well."
  
• "I thought the meeting went well as a first time trial with the team! Everyone general seemed engaged and ready to share. Improvements for future sessions could be to have more time parameters for each question."
  
• "It is nice to hear all departments' thoughts so we are moving in one direction as a team. Not 10 because we didn't finish discussing everything, so maybe we can consider 1.5h next time."

There were a bunch of action items that came out of the debrief that each Team Lead worked with their team to address. However, the process wasn’t as smooth as it could’ve been.

All said, here’s what I’m thinking for this quarter:

1. Based on our goals, I’ll outline priorities for the quarter and share them with the team.
2. We’ll bring the team together again for an all-hands debrief, taking into consideration timing and other feedback. This time I'll also focus #3 more on our agency priorities.
3. Afterward, Team Leads will meet for our quarterly session and discuss key themes from the debrief to determine the next actions for each team.
4. Team Leads will take these next steps back to their teams with clear action items.

The goal here is to keep everyone aligned and working toward the same objectives while continuing to strengthen how we collaborate and grow as a team. Feels like we're heading in the right direction, one step at a time.

Thought

What aspect of my personal or company habits and processes might benefit from a refresh?