Teams: The 3 questions you should always answer, but aren’t
I enjoyed a week of learning at the Agile Alliance Conference in DC. Lots of good stuff to share—but I had a huge “HELL YEAH!” moment thanks to a phenomenal workshop put on by Jenny Tarwarter on debriefing your learning experience so your learners have clear takeaways. It was called: “Making it Pop – Debriefing Experiential Learning.” She had lots of incredible techniques, but I want to hone in on 3 questions we used to close out our session.
What?
So What?
Now What?
Seems simple right? That is exactly it. IT IS SIMPLE. But we still don’t do it. Or if we do, we rush through it. Or worse, we tell people what they should feel and think and do versus letting them process and own their takeaways—also losing the step of us hearing and learning from them. Big miss. What struck me was these three questions can be foundational for “sticking the landing” not just in a training session, but in so many things. Here’s what I mean.
When you read a book, blog or whatever. As an individual, think about engaging with content as a conversation with an author. The problem is, we are in information overload so simply getting to the end feels like a win. Let’s face it. It’s just too much to absorb, with too little time to take it all in. But what if we included a debrief in our reading, watching or listening? I recently listened to a great podcast episode on “How robots and AI are changing job training.” My normal mode is to say —cool beans then go onto the next thing. After I listened I decided to ask myself the 3 questions.
What did I takeaway from the piece? In our hunt for automation and process improvement, an unintended consequence is the ability of a worker, regardless of their industry, to lose the chance practice and build skills.
So what? This can stifle the learning culture (and thus stifle innovation) we want to create as a part of our ability to work with agility.
Now what? We should be intentional and open about celebrating experimentation and giving people a chance to practice especially with the rise of automation.
That exercise took me two minutes, but now I have a clarity I wouldn’t have otherwise had.
When you meet 1:1 with your boss or executive. Executives are busy. I once worked for a person who ran back to back— and his mode would be to have these free form conversations and I often left as quickly as we started—in many cases not clear on next steps. Obviously leaving time at the end may not work all the time, but what if those three questions are built into your conversation? Heck, I recently decided to try it with a 1:1 meeting with a fellow conference attendee looking to share information on a change management program I ran. I started the conversation by saying, as we talk about this topic, let’s make sure we answer along the way questions you might have about what it is, why we chose this direction, and that you have practical ideas to take back to your team. It was such a great conversation. How might you put some structure into creating a shared understanding in a 1:1?
There are so many ways setting out to answer these questions could enrich conversations and meetings. Think about a meeting you had. Or a tough discussion you had to engage in. Did you walk away with a clear understanding of the answers to these 3 questions? And if you’re with a group of people, do you take the time to debrief and make sure they also have time to share and process what you’ve discussed and learned, focused on the why, and collaborated on actions? It’s simple and straightforward—so no reason not to try it. Now go forth and stick that landing!
