Culture Matters: Building the Wise Firm

“Never miss a free throw; they are free.” I heard my coach’s words as I stood on the line at the end of my high school career. Feet staggered, just about shoulder length apart. The ref threw me the ball. I bent my knees, bounced it three times, down and up and follow through - swish, nothing but net. The ref threw me the ball for the second shot. Down and up and follow through and swish, sunk it again.

We hear it often. “I’ll prioritize <INSERT NAME OF LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITY HERE> after I work on this pressing deliverable.” It sounds like a plan, right? The problem is, for many of us, prioritizing our career growth and continued learning never actually comes. After one deliverable is met for a client, another is staring us in the face. 

There is an important growth, engagement and learning opportunity that the best teams will make a priority: the after action review (AAR). In addition to regular check-ins and course corrections throughout a project or client engagement, the AAR is a discipline that will help us all to #beEVENbetter. Here’s the great news, it doesn’t have to be a long, taxing process. Here are four questions, with a few best practices, that our team uses to make sure we are learning and growing continuously while engaging every member of the team.

Why are mistakes so hard to swallow? You know that sinking feeling in your stomach, the sweaty palms and the voice in your head screaming "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!?" This feeling might be something similar to getting pulled over for the first time, discovering your checking account is overdrawn or accidentally running into the car in front of you while your attention was diverted (on something completely not worth the accident). It's a terrible feeling.