How to Run an After-Action Review

Hey 👋 - Brandon here.

Happy Saturday to 1,711 growth-minded accountants.

Here’s one growth tip for you and your firm.

Today’s issue takes less than X minutes to read.

I spent last weekend in the mountains near Asheville, NC with a former DAP pilot and two Delta Force Special Operators.

To be honest, I didn’t know what I was signing up for and there was a lot more physical activity than I was expecting. We went on hikes (and carried sandbags/kettlebells on said hikes) and had a tree-cutting competition. Overall it was a great experience and I’d go back in a heartbeat.

The experience put things into perspective for me.

What stresses me out as a firm runner is frankly not comparable to what these guys go through on their missions. Each time they deploy, there’s a decent chance they don’t come back.

I’m going to start taking life a bit less seriously from now on.

But…

I did want to share one thing I learned that can help you run a better firm:

After Action Reviews (AAR).

An AAR is where you get your team together to review performance offer the course of a season or even an individual project and identify key areas for improvement. The outcome is alignment, action items, and memorializing your lessons learned to prevent repeated mistakes.

Here’s how to run an AAR:

The Set-Up

To run an AAR well, first identify key stakeholders that should be in attendance.

At the beginning of the meeting, state the purpose of the AAR (what is the scope of the review) and set rules for the discussion:

• Ask hard questions

• Give transparent answers

• Be open to feedback (less emotional, more objective)

• Turn all distractions off

Then identify the note taker to ensure all thoughts/ideas/actions are captured.

Lastly, identify someone to ask questions related to your firm’s culture. For example, in the recent AAR we ran I asked one person on the team to spend a minute reviewing our values and mission statement and to ensure we are asking “how did that decision align with our ‘people first’ ideal?”

Now, you’re ready to begin.

Step Through Each Phase

First, identify the phases of the event or project you are reviewing.

We were reviewing a specific client account, so our phases were sales, onboarding, accounting set-up project, accounting monthly project, tax projects, delivery, and renewal.

You then progress through each stage and assess:

• Planning

• Communication

• Execution

• Client response

• Team performance

We found ourselves asking many questions about communication and context sharing as well as planning proactively for inevitable results.

We spent 2 hrs and 15 minutes on our AAR.

Memorialize It

After the AAR is concluded, the note taker will share the full notes and action items with the group.

The group will set their deadlines on action items in their calendar and get to work.

The military does a phenomenal job retaining and indexing their AARs. They are a knowledge machine.

Because this is our first time going through it, we simply created a GDrive to store the AAR notes.

In the future, my goal is to create an indexable/searchable knowledge base so that future leaders can make decisions based on historical context.

It’s not a Bitch Fest

One final important point I want to make:

An AAR is not a bitch fest.

I would highly recommend you keep people who are prone to complaining off the AAR as they will only serve to distract the group as they attempt to deflect blame away from themselves.

The point of an AAR is not to blame any one on the team - instead, it’s to assess team performance and make decisions for the team to improve on.

It requires maturity and professionalism.

That's all for this Saturday. See you next week.

Cheers,

Brandon