MGMT Minute: The End-Of-Week Feedback Blitz

Read time: 1 minute

In the heat of battle, Navy SEALs and Army Rangers don't have time for lengthy debriefs. They use rapid-fire After Action Reviews (AARs) to quickly assess and improve.

As a manager, you're in your own daily grind. Here's how you can apply their technique:

The End-Of-Week Feedback Debrief:

1. Set the stage

• "Let's do a quick review of this week's called shots."

2. Ask 3 questions

• What was supposed to happen?

• What actually happened?

• What caused the differences?

3. Deliver your feedback

• Offer one reinforcement of a win

• Offer one improvement on a miss

• Connect both to clear action for next week

4. Confirm understanding

• Have them capture the action in next week’s plan

Keep it conversational. Ideally they self-critique so you don’t have to.

Example:

"Team, great work navigating the client rollout. We set out to deliver a seamless experience, and we largely did. One challenge was response time - some updates lagged. What can we tweak to improve next week?”

Remember:

Consistent feedback is a force multiplier.

And five minutes now could save five hours later.

Lead on,

Dave

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