After Action Review Process Prescribed Fire Workshop Gulfport

After Action Review Process Prescribed Fire Workshop Gulfport, Mississippi November 2004

Session Objectives üDescribe a learning organization & components üAAR – learning org. tool üAAR facilitation is key üExplain three techniques

Lessons Learned Center Objectives • Improve safe work performance • Improve organizational learning • Share knowledge • Promote organizational change

What is a Learning Organization? A learning organization is … • Creating, acquiring, interpreting, • transferring, and retaining knowledge. Purposefully modifying its behavior to reflect new knowledge and insights.

Critical Tasks A learning organization tries to do six things … 1. Collect intelligence about the environment. 2. Learn from the best practices of other organizations. 3. Learn from its own experiences and past history.

Continued … 4. Experiment with new approaches. 5. Encourage systematic problem solving. 6. Transfer knowledge throughout the organization.

After Action Reviews (AARs) ü An inexpensive, simple, systematic process that has the power to change an entire work culture: 1. What did we set out to do? 2. What actually happened? 3. Why was there a difference? 4. What are we going to do next time?

Conducting AARs üSchedule shortly after activity üMake AARs routine üCollective objective data üUse trained facilitators üEstablish clear ground rules üInvolve all participants

Facilitation Techniques 1. Setting Up AAR Discussion 2. Restating a Point 3. Handling Blame 4. Bringing Out Quiet Ones 5. Interrupting a Dominant Member 6. When Group is in Denial

Techniques (continued) 7. Pursue issue to root cause 8. Negative polling for ? s 9. Building up or eliminating ideas 10. Avoid win/lose decisions 11. Ask open ended ? s

AARs Begin The Knowledge Transfer Process üMost of the AAR results will be used to enhance or sustain the performance of your unit or team. ¨“Gems and nuggets” will surface that are valuable to others, but only if they can have access to the knowledge.

ü AAR Rollup to the LLC A tool for collecting the gems and nuggets from your AAR in a simple and easy way. 1. Describe one or more of your successes that others can learn from? 2. What was one of the challenges you faced and how did you overcome it? 3. How can training be improved? 4. What are your recommendations for unresolved issues?

Burn Boss Community of Practice üInformal group of people with similar work-related activities and interests üCan belong to multiple agencies or reporting structures üCommunity members regularly transfer and retain knowledge

Session Objectives üDescribe a learning organization & components üAAR – learning org. tool üAAR facilitation is key üExplain three techniques

www. wildfirelessons. net Paula Nasiatka, Center Manager (520) 799 -8760 pnasiatka@fs. fed. us Dave Christenson, Asst. Ctr. Mgr. (520) 799 -8761 dchristenson@fs. fed. us