Taking the AAR Beyond the Classroom

Topics: Research

“The Army’s After Action Review (AAR) is arguably one of the most successful organizational learning methods yet devised. Yet, most every corporate effort to graft this truly innovative practice into their culture has failed because, again and again, people reduce the living practice of AARs to a sterile technique.”
~Peter Senge

From the GP (a.k.a. “Jeep”) to amazing medical advances (consider recent advances in prosthetic limbs) to the Internet (ARPANET in its infancy), the civilian world has greatly benefited from innovations made by the United States military over the last century. 

Among the more recent crossovers is a process utilized by the U.S. Army for the continual improvement of training exercises known as the After Action Review (AAR). The AAR is currently being adopted by many in the business world to determine the success of organizational learning initiatives. Unfortunately, this strategy is often only utilized as a training evaluation tool. It would be far more effective if an organization’s leaders integrated the results of AARs into their knowledge management systems for the purpose of capturing, transferring, sharing and leveraging organizational knowledge.

History of the AAR

The U.S. Army developed and formalized its After Action Reviews in the 1970s as a result of the difficulties the Army faced when trying to record every aspect of a large-scale training event like a combat training exercise. The inability to examine military training exercises from every angle and perspective led to overlooking details that would have clarified the reasons for success or failure. The AAR was created to bring out both individual and group experiences and observations about training exercises immediately after they took place, but it doesn’t stop there. As part of the AAR, ideas for improvement are captured by both individuals and the facilitator, and then immediately applied to the next exercise.

The AAR has been extremely successful in the U.S. Army and is now, after 30+ years, so firmly entrenched in its culture that an AAR takes place immediately following every single training exercise, as well as after actual missions and other non-training initiatives.

AAR conversations can last anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour.  During the discussion, the facilitator – either a leader or one of the participants – records the points made on a flip chart or similar record, and, ideally, the participants also take notes to improve their own future performance. Then, if the AAR is being used as designed, ideas for improvements are applied to the next program.

Leveraging the AAR Knowledge

Now, let’s consider what happens with the knowledge that is gathered during an AAR. After a learning event, for example, it is likely that after the knowledge is captured, learning leaders will make adjustments to improve the content or process of future offerings. This is a good result and should be lauded and reinforced.  The following steps demonstrate this first-tier knowledge acquisition process.

• Event Takes Place with Team A
  • After Action Review is Held by Team A
    • Observations are Shared among Team A
      • Knowledge is Gained by Team A
        • Action is Taken by Team A

Now, consider how the results of that AAR could be magnified if the knowledge that was gained in this first tier activity is shared with the remainder of the organization. Imagine if, through a company’s knowledge management system, all employees at all levels could access the experiences and conclusions of every event that takes place throughout an organization.  This means that other individuals and teams will be able to benefit from the knowledge of the first team, and hopefully mistakes will be avoided and improvements can be made without the pain that Team A had to experience. Consider the additional steps added to tier one…

• Event Takes Place with Team A
  • After Action Review is Held by Team A
    • Observations are Shared among Team A
      • Knowledge is Gained by Team A
        • Action is Taken by Team A
        • fd
• Knowledge (including Action) is shared in a usable format throughout the company
  • Knowledge is reviewed by Teams B an C
    • Knowledge is gained by Teams B and C
      • Action is taken by Teams B and C
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• Etc.

From a single event, the stories that are shared can positively impact many others within an organization by way of this second tier of knowledge acquisition and knowledge sharing. What is needed for this to be successful is the AAR in place, a Knowledge Management System, the willingness of staff to learn from each other, and the ability to access the information on demand. This is how the After Action Review – and any knowledge generation process – can be utilized to leverage organizational knowledge.

Conclusion

Building AAR sessions into the company systems, especially (but not exclusively) those associated with learning, can help build and support a collaborative learning culture. If done well, AARs promote creative innovation and a mind set of continual improvement. Employees will come to expect AARs and, if they know that the observations and ideas shared will be used wisely and effectively throughout the company, will look forward to participating in a process that positively impacts not only their own team, but also the organization as a whole.

Lynn Lehman, CorpU Senior Learning Analyst