Debriefs, purpose and process

No manager wants to spend the departmental budget on something that appears to be a waste of time – so what can we do?

A good first step is to ensure that all trainees get a proper debrief after their training. The sooner this takes place the better – whilst the information and good intentions are fresh! Unless there is really no alternative, it should take place within two working days of the training being completed. Strike whilst the iron is hot.

What’s the point of a debrief? That’s easy – you as a manager should have an overview of what the general content of the programme was intended to be, but lots of other issues may have been discussed or explored, usually in response to the needs and questions of the trainees. It’s useful to know what these were.

If it has been a good training programme, the trainee should have come back with an action plan – in other words ‘what I’m going to do to use my learning’. If you’ve been able to develop learning objectives prior to the course taking place, this action plan should be geared to these. The objectives for action may need to be rewritten – you can help to ensure that the trainee is focused on work needs.

Here are some suggestions for an effective debrief:

• What was the most useful thing you learned on the course?
• How will this help you to do your job?
• What might the results be if you do this?
• What other useful things did you learn?
• How can you use these at work?
• What do you think might make putting these things into practice difficult?
• What would help you?
• What can I do to help you?

At the end of the debrief the trainee should have a clear idea of exactly what they are going to do – on a daily basis – to put their new knowledge or skills into action.