5 Articles to Promote Thought, Encourage Reflection and Ignite Action

How often at work (or life) do we stop and reflect on what we had planned to do and compared this to what actually happened? In this article from Harvard Business Review, the authors present the benefits of After Action Reviews (AAR) to promote ‘learning in the thick of it’. Drawing on insights from the US Army there is clearly a benefit for the corporate and other non-military environments to apply an AAR process.
Should employers be warning their workers about obvious hazards? In this legal commentary from Wayland Legal, Greg Smith discusses a NSW case where it was argued that the employer failed to warn the worker of an obvious hazard. Smith poses an interesting question at the end of the commentary, asking readers if hyper safety could be destroying one of our most important safety defences, the capacity of our workers to recognise, understand and manage risk themselves. What are your thoughts?
Growing up in NZ as a kid, I’ve always been a fan of the All Blacks (and their rivalry with the Wallabys). In his book, Legacy, author James Kerr goes deep into the heart of arguably the world's most successful sporting team, the All Blacks. In the book he outlines 15 powerful and practical lessons for leadership. While their all valuable lessons, I’d like to highlight #5 - Create a Learning Environment. Mastery, autonomy and purpose are three drivers of All Blacks success, where success is defined as modest improvement, consistently done. Leaders are learners, are teachers.
“The map is not the territory” - Alfred Korzybski. Where the map is a representation of what we believe the land is, but the map itself can never be the land. In his podcast, the problem with plans, Dr Todd Conklin relates this symbolic representation to safety and operational planning, how we write procedures and subsequently attempt to manage and control the work.
I’ll bookend this .red Monthly with another link on After Action Reviews. The below video from Clifford Berry discusses the value and process of AARs, how learning is vital to successful operations.