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Team Debriefs

Background

“[A TDI in which] team members reflect on a recent experience, discuss what went well, identify opportunities for improvement and agree on what they will do going forward” (Tannenbaum & Greilich, 2023, p. 125).

Team debriefs, also known as after-action reviews, involve structured reflection on what happened during a team performance episode, identifying areas for improvement, and lessons learned for future performance.

Signs that a team could benefit from after-action review training include difficulty identifying weaknesses, struggles with open communication, failure to learn from mistakes, or confusion about how to improve performance.

Relevant Readings

  • Dalton, C. B., Kirk, M. D., & Durrheim, D. N. (2022). Using after‐action reviews of outbreaks to enhance public health responses: Lessons for COVID‐19. Medical Journal of Australia, 216(1), 4–9. https://doi.org/10.5694/mja2.51289
    • Dalton et al. (2022) state that after-action reviews of Australian outbreaks highlight key areas like communication, information management, and surge capacity needing improvement. Learning from these reviews enhances responses to COVID-19 and future public health threats.
  • Frese, M., & Keith, N. (2015). Action errors, error management, and learning in organizations. Annual Review of Psychology, 66(1), 661–687. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010814-015205
    • Frese and Keith (2015) argue that organizations should complement error prevention with error management. This approach focuses on effectively dealing with errors after they occur to minimize negative consequences and enhance positive outcomes like learning and innovation.
  • Tannenbaum, S. I., & Greilich, P. E. (2023). The debrief imperative: Building teaming competencies and team effectiveness. BMJ Quality & Safety, 32(3), 125–128. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjqs-2022-015259
    • Tannenbaum and Greilich (2023) argue that team debriefs are crucial for healthcare effectiveness. They present universal guidelines for debriefing, applicable anywhere, while noting differences between education and clinical settings. The authors emphasize the need to train leaders (faculty, trainers, team leaders) in these skills to ensure debriefs are conducted effectively and used more widely to improve team performance.