Teresia's Blog

This month I have gifted myself with a half day session with a consultant who will be supporting me in gaining clarity on my business projects for the next year. In May I will be spending four days with my mastermind team, masterminding around our personal and professional goals.

I don’t know about you but I love these kind of sessions, taking the time to be creative, thinking outside of the box, dreaming, it fills me up and continues to pull me towards my ultimate vision for  my life, not to mention when running a business it is important to build the habit of regularly taking time to debrief, plan and strategize about your top priorities. 

 As I prepare for these strategizing sessions I realize how critical the act of debriefing is.

Debriefing is a systematic process that gives you the opportunity to reflect on your experiences, activities, and past results and identify lessons learned.  In turn this enables you to gain the knowledge and insight to make more effective decisions and gain clarity on what has to happen to create what you want in your business.

 I have just spent the afternoon debriefing my business and I invite you to do the same.

 Debriefing can be used in many different ways.  You can debrief an activity; for example, you may debrief a presentation you just did, or after a client completes you may decide to debrief the coaching relationship.  I encourage my clients to make debriefing a regular part of “working on their business”. Debriefing your business at the end of each month will set you up with clarity and new insight for the next month’s priority projects.  Or you can debrief your whole business, just as I did to maximize my planning days.

 Debriefing can be a simple and fun process.  There are 8 categories to explore.  

1. Brief summary of the facts (objective only, no evaluations yet)

2. Key accomplishments (what, for you has been a key

accomplishment – look for little accomplishments, not just the big ones)

3. What has worked, or is working (please be specific)

4. What didn’t work or isn’t working (be more specific here)

5. What is missing (be most specific here – keep asking “what is missing such that that is missing,” driving it down until you get to a commitment, a priority or a structure . . . something that you have access to correct)

6. What opportunities do you now see (either new ones or to re-assert the one that may have already been there)

7. Where to from here (next action steps)

8. Anything else to complete the picture

 You may choose to do this process alone, or invite your virtual assistant to be part of it, or perhaps your coach or maybe your mastermind team. The key is make it a regular part of your business so that you set yourself up to leverage, maximize and capitalize on all your efforts and enjoy the results you truly desire for you and your business.