Leveraging after action reviews in the midst of a pandemic

Nearly a year and a half ago the world essentially came to a halt as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. For many organizations that meant transitioning operations and employees into a virtual environment and operating model, which brought about tremendous challenges and uncertainty. Some organizations fared better than others with minimal disruption to the delivery of their services or products, while others struggled to adapt.

Organizations that were successful in transitioning to a virtual environment likely had strong business continuity plans (BCP) in place to help them weather the COVID-19 black swan event (i.e., an event that results in severe and widespread consequences). Similarly, the organizations that struggled to adapt have since realized (hopefully!) the importance of having clearly defined processes and plans in place to enable the continuity of their operations (as well as maintaining customer/consumer confidence and brand and reputation, and managing financial risk) both before and throughout a disruption event.

As the world aims to return to some semblance of pre-pandemic normalcy, organizations must evaluate the strength of their business continuity programs and make the necessary updates or changes based on over a year’s worth of data. One of the best ways to accomplish this is through the use of an after action review (AAR).

Originally developed by the U.S. military, an AAR is a systematic review process for management and process owners responsible for the project or event to:

• Analyze what happened
• Examine why it happened