How to conduct a Lessons Learned session. We all know that learning from mistakes is a good practice and part of our professional responsibility. It doesn’t necessarily mean that everyone does it. This is an easy and efficient way to do it. This approach was taught to me by a consultant when I was a novice (and accidental) project manager. This approach is still my favorite! Invite your team to a session on lessons learned. It is important that your team knows the purpose of the session so they are prepared to share. You should not attend if you think your team won’t be able speak freely in front you. Although I doubt it will happen to you, I have not seen it happen yet. However, you want your team to be able openly and honestly share their opinions. It is now time to learn from the mistakes. This is how you can approach it: – Volvo Spares And Parts

Start with “Things we could do better/differently?”

Explain to your team that everyone will have the opportunity to share their ideas. Lessons learned are not meant to be personal. JOE shouldn’t go on vacation. The lesson is that important resources should have back-up resources to cover for absences like vacation, sick time, etc.

Let the team know that everyone can speak but not all of them have to. If a member of the team has nothing to offer, they can say “pass”.

Three times around the room. Each team member has an opportunity to share their lesson learned or to pass. You can write the lessons learned on a piece of whiteboard or large paper. Do not list names next each lesson. It doesn’t matter who said it, but you want anonymity.

Everyone usually exhausts their ideas after three rounds around the room. If not, continue!

After all the lessons have been spoken, it’s time to choose the most important. Each member of the team receives 3 votes. They can spend? They can?spend? on any one lesson or all three. This is usually done by having my team members stand up and place check marks next the lessons they consider most important.

Once everyone has voted for the winner, you can review the results. Most likely, you will find some lessons that the majority of the team considers the most important. You can vote for any items that are tied if they do not make it into the top three or five. You will not get rid of any lessons that don’t make the top three, top five or five. Instead, you will pay more attention the lessons that have been voted the best three or five.

Repetition steps 1 through 7, but this time, use?Things that we did well or should be repeated? NOW you have your lessons learned. It should be easy to document these lessons. Begin your document by discussing the process, and then give your results. The top three to 5 things that could be changed and the top 3 to 5 things that should be repeated are the most important. But don’t throw away the items that didn’t make the top three or five spots. Keep them and place them later in your document to ensure these lessons are not forgotten. This is a simple and effective way to have a lesson learned session.