Don’t Set 2025 Goals Without Doing an After-Action Review for Your 2024 Results
The closing weeks of 2024 are considered prime time for conceiving annual goals for 2025. However, if that’s what you’re planning to do, I caution you to avoid making a big mistake. There’s a vital opportunity for learning and conceiving more effective goals that 99% of the world population doesn’t even notice.
I invite you to experiment with doing a rigorous after-action review of your performance in 2024. You will gain valuable information to conceive goals that truly matter in 2025.
After-action reviews originated in the US Army in the 1970s There are 4 fundamental questions to inquire into:
- What outcome was expected to occur?
- What really happened?
- What went wrong and why?
- What went well and why?
- What will we do next time to achieve a better outcome or to repeat our success?
Right now, imagine asking these four questions to review your performance in 2024. Do you think you might gain valuable ideas for 2025 goals and ways to improve your process in pursuing goals?
Valuable Lessons From Military Experts
I’m fortunate to have 2 former military leaders to consult with about after-action reviews. I’m privileged to share a bit of their expertise with you.
Ted Handler spent 20 years in the Marines as a Special Operations Officer and participated in thousands of these reviews. Ted emphasizes the importance of adopting effective intentions for engaging in after-action reviews. “Marines are trained to focus on courage versus cowardice. Hearing pluses boosts egos. Big gains in performance come when you correct deficiencies. Be ruthlessly honest in taking accountability for your role in producing poor results.”
To support your ruthlessly honest self-assessment, Ted Handler recommends your year-end reviews include these two questions:
- What things was I afraid to do but did anyway that had led to successful results?
- What things were on my list to accomplish but I didn’t do because I was afraid to do them? Why and how will you overcome those fears?
At the end of our conversation, I said,” Ted, I’ve got a new identity for you to consider adopting–courage catalyst.”
Retired Army General Dave Foley told me annual reviews should not be a private activity. He recommends you seek input from people who know you on an intimate level, including work colleagues, mentors, and family members. Ask them, “What do you think of my performance as a spouse, parent, friend, co-worker, church member, or boss over this past year?”
In 2023, Dave Foley asked his wife, Claire, this brave question, “Give me a letter grade on how I did in my roles as a father and husband? Claire responded, “I give you a grade of D for this year. Too much of the time, you weren’t listening, present, or attentive.” Talk about having the experience of going from cloud 9 with everyone kissing up to the General to crashing onto planet Earth in the harsher reality of family life!
Fortunately, Dave heard this feedback and made dramatic changes in honing his ability to be fully present with his family. He even retired from the Army.
At the close of our conversation, Dave Foley said to me in a self-reflective way, “The last thing I want to hear in an after-action review is, “Boy did you do that well.”
Closing Message for this Newsletter and this Year.
Are you appreciating the enormous value of doing a year-end after-action review for 2024? I invite you to start a new end-of-year tradition. If you’re really adventurous, become a self-appointed leader and spread the idea of doing after-action reviews for 2024 before setting annual goals for 2025. Be brave to share this newsletter with people you care about.
If reading this newsletter triggered questions or insights for you, please share them with me via email: artturock@outlook.com.
NOTE: Ted Handler is now COO for Tribe and Trust, a leadership training firm comprised of personnel who’ve been leaders in both military and civilian roles. Dave Foley is a retired US Army General.
Ruthlessly Honest Question
As you prepare to initiate your 2024 After-Action Review ask 2 questions:
- What things was I afraid to do in 2024 but did anyway that had led to successful results? What fears can you no longer regard as “showstoppers?”
Your Heroic Experiment for This Month
Be a trendsetter to start the new year. Do a ruthlessly honest after-action review for 2024. When you set your 2025 annual goals notice which ones came to mind by doing the after-action review for 2024 first.
To ensure you apply ideas from your reading of this newsletter, email me a couple of sentences about what you’re going to do in your experiment OR share the most helpful insights you gain from reading this newsletter… artturock@outlook.com.
Writing your insights in an email to me solidifies them in your mind.
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