A post-mortem or reflection meeting is a formal discussion that occurs at the end of a project or effort. In the meeting, those involved in key decision making and execution discuss what went right and wrong, in order to use that information to make process improvements for future efforts and projects. All efforts and projects should include a post-mortem or reflection meeting, regardless of size or timeline. Below are a few tips on how to run an effective post-mortem or reflection meeting:
- Schedule the post-mortem or reflection meeting when you start the effort or project. This encourages team members to keep a record of their experience and begin to reflect on success and failures as they occur.
- Limit the post-mortem or reflection meeting to a fixed amount of time. Typically, post-mortem or reflection meetings should run from 30-90 minutes, depending on the size of the team and effort. It is important to consider that much of the reflection and thought process has occurred before the meeting, so the meeting should be reserved for people to share their big takeaways.
- Compile a guest list. Consider who made decisions during the effort and who was most affected by those decisions in order to gather the best feedback.
- Assign a notetaker or facilitator, pick someone to keep the agenda and conversation moving.
- Start the meeting with an introduction, it may be helpful to set norms and first provide an introduction of what was accomplished during the effort. Remember, keep the meeting positive and engaging.
- Ahead of your post-mortem or reflection be sure to send out an agenda and any pre-work if applicable, be sure to allow adequate time for the completion of pre-work. Remember, this meeting should only be utilized for celebration and big key takeaways.
Now that you have pulled your data for reflection and determined your next steps, you can use your work to complete the reflection memo.
Below is an example of questions that you can send to any participants of your post-mortem meeting to complete before your final meeting.
Reflection Memo
Glows and Grows for Each Area of Preparation
For each category, provide a brief description of the category as it was completed and a glow (something positive) and grow (something that can be improved upon) before moving to final reflections. (Note: These are just suggestions, please feel free to make edits to categories for your effort. You may use the inputs, activities, and outputs you identified in Pulling Your Data for Reflection as each of your categories.)
Recruitment and sign-up
- Metric:
- Target reached? Y or N
- Glow:
- Grow:
Technology or Materials
- Metric:
- Target reached? Y or N
- Glow:
- Grow:
Communications (external and internal)
- Metric:
- Target reached? Y or N
- Glow:
- Grow:
Attendance or Engagement
- Metric:
- Target reached? Y or N
- Glow:
- Grow:
Sessions or Content
- Metric:
- Target reached? Y or N
- Glow:
- Grow:
Data and updates
- Metric:
- Target reached? Y or N
- Glow:
- Grow:
Final Reflections
List your 2-3 biggest takeaways from the effort and/or 1-2 recommendations that you have for other organizations and networks interested in replicating the effort.
Next Steps
List any action items you would like to see your organization take now that the effort has been completed. Note: You may use the next steps you identified in the Identifying Next Steps worksheet above.
Resources
View the Organizing and Advocacy Playbook as a PDF
Background Information
Advocacy Action Plan Phase-Learning
Advocacy Action Plan Phase-Planning
Advocacy Action Plan Phase-Implementation
Advocacy Action Plan Phase-Execution
Advocacy Action Plan Phase-Reflection