Here is another valuable Management Tip of the Day from Harvard Business Review. To sign up for a free subscription to any/all HBR newsletters, please click here.

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Debriefings can help you accelerate projects, innovate new approaches to problems, and hit difficult objectives. More than a casual conversation about what did and didn’t work, a debriefing digs into why things happened. It should review four key questions:

o What were we trying to accomplish? Start by restating the objectives you were trying to hit.

o Where did we hit (or miss) our objectives? Review your results, and ensure the group is aligned.

o What caused our results? This should go deeper than obvious, first-level answers.

o What should we start, stop, or continue doing? Given the root causes uncovered, what should we do next, now that we know what we know?

Adapted from “Debriefing: A Simple Tool to Help Your Team Tackle Tough Problems,” by Doug Sundheim.

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Also, you may wish to check out an anthology, Management Tips from Harvard Business Review, by clicking here.