Monday 28 March 2016

Marg Kronfeld - Effective Debriefing

Marg Kronfeld is a New Zealand businesswoman with more than three decades in management positions. Like many diverse professionals, Marg Kronfeld is often tasked with staff development and team leadership roles. Positions like these require effective handling of employees, and a large part of that is debriefing. If you need to improve your debriefing skills, consider including points like those below in your sessions:

What Worked?


Examine what worked well and what parts you would do again after each project or discussion. This will help you and your team identify positive factors so that you can focus on them in similar situations in the future. Allow team members to give their input on what they think worked and what they think should be repeated.

What Didn’t Work?


Talk about what aspects did not work well and what points you might have missed during a project. Look at choices that backfired, underestimations of required time or money, lessons learned and sources of confusion. Even if a project went well or a meeting did not have anything that you think “didn’t work,” cover the question briefly to give all team members a chance to give their input.

What Could We Do Differently?

Talking about what you could do differently in a similar future situation gives team members a chance to be heard. Ask this question only after discussing what didn’t work so that you can apply a full scope of the situation to considerations for future projects.

As you gain experience debriefing employees and handling general management, you will develop your own methods and styles. If you’d like some help in the early stages, consider contacting a professional like Marg Kronfeld in your area and asking for advice over coffee.