You can never be too prepared — especially when it comes to strategy meetings.
If you’re about to walk into a critical organizational meeting or a pivotal session that will influence a decision you want to drive — whether that’s getting approval for a learning program or convincing leadership to invest in a new employee development platform — and you’ve already rallied all the right stakeholders, it would be a real shame if it fell apart simply because you didn’t prepare well enough, wouldn’t it?
This time I want to talk about the importance of the internal investigation as part of learning, lessons-learned, and improvement processes.
I want to open with a story. Recently I had the opportunity to work with several people who had served in the Israeli Air Force, and I have to say — as much as I already knew that preparation and debriefing are essential tools for learning and growth, I got yet another lesson in the fact that there is no such thing as rehearsing too much.
We were tasked with guiding the leadership team of a large organization through an internal investigation of their own performance over a specific period. We had run at least two dry-run sessions and thought we had covered every scenario — but when we walked into the boardroom, we ran into a situation we hadn’t anticipated. It was a technical issue, but it significantly affected the leadership team’s ability to carry out the process. I’ll spare you the suspense: the time buffer we had built in allowed us to work through every possible scenario, and even in moments when we told ourselves “there’s no reason this won’t work,” we forced ourselves to test even the most seemingly trivial edge cases. In the end, with a bit of resourcefulness, improvisation, solutions we had rehearsed a few days earlier, and a few workarounds, we resolved the problem — and the leadership team was able to conduct a successful investigation.
So what did I learn from this? 🤔
-
There’s no limit to rehearsal 🏋️♀️
The Air Force pilots taught me (for the hundredth time) how important it is to simulate every possible situation or scenario, so that when you arrive at the moment of real-time execution, you’re ready and you know exactly how to act. Possible courses of action — because the IDF is embedded in each and every one of us; if there’s any organization that truly understands what learning means, it’s the IDF. -
The importance of the debrief 🧐
Once a meeting or project milestone has taken place — whether or not you achieved your goal — it’s important to debrief what happened and understand what you did well, what you could have done better, and what factors drove your actions (emotional, technical, or cognitive). Write it down (yes, actually write it down) — how you will act next time. And that brings us back to the previous point: once you’ve understood it, rehearse it ahead of the next meeting. One important note about debriefs: they won’t work if they come from a place of judgment. This is about constructive feedback whose purpose is to help you grow. As Arik Einstein once said — what’s done is done.
A small disclaimer: I understand that we can’t rehearse ourselves to death before every single event. But what is certain is that when you’re standing at a critical crossroads — in a project, at work, or in your personal life — there is no such thing as being too prepared, and that’s where it’s worth investing every ounce of your attention.
All you need to ask yourself is: “What is the cost of getting this wrong?” If the answer is that it will affect your future, give it all the time it deserves. You won’t regret it 😜.
How to conduct an internal organizational investigation 🕵️♀️
To conduct an internal organizational investigation effectively, it’s important to focus on several key areas that support lessons-learned, identify opportunities for improvement, and guide follow-up actions. Here are the key elements of an internal organizational investigation.
-
Define the objectives of the investigation
a. What is the primary goal of the investigation? Is it analyzing a failure, a success, or a routine process?
b. What do you want to achieve from the investigation (lessons for future planning, process improvement, etc.)? -
Identify the event or situation
a. What is the event or action being examined?
b. What was the business context? What external and internal conditions influenced the situation? -
Collect data and information
a. Gather both qualitative and quantitative data about the event (metrics, reports, testimony from those involved).
b. Are there gaps in the data? How can the missing information be filled in? -
Analyze the actions and decisions taken
a. What were the key decisions made during the event?
b. Were those decisions made at the right time and based on accurate information? -
Identify successes and failures
a. What worked well? How can those successes be preserved and replicated?
b. What didn’t work? What were the primary reasons for the failure or mistakes?
c. Were there early warning signs that could have been identified sooner? -
Involve the right people in the process
a. Who were the key stakeholders in the event?
b. How did collaboration between the different teams and units unfold?
c. Were there communication or synchronization issues among those involved? -
Identify opportunities for improvement
a. Which processes can be improved next time? Is additional training needed for any teams?
b. Are there tools or technologies that could help improve the process? -
Formulate conclusions and recommendations
a. What lessons were drawn from the analysis?
b. How can those lessons be applied to ongoing work within the organization? -
Plan follow-up actions
a. What are the practical steps for improvement? Who is responsible for implementing the changes?
b. What is the timeline for implementing the recommendations? How will the success of the changes be measured? -
Review and monitor
a. Plan follow-up checkpoints to track implementation of the lessons learned.
b. How will you ensure the organization is genuinely learning and improving as a result of the investigation?
Additional guidelines:
- Collaboration: Involve as many relevant stakeholders as possible in order to get a complete picture.
- Openness and transparency: Encourage open information-sharing from all teams.
- A blame-free environment: It’s essential to conduct the investigation in a positive atmosphere that does not create a sense of guilt or blame.
These elements will help you carry out a thorough investigation that drives real process improvement across the organization.
Another way to strengthen an investigation is to connect it to ongoing learning processes: turn conclusions into actions, link them to feedback and performance review conversations, and check back after a period of time to see whether behavior has actually changed. Otherwise, the investigation remains a nice document — not an engine for improvement.