We all know what a post mortem is, but what about a pre mortem?
Instead of asking what went wrong after the fact, a pre mortem projects out to the end of a project, imagining it was an absolute disaster, and asks “what did go wrong?”
Research on prospective hindsight – imagining that an event has already occurred – has shown a 30% increase in the ability to correctly identify reasons for future outcomes.
It’s always better to make a mistake in your head in advance than on an actual project.
How to conduct a pre mortem
Let’s imagine you’re the leader on a project and you’re having your first meeting. Start by informing the team that the project has been a monumental failure.
Individually, have the team write down every reason they can think of for what could go wrong, even super obscure things.
Then, go around the room and have each person share one thing from their list. Keep going until all have been captured.
Now it’s time to figure out what actions can be put in place to mitigate those failures from happening.
Let me give you an example.
I kicked off with a new cohort of The Effective Manager Program last week, and while everyone was setting their intentions for how they want to show up for the program and what they want to get out of it, I had them conduct a pre mortem.
“Imagine you get to the end of this program in 7-months time and you’ve gotten absolutely nothing out of it”, I told them.
“Let’s assume I’ve facilitated a great program and the content is useful, but you’ve spent 40-hours of your time in workshops, but you didn’t really pay attention. You’ve learnt nothing, done nothing, didn’t take anything away to action, and you’re still the same manager you are right now.”
Then I asked them, “what went wrong?”
Here’s some of the answers they came up with:
- I tried to multitask during the sessions and get other work done
- I was passive and didn’t engage in the sessions or the conversations
- I wasn’t open to learning and growing
- I didn’t come up with action items after the sessions
- I did nothing between sessions to action what I learnt
Then I asked them to solve for those problems before they occurred to make sure they didn’t happen – to turn those mistakes into actions. Here’s what they said:
- I turn off all notifications and am fully present for all sessions
- I make sure I have a clear calendar the day of the session so I have time to do everything that needs to be done so I’m not distracted during the session
- I engage in all sessions by asking and answering questions, and getting involved in conversations; I push myself out of my comfort zone
- I am open to learning and growing
- I make sure I come up with at least 3 action items from each session
- I book time in my calendar each week to review what I have learnt and embed my action items
Assessing the potential failures before a project begins allows you to put contingencies in place to avoid them from actually happening, thereby leading to a more successful outcome.
It’s always better to make a mistake in your head in advance than on an actual project.
What could you complete a pre mortem on?
Give it a go and let me know how you go.
