De Briefing

A
debrief is a simple, yet powerful tool that enables a team to self-correct, gel as a
team, and enhance their performance. During debriefs, team members reflect upon
a recent experience, discuss what went well and identify opportunities for
improvement.
How to Conduct a Debrief:

1. Stop talking at people & start talking with people:-
Invite people into your conversation, rather than just telling them what they need to
know. For example, compare “This is how you hold a surfboard” with “Jesse, what
do you think is the best way to hold a surfboard?”
2. Sequence your discussion to prepare your group for talking:-

In the same way you use warm-ups and stretches before more strenuous exercise,
you also need to warm-up people to get them talking.
Here’s a quick three-step model for how to conduct a debrief that works a treat:
 Ask ‘What’ questions – these questions refer to what happened during an

exercise and are used to get the discussion off to a good start. For example,
“What happened after you feel off the element?”
 Ask ‘So what’ questions – these questions relate the activity back to the goals
of your program, and add meaning to it. For example, “Why do you think
people stopped talking all of a sudden?”
 Ask ‘Now what’ questions – these questions drive home the lesson’s objective
by discussing future behavior’s and goals. For example, “How can you prevent
your discussion from getting out of control next time?”
3. Ask lots of open-ended questions:-

The question “How are you feeling?” is more powerful than “Are you feeling
cold?” Open-ended questions are more likely to provide greater insight and
opportunities for people to participate in a two-way conversation.
4. Use a variety of formats to keep your group engaged:-

Debriefing is more than just asking your group to circle up and asking a few
questions. The first step in learning is engaging the brain, so choose a variety of
discussion techniques that are fun, interactive and meaningful to attract people’s
attention. Take a look at some of the fun, interactive and rewarding debrief
ideas featured on playmeo’s activity database.
5. Make it easy to see & hear each other:-

Consider using circles to conduct your conversation, and moving in closer to hear
each other. Also, be aware of the impact the wind and the sun may have on your
group’s ability to see and hear you. For example, it is recommended that you face
into the sun, rather than your group, otherwise, it will give people just another
excuse to look elsewhere. And keep their backs to the distraction of other people,
interesting panoramas and other events that will easily distract them from your
conversation.
6. Use a neutral response to comments:-

People develop many coping skills to make sure they don’t look stupid in front of
their peers. For example, rather than joining into a discussion right away, some
folks prefer to wait for others to make the initial responses. So, if you telegraph
your opinion of their responses with “Great,” “Good answer” or “Exactly right”
you may encourage some people to delay their response, or not respond at all,
because they’ll believe that the right answer has already been given. Clearly, this is
not a hard and fast rule, but if you’re looking to attract lots of input from your
group, consider the impact your comments may have.
7. Use what works for you & change what doesn’t:-

Adapt everything you read here to match the age, needs and characteristics of your
particular group, the weather, your environment, the time you have and, of course,
your personality.
Below is a list of questions to use when doing a debrief and review at the end of
your team building session or challenge. These questions are great for making
sense of the experience and building connections or transfer of learning.
After your group has completed a challenge, pick a couple of questions that will
lead them to the learning outcome you are targeting or anything that you
noticed during the activity.
GENERAL QUESTIONS:
 How did you feel during the activity?

 What challenges did you face?
 What did your team have to do or believe to be successful?
 What positives can you take away from the activity?
 What was your plan for the activity? How did you come up with it?
 How can you apply what you learned from this activity in your life or the
workplace?
 How did you feel when you were initially briefed?
 What advice would you give to any other team working on this activity?
 What would you do differently next time?
 What surprised you the most?
 What did you enjoy about the activity? What didn’t you enjoy?
 What lessons can you learn from this challenge?
 How well do you feel you contributed as an individual to the task? What was
your role?
COMMUNICATION QUESTIONS:
 Do you feel you communicated well as a team?

 What changes would you make in how you communicated?
 Did you listen to others in the team?
 Did everyone have some input?
 Did everyone understand the plan? If not, why not?
 How did you ensure everyone knew what was happening?
 How did you communicate your ideas?
COACHING POINT: Communication is central to the success of any team and

your participants need to recognize their responsibilities both as an individual and
as a team player. The ability to both listen and discuss often determines success or
failure.
LEADERSHIP QUESTIONS:
 What is good leadership?

 Did anyone take the lead during the activity?
 Can you have more than one team leader?
 How did you leader manage the group? Were you allocated responsibilities?
 Were you leader a good leader? Why?
 How important was communication when leading?
 Who was responsible for the success or failure of the activity?
 What key qualities does a leader need to have?
 What is the purpose of a team leader?
COACHING POINT: Leadership is an important factor for a team to achieve

success. The purpose of leadership is to give clear direction to help achieve a
specific goal or outcome. The leader does this by organizing the team and
providing support, stability and motivation to others to maximize efficiency. How
a group chooses to make its decisions is also important. If a group chooses to have
a leader, the leader must have good listening and discussion skills.
PROBLEM SOLVING QUESTIONS:
 What is a goal? Does reaching your goal determine success?

 How do you achieve your goals?
 How did you come up with your idea or solution to the problem?
 Did your team try different ideas? If so, why did you change your approach?
What can you learn from this?
 How important was planning? Did everyone have a role during the
challenge?
 Did the group have a clear action plan and how did you come up with this?
 If you failed, what happened next? How did you move past it?
 Did you spend time reflecting on your approach? Why was that important?
 Did you adapt your approach to the task at any point? Why did you change
it?
 What did you learn about solving problems during the activity? How can we
use this in the future?
 Why is goal setting important?
COACHING POINT: Explain the problem solving model – identify the problem,
plan, do, action, review and adapt. Teams usually have no problem proposing
several solutions to the problem. However, they need to be made aware of the
difference between ideas and plans. To plan they need to consider the
consequences of their actions. A common problem is that teams put ideas into
action before fully discussing in detail, the merits of all the ideas proposed. When
there is a time restriction on tasks, it is common that the team performance may
also become rushed. When this happens the team usually fails to spend enough
time thinking and planning before taking action.
TEAMWORK QUESTIONS:
 Do you feel you worked well as a team?

 How did you help your team during the activity?
 Did the whole team agree? Did everyone have an input?
 What did a fellow team member do that was really helpful?
 Did anyone in your team surprise you?
 How important was the support of your team? When do we need support from
others in life or the workplace?
 How did you support others in the team?
 Did anyone feel left out? Why?
 What helped you or stopped you from achieving the outcomes?
 Did you trust your team during the activity? Why was this important?
 How did you overcome negativity in the team? Did this affect how you
approached the activity?
 Looking back, what do feel is the most important element of teamwork?
 How would you rate your teamwork between 1 and 10? 10 being the best
value.
COACHING POINT: Teamwork is important when working with others towards

a shared goal. It allows us to collaborate and share ideas in order to improve. When
faced with a difficult challenge, it is helpful having other people there to support
and offer advice. This links back to aspects of life and can relate to both every day
and workplace problems.
REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
 If you had to do it again, what changes would you make to the way you
approach the task?
 Think about your own personal experience in the activity, what would you do
differently next time?
 Looking back on the activity, what two things stand out to you the most and
why?
 What did you learn through this experience and how can you use it in the
future?
 Before moving on to the next challenge, I would like you to identify one area
where you feel you could have contributed more.
COACHING POINT: In order to move forwards, we sometimes need to look

back and think about our experience and how we can use what we learned to
progress. By asking ourselves questions and reflecting on performance, we can
work out where we can improve and grow as both individuals and teams.
FAILURE QUESTIONS (MENTAL TOUGHNESS):
 Since you were unable to solve the problem, does this mean your team failed?
 How did you feel when you failed the activity?
 What did you do to turn things around?
 Is failure a bad thing? Why do you think that?
 What is more important the completing the activity or learning about
ourselves and our team?
 How did you support others when you found the activity difficult?
 What did you learn about yourself and your team from the failure of this task?
 What would you do differently next time?
COACHING POINT: Emphasis the importance of the need to fail in order to

learn from the experience. Failure teaches us success, as we learn how to adapt and
become better at what we do. It also teaches us, the power of resilience when faced
with difficult challenges. The most important thing is to learn through the process
– sometimes it’s not the destination but the journey that truly matters.

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How to Conduct a Debrief:

2. Sequence your discussion to prepare your group for talking:-

 Ask ‘What’ questions – these questions refer to what happened during an

3. Ask lots of open-ended questions:-

4. Use a variety of formats to keep your group engaged:-

5. Make it easy to see & hear each other:-

6. Use a neutral response to comments:-

7. Use what works for you & change what doesn’t:-

 How did you feel during the activity?

 Do you feel you communicated well as a team?

COACHING POINT: Communication is central to the success of any team and

 What is good leadership?

COACHING POINT: Leadership is an important factor for a team to achieve

PROBLEM SOLVING QUESTIONS:

 What is a goal? Does reaching your goal determine success?

 Do you feel you worked well as a team?

COACHING POINT: Teamwork is important when working with others towards

COACHING POINT: In order to move forwards, we sometimes need to look

FAILURE QUESTIONS (MENTAL TOUGHNESS):

COACHING POINT: Emphasis the importance of the need to fail in order to

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