Why should you as a manager be asking for back-briefings? - To ensure people understand strategy (by having a **two-way conversation**). - To provide enough context so the team can **prioritize** on its own. - To create alignment on how to reach the goals (via [coaching](Coaching%20Elements.md) and **feedback**). - To provide clarity to the manager what the **implications** of their own directions are. - To step through [Lorenz' Communication Cascade](Lorenz'%20Communication%20Cascade%20and%20Backbriefing.md) - To ensure the effects of the actions taken by the individuals are as closely aligned to the desired intent as possible. - To close the 3 Gaps described by [[The Art of Action]]. When should you use back-briefing? - Every time you provide directions, and all the way to conducting company-wide strategic management. - This technique scales from quick, very short 1:1 conversations to large team-wide workshops. Steps: 1. **Brief**: Provide the (strategic) intent as [succinctly and clearly as possible](Have%20a%20Single%20Message.md) to the team/individual: What isn’t simple cannot be clear and what isn’t clear cannot get done. And describe any boundaries: What constraints and freedoms exist. 2. **Digest**: The team/individual being briefed huddles up and translates what it received by identifying possible actions. This can take seconds or even a day or two. 3. **Backbrief**: The team/individual being briefed repeats what they heard: (1) The why and what of the intent. Then, they explain (2) their planned actions/tasks/solution approach (*the how*), (3) what concerns exist, and (4) what help or resources they need to deliver successfully. 4. **Feedback**: create clarity about key priorities and and acknowledge or question planned actions. No micro-management allowed, do this as a coach only, otherwise you *will* fail to achieve alignment and empowerment! Briefing content tips (see [Strategy Briefing Template](Strategy%20Briefing%20Template.md) for a serious briefing); They should: - Cover an account of the situation - Contain a short statement of the overall intent - An extrapolation of the more specific tasks implied by the intent. - Any further guidance about boundaries (constraints). - Constraints do not only define boundaries, but also help to clarify what is wanted by making explicit what is not wanted. Ref.: https://workzchange.com/posts/backbriefing-empowerment Source: [The Art of Action](https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/9973202) by Stephen Bungay