Step 2: Examine a Pivotal Moment

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Mission Retrospective
Step 2 Support Guide
Use this guide to help examine one pivotal moment in greater depth using broadening and deepening questions.
Step 2 Guidance Reflection support
Mission Retrospective

Step 2: Examine a Pivotal Moment

Select a Pivotal Moment: Choose one pivotal moment from Step 1 that your team wants to examine more closely.

Use Probing Questions: Explore that moment using both broadening and deepening questions. Use only the questions that are most relevant to what happened.

Identify Insights: As the conversation develops, capture important “aha moments” as insights. Then work toward summarizing what matters most in 2–3 core insights.

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Broadening Questions Question set
Probing Questions

Broadening Questions

  • Assumptions: What assumptions shaped our approach at this moment? How could we have tested or validated them?
  • Information: What information did we have during this moment? How effectively did we use it, and what was missing?
  • Time Management: How well did we manage our time leading up to this moment? What strategies could have better supported our preparation or response?
  • Participation: Did everyone’s voice have a chance to be heard in this moment? How did we ensure quieter voices contributed meaningfully?
  • Shared Understanding: Did we maintain a shared understanding of the situation? What actions helped or hindered this during the moment?
  • Disagreement: How did we respond to opposing views during this moment? In what ways did we use them to enhance our decisions or actions?
  • Emotions: What emotions were present during this moment? How did they influence the team’s dynamics and decisions?
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Deepening Questions Question set
Probing Questions

Deepening Questions

  • Core Issue: What was this moment truly about? How did we identify and address the core challenge?
  • Blind Spots: What held our attention during this moment, and what might we have overlooked?
  • Impacts: For whom or what was this a solution? What trade-offs or costs emerged as a result?
  • Prioritization: What did we prioritize during this moment, and what was set aside? How did this balance impact the outcome?
  • Lessons: How did previous lessons shape our response? How did this moment challenge or confirm what we thought we knew?
  • Needs: What did this moment call for more of, and why? What did it need less of to succeed?
  • Adaptability: What adjustments did we make as the situation evolved? How did those changes impact our outcome or process?
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Mission Retrospective

Team Collaboration Board

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Use this collaboration board to capture the analysis, insights, and agreed actions from your Mission Retrospective.

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Opening Context Not started

Capture your teaming context and confirm whether you are working as a stable, intact team or teaming together for the first time (on-the-fly).

Step 1 — Review the Mission Timeline Not started

Review the mission timeline to build a shared understanding of what happened.

Pivotal Moments

After reviewing the mission timeline, identify 2-3 Pivotal Moments that would be worth analyzing in Step 2.

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Step 2 — Examine a Pivotal Moment Not started

Choose one pivotal moment from the list above to analyze.

Selected pivotal moment: —

B. Identify Insights

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Using a series of probing questions - both broadening & deepening - capture insights about your team’s dynamic.

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C. Synthesize Core Insights

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By reviewing the insights identified above, synthesize them into 2-3 Core Insights that capture what mattered most to your team.

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Step 3 — Connect Insights to Actions Not started

Relate Core Insights

Consider where each core insight shows up in your day-to-day working environment. As a team, reflect on which insights are most relevant to your ongoing work together. Then choose one that your team believes is most important to focus on right now to build your plan of action around.

Core Insights Situations in which they occur Frequency of occurrence Impact on team Select Plan of Action focus
Core Insight
Core Insight
Core Insight

Develop Plan of Action

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From the Core Insight selected above, develop a Plan of Action for your team. Keep the output clear, timely, and feasible.

Retrospective complete

Capture your team’s report

Your team has now identified its pivotal moments, key insights, and agreed actions. Download the report to save a summary of your work.

After your team has completed Step 2, proceed to Step 3 of the Mission Retrospective with the Team Lead clicking the button on the right. 

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