After an incident, exercise, or disruption, organisations often move quickly back to “business as usual.” But without structured reflection, valuable lessons are lost—and the same issues are likely to re-emerge at the next event.
An After-Action Review (AAR) is a proven method for capturing insights from real-world experience and converting them into meaningful improvements. When conducted effectively, AARs strengthen preparedness, improve response capability, and embed continuous improvement across emergency management and organisational resilience programs.
At Resilient Services, we support organisations to conduct structured, evidence-based After-Action Reviews that lead to practical outcomes — not just reports that sit on a shelf.
What Is an After-Action Review?
An After-Action Review is a structured review process conducted after an incident, emergency, exercise, or significant event. Its purpose is to examine what happened, why it happened, and how future performance can be improved.
Rather than focusing on blame, an AAR creates a safe environment for open discussion, learning, and improvement. It seeks to identify strengths to reinforce and gaps to address.
AARs are commonly used following:
- Emergency responses (e.g., floods, bushfires, cyber incidents)
- Crisis management activations
- Business continuity disruptions
- Exercises, simulations, and training activities
- Near-miss events or emerging risk scenarios
Why After-Action Reviews Matter
After-Action Reviews play a critical role in emergency preparedness, response, and recovery cycles. They ensure that experience — whether positive or negative — leads to tangible improvement.
Key benefits of After-Action Reviews include:
- Improved preparedness through the identification of capability gaps
- Stronger response performance by reinforcing what worked well
- Reduced risk exposure by addressing weaknesses before the next event
- Increased organisational resilience through continuous learning
- Greater accountability via documented improvement actions
Without a formal review process, organisations risk repeating the same mistakes, relying on assumptions rather than evidence.
When Should an After-Action Review Be Conducted?
Timing is critical to the effectiveness of an After-Action Review.
AARs should be conducted as soon as practicable after an event, while details are still fresh and participants can recall decisions, challenges, and observations accurately.
This may be:
- Immediately after an exercise (hot debrief)
- Within days or weeks of a real incident
- In stages for complex or prolonged events
For major incidents, an initial review may be followed by a more detailed After-Action Report once recovery activities are underway.
Who Should Be Involved?
An effective After-Action Review includes all relevant stakeholders who were involved in, or impacted by, the event. This may include:
- Incident management teams
- Operational staff and responders
- Executives and decision-makers
- Communications and support functions
- External partners or contractors (where appropriate)
Inclusive participation ensures the review captures multiple perspectives and avoids a narrow or incomplete understanding of what occurred.
Key Questions in an After-Action Review
Most After-Action Reviews are guided by a consistent set of core questions. These provide structure while allowing flexibility based on the nature of the event.
Common AAR questions include:
- What was expected to happen?
- What actually happened?
- What worked well and should be sustained?
- What didn’t work as intended and why?
- What can be improved before the next event?
These questions help organisations move beyond surface-level observations and uncover underlying causes, decision-making challenges, and systemic issues.
Best Practices for Effective After-Action Reviews
To deliver real value, After-Action Reviews should follow established best practices.
Use an Independent Facilitator
A neutral facilitator helps ensure balanced discussion, encourages honest input, and prevents dominant voices from shaping outcomes. This is particularly important for sensitive incidents or executive-level reviews.
Focus on Systems, Not Individuals
Effective AARs examine processes, structures, and decision-making — not individual performance. This approach fosters psychological safety and constructive learning.
Base Findings on Evidence
Where possible, reviews should reference:
- Incident logs and timelines
- Communications records
- Plans and procedures used during the response
- Observations from exercises or observers
Evidence-based reviews yield more credible, actionable outcomes.
Convert Insights into Actions
The true value of an After-Action Review lies in its outcomes. Findings should be translated into:
- Clear recommendations
- Assigned actions and owners
- Timeframes for implementation
- Links to planning, training, or capability uplift activities
From Review to Report: The After-Action Report
Following an After-Action Review discussion, organisations often produce an After-Action Report. This formal document captures:
- A summary of the event or exercise
- Key observations and lessons identified
- Areas of good practice
- Opportunities for improvement
- Agreed on corrective actions
After-Action Reports provide evidence of due diligence, support regulatory and assurance requirements, and help embed lessons into future planning and preparedness activities.
Embedding Continuous Improvement
After-Action Reviews should not be treated as a one-off activity. When embedded into emergency management and resilience programs, they support a cycle of continuous improvement by:
- Informing updates to emergency and business continuity plans
- Shaping future training and exercises
- Strengthening governance and decision-making frameworks
- Improving coordination across teams and partners
Organisations that consistently apply AARs are better positioned to adapt to evolving risks and respond effectively when incidents occur.
How Resilient Services Can Support After-Action Reviews
Resilient Services provides independent, expert support for After-Action Reviews across emergency management, crisis response, and resilience programs. Our services include:
- Facilitation of structured After-Action Reviews
- Development of After-Action Reports
- Identification of systemic issues and improvement priorities
- Integration of lessons into planning and preparedness frameworks
- Support for exercises, audits, and assurance activities
We help organisations move beyond “lessons identified” to lessons implemented.
Strengthen Preparedness Through Learning
Every incident and exercise presents an opportunity to improve. A well-facilitated After-Action Review ensures those opportunities are not missed.
By turning experience into insight — and insight into action — organisations can strengthen preparedness, enhance response capability and build lasting resilience.
Contact Resilient Services to learn how our After-Action Review expertise can support your organisation’s continuous improvement journey.