geoff cooper

1Army Knowledge Management Group Land Warfare Development Centre

Learning through collaborative analysis and decision making


Background thoughts


Learning as an organisational capability It starts with an agreed concept of

employment All the elements of capability need to be

considered Eg. Policy, systems, people, support, logistics

Culture and trust are at the centre of success Obviously a challenge across multiple

organisations Leadership, resource and people investment


Lessons and the Australian government Classic collaborative model - the 'joint

task force' Emergency Management Australia Coastwatch Asia Pacific Civil Military Centre for

Excellence


About lessons in Defence

What do I mean by lessons? Qualitative operations research

We aim to capture our lessons from all operations, training and capability enhancement activities

Each service has someone identified to collect and analyse lessons

We have working groups that bring the services together

We invite relevant agencies to Defence training We coordinate operational prep with other

agencies


About lessons in Defence (2) We have specifically targeted disaster

relief and humanitarian assistance missions to learn from / take action on

We have mechanisms to improve interoperability around the world


A basic process not specific to Army


Defined central model

Plan Collect Analyse Decide Implement


Important complimentary processes Exploitation

Creatively socialising lessons Request for Information After Action Reviews Collection Seminars

Communities of practice Analysis workshops Decision making boards Information management


Making the central model collaborative


Plan

Seek out all priority information needs Review previously identified trends Developing a combined plan

Identify targets Identify deliberate effort Agree on actionable product

Share the lead for different activities Consider common training Conduct periodic synchronisation

meetings


Collect

We collect data & artifacts / We extract observations Hybrid team with required expertise Subject matter experts from relevant authorities Contextualised collection plan Rapid analysis enabled

Common training / induction Effective data recording and management Analysts who understand the business Actionable feedback to the immediate superior

Tools Digital recorders (voice, pics, video) Field deployable database Subtopic


Analyse

We identify insights from patterns in observations

Refers to ongoing or task based analysis Schema aligns with main lines of operation System connects data directly to findings Re-contextualise insights to match specific

requirement Where there is a specific action that can be

taken then its awarded 'lesson' status Insights and lessons validated

Helps to transfer ownership effectively too Can be in workshop format or in isolation Busy world = workshop works better


Decide

Informed by analysis; backed by data Various cross-command boards

convened to make decisions Minimal discussion on validity of lessons

- already done Concentrate on rapid action planning Normal minutes are taken Agreed actions are updated in the

information system


Implement

Agents appointed during decision making

Need to check effectiveness may influence next round of collection


The punchline

Data can be practical without too much treatment Simple collection and analysis

Collaborate to get the right people involved

There have already been efforts to bring emergency services together

Any Questions

geoff cooper

Documents

specific

collect

lessons

defence

learning