End of Activation

This unit will discuss the importance of reviewing and reporting at the conclusion of an Activation.

Team Debrief

Typically the Activation Lead(s) will debrief the team towards the end of an Activation, to formally thank and release them from their role. However, as it is closely tied to the final reporting it may also be delegated to the Activator in the reporting role, so we'll discuss it here.

Activation Details

A debrief from the Activation Lead(s), or delegated to the Reporting role, is critical communication to the Team. Typically this will be done via email, unless the Lead(s) determine otherwise. Of course it needs to contain some basics:

The name of the Activation
The date Activation was declared
The date the Activation was/will be concluded
The name of the person or people conducting the debrief
A brief description of what the objectives were versus what actually happened.

The Good, Bad and Suggested Improvement

The main point of the debrief is for the Activation Lead(s) to tell the team how well they did; and there is always room for improvement, so the debrief should communicate these things to the team:

Any issues identified by the Activation Lead(s)
Suggestions for improving the next response
Actions identified as contributing greatly to success

Debrief Example

Activation: Example Event 2015
Activation Declared: August 1, 2015
Activation Concluded: August 10, 2015
Debrief Conducted by: John Doe, Activation Lead
Summary: Upon request of Partner Organization X, an Activation was declared to map the road network of Region Y. As the event unfolded, priorities shifted to building footprints. A significant portion of the road network was completed as well as all building footprints in the area of interest. Upon completion of all the mapping projects, the Activation is now concluded.
Issues:
At the onset we had several Activators duplicating efforts creating Tasking Manager projects.
We were slow to ask for more validation assistance.
Several Activation Team members were unresponsive to email.
Suggestions:
The Activation Lead(s) should assign one person to manage project creation.
Validation Activators should help with messaging about projects not getting much validation attention.
Activation Team members who may not be readily available to communicate via email should inform the Activation Lead(s) and/or not volunteer if it is likely they will not be able to respond.
Successes:
Mostly the communication within the Activation Team as well as with the community was excellent, there seemed to be little question or confusion from the mappers about what was asked and how best to participate.
Reporting was great with many nice visuals and use showcase that contributed to a motivated community.
Review
Which of the following roles on the Activation Team conduct a debriefing (there may be more than one correct answer)?
Reporting
Activation Lead
Public Relations
Communications

People reading this material for credit on the HOT Courses website should share their answer in the #courses slack channel on HOT's Slack ( Request Invite ) If anyone has any question about the correct answer to a Review question, please ask in the #courses channel of HOT's Slack.

Activation Review

Team Feedback

Where the debriefing is typically the Activation Lead(s) giving their overview and critique of the Activation from the leadership view, an Activation Review is for the team to provide feedback of their own. These could also be done via email, but are often more effectively done with a live voice or text chat. The idea is for the Activation Team to feel safe to speak freely to the Lead(s) and other team members, be critical of actions, but not of each other. It may take getting to know the individuals on the team and how they would most likely give honest feedback.

Items to Discuss

Most importantly, everyone on the team should be given the chance to at minimum, say three things:

One thing that went well during the Activation.
One thing that did not go so well.
One lesson learned or suggestion for improvement. This is similar to what is included in the Team Debrief (discussed in Unit 3 Lesson 1).

Using the Feedback

Between the Team Debrief and the Activation Review, there may be many suggestions for improvement. The Reporting Role needs to collect and disseminate those suggestions to the appropriate working groups to discuss and provide recommendations for improving the next response.

Examples:

Issues related to Activation procedures may need further discussion and/or amendment to protocol and other policy and guidance; these items should be forwarded to the Activation Working Group.
Issues related to communication should be discussed with those in the Public Relations role and potentially need to be addressed by the Communication Working Group in case it was related to being able to efficiently communicate through Social Media, the website or other HOT platforms.
Issues related to collaboration with partner organizations may be resolved by discussing with an individual Partner Liaison or may need to be discussed with the HOT Executive Director.

Review

Match the example suggested improvement with the most appropriate option for referral among the following options: HOT Executive Director, Activation Working Group, Partner Liaison, Communications Working Group, Public Relations Role person, Training Working Group, Community Working Group.

We need to update the Activation Protocol to better explain the Reporting process.
We need a contact with an organization we worked with during this Activation.
Our external messaging for this Activation was ineffective, there were very few social media posts as an example.
We need to update some content on LearnOSM due to changes in one or more of our technical tools.

End of Activation