Use the Drop Report when the ball gets dropped to find out what happened and get things fixed and moving again.
Drop Report: 5 Questions to Help You Get Unstuck When You Drop the Ball
Category: Brain Tool
Date Published: 2016
- Drop Report: 5 Questions to Help You Get Unstuck When You Drop the Ball
- Overview
- Background
- Key Features:
- Benefits
- Usage Instructions: How do I use the drop report?
- The 5 Questions
- Here Are Some Tips When Using Drop Report
- Update Log
- Related Resources:
Overview
The Drop Report is a set of 5 questions that are asked after someone drops the ball. These questions help to process what happened, understand the effect, and aid in reduce the chance the ball does not get dropped again.
Background
We all drop a ball or two at work or at home and that will always happen. The question becomes what are we going to do about it next. Here is where a group of designer and producer put their heads together and came up with the first version retroactive reviews system. Over time these question and order has been updated and has now been developed into this Drop Report.
Drop Report has now been shared with the local entrepreneurship community and is constantly being updated with user feedback. We welcome any of your thoughts in the comment section below.
Key Features:
- 5 questions to ask yourself of the team when someone drops the ball.
Benefits
- Bring structure to a messy situation.
- Create a clear "before" and "after." Once a person finishes a Drop Report, I recommend treating it as closure, allowing them to mentally move on from the drop.
Usage Instructions: How do I use the drop report?
Drop Report is just a list of five questions you ask after the ball gets dropped. There is really not any explanation needed, but we do get asked for a user guide every so often.
Step 1: Drop a proverbial ball.
Step 2: Answer the questions in Drop Report honestly.
Step 3: Take any action steps.
Step 4: Move on with life and stop replaying the story in your head.
The 5 Questions
While you could work through these questions in your head, we have found that externalizing the answer can increase the effectiveness of Drop Report. Each team processes differently, which is why there are now several formats available below for your teams to use.
Question 1: Tell me what the drop is in one sentence?
Question 2: What was the impact of the drop?
Question 3: Why did the drop happen?
Question 4: What needs to be done to clean up the mess the drop caused?
Question 5: How can you reduce the chances this same type of drop will happen again?
Here Are Some Tips When Using Drop Report
- Ask these questions in an interview format so the "dropper" can verbally process and follow-up questions can be asked.
- Don't use Drop Report as a tool to shame, criticize, or punish.
- Present Drop Report as a way to help the "dropper".
- Share a completed Drop Report with the person that was most affected, to show you have processed the event thoroughly.
- Add Drop Report to your onboarding process and ask HR to change it around.
Update Log
- 2016 - We first started using the Drop Report at Orange Cube Group when something went wrong.
- 2019 - During my time at the SBDC, I would use this outline when a client called me in "freak out" mode.
- 2022 - We built a Google Form for the Drop Report during my time at DS Luxury, which I and the staff would use as a processing tool so our brains didn't get stuck on a topic.
Related Resources:
