Avoiding the Lessons Learned Trap

Lessons learned might be one of the most misused terms in emergency preparedness, because of the so-called lessons learned trap.  This is based on a very thought-provoking article from the Ottawa Citizen that focuses on the effectiveness of the lessons learned process following a recent Canadian storm which generated six tornadoes and resulted in over 300,ooo outages.

What is the Lessons Learned Trap?

The lessons learned trap happens when lessons learned are identified but not implemented.  It’s grounded in a belief – whether conscious or not – that lessons are learned when they have been identified.  Unfortunately, this is false.  Lessons are learned only after they have been identified AND put into practice.  Otherwise, they are nothing more than hollow words.

As the article points out, there have been numerous examples of this lack of lesson implementation over the past couple of decades, and sometimes it can result in deaths.  Again, lessons that are not practiced are useless.  A better approach would be to break the process down into two components: (1) identify lessons and (2) implement lessons.  By making a clear distinction between identification and implementation, the lessons learned trap can be avoided.

I think this is crucial for emergency preparedness personnel to understand.  The things we learn have little to no value if we never utilize the learning.  The lessons learned trap results in repeating the same mistakes over and over, which is something that we can’t afford to do, especially with the prospect of more frequent and severe storm activity in the future due to global warming.

I recommend that you conduct an internal review of your lessons learned process to understand the degree to which previous lessons have actually been implemented.  If you see a gap between lessons identified vs. implemented, then you will know that you have been falling into the lessons learned trap and should work to improve the process ASAP.