5 Dynamics Of A Debrief – Lesson 5 – Glad To Be Here

The practice of a debrief is essential for the Glad To Here® mindset. Throughout this series, we’ve been analyzing how, why, and when you would use each of the 5 different dynamics.

So far we’ve covered:

  1. Safe Environment – Creating a safe environment will result in mutual respect. 
  2. Check Your Ego – Focusing on humility and how important this is for growth.
  3. Lay It On The Table – This is the ability to discuss everything openly and honestly.
  4. Own It & Fix It – Accountability minus any blame.

This has all been building toward the final dynamic: Glad To Be Here.

Without the previous 4 stages, you won’t be able to reach this 5th and most important dynamic.

Gratitude

Gratitude is the core of Glad To Be Here. This final dynamic is all about looking back and being able to focus entirely on gratitude for simply being here.

What does Glad To Be Here mean? 

It can actually mean a lot of things. You should try and think of it as an ethos, or as a way of being. 

It’s so much more than a mentality. It’s the secret sauce, the glue that holds together a high-performance team.

The first 4 dynamics are all about working towards operational excellence within your team. And when you’ve worked hard together to achieve that, it becomes an exponential force when you add in the 5th dynamic: Glad To Be Here.

Unite The Team

It galvanizes the team, and it unites and builds chemistry between everyone. Glad To Be Here endures throughout the good times and especially the bad times.

When John looks back over his professional career, he’s filled with gratitude. 

He was honored to be selected for the Blue Angels, to have the opportunity to step into the debriefing room and wear the uniform alongside the other Angels. He is grateful to be a representative of a high-performance team.

He felt the same level of gratitude about his time as a midshipman in the naval academy. He is truly humbled to be a part of the whole institution. 

Later on in his career, studying at Stanford Business School, it was awe-inspiring to be in the presence of so many incredible people.

The ability to look back over time and feel appreciative, proud, and above all else, grateful, has changed John’s perspective. It has been life-affirming, and he sees what can be achieved with the right mindset. 

Get A Fresh Perspective

If your organization only ever applies a debrief when things go wrong, it brings a negative spin to the whole process. A grateful mindset changes perspectives, helping to spot opportunities and boosting a team’s potential to be creative or innovative.

As a performance exercise, you can use Glad To Be Here to conquer stress and anxiety. You should focus your thoughts throughout the day on gratitude. 

You can make this process easier by creating a gratitude list of opportunities, achievements and accomplishments.

You should ask your team to do the same; it does wonders for morale and individual confidence. 

Take the time to celebrate the good things because even when things have gone wrong, there will always be something positive to take from the situation. 

Your Glad To Be Here Can Change

The reasons why you’re Glad To Be Here are ever-evolving over time. 

Today John is most grateful for being able to share all of the knowledge he has learned over the years.

He’s especially glad to be able to share those messages and to have worked with over 1,000 different companies. In the last 2 decades, 10,000 different leaders and over 1 million people have been impacted by this message.

The key to it all is staying in the present moment and always reminding yourself of what makes you grateful. 

Remember The Small Things

Remind yourself of what you should be grateful for. It’s very often the little things in life that you’re most grateful for. It’s a gratitude for the people you’re with and the impact that you can make.

But real success happens when you take the Glad To Be Here mentality beyond the individual.

When it’s displayed within the team as a whole or throughout an entire organization, that’s when you have real power.

Add together operational excellence and the Glad To Be Here mindset, and you’ll have an unstoppable, fearless machine.

Bringing It All Together

This final dynamic is essential to bring the whole debrief together. Without it, your debrief just won’t make the same impact.

Your debrief checklist should be:

Pull these steps together, and you’ll be well on your way towards excellence.