• Reaching settlement
• Learning by de-briefing
• Living with the agreement

Learning by de-briefing

Introduction

Learning from experience helps to build better practice and is much harder to do than we often think. De-briefing is a way to avoid or minimise problems that arise in collective bargaining. This can take place with your bargaining team or with both bargaining teams sharing experiences across the table.

It can be worthwhile to set aside time to consider what worked, what didn’t and what you would do differently next time. Sometimes de-briefing seems unnecessary and emotionally trying after a protracted bargaining experience - and yet it is the best way to learn.  Good de-briefing

• helps to give everyone closure
• draws on ideas for the future while they’re fresh in the mind
• creates time to reflect, process, and even celebrate
• helps to build on the “goods” and recognise and address the “bads”
• turns experience into knowledge and learning

De-briefing after collective bargaining

There are many ways to de-brief.  You may just want to deliver a quick survey by email or hold a meeting with the parties at the end of the bargaining. 

A shortened version you could adapt for your purposes could include the following:

• What was useful?
• What was not useful?
• Did you meet expected timeframes and if not, why not?
• What obstacles and surprises confronted you?
• How could the process be more effective next time?
• What should generally happen next time?
• What preparation, such as training, could improve the next bargaining round?

On the panel on the right side you can access other information and resources to help you tailor a de-briefing process to your needs, such as a draft template and the bargaining checklist.