Moving forward from a "Lessons Learned" framework - mindset

Lessons Learned are not learned unless actions are taken to correct the problems identified. Also lessons learned does not necessarily mean what was done wrong. That is another misnomer of the phrase. I have seen organizations and people afraid of lessons learned in AAR's because they point out where they made mistakes. It can be a reinforcement for some actions and a source of information for the correction of others. 

It has been my experience that there are plenty of lessons learned produced but the attitude in the industry is not one of learning from them. I hate to keep harping on the military use of lessons learned but there is a correlation between the military profession and our own. I'll always remember when General Schwarzkopf giving a briefing after the first Gulf War about the overall tactics of the war. He mentioned a Civil War battle that he had studied at West Point as the basis for his determining the tactics he would use. That is the example of how lessons learned should be used in our profession. I'll never forget one official after Katrina stating that one of the most difficult and unexpected problem after the storm was the total destruction of so much of the communication infrastructure. That lesson was learned after Hugo and Andrew close to twenty years previous. Until we as a profession begin study disasters and the various problems they produce to create our plans we will continue to repeat our mistakes.