Jason Buffington .com

Roses – Buds – and Thorns

2–3 minutes
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If you’ve ever gotten through a big project/event and wanted to talk about how to do it better, you might have had an “after action” meeting – usually framed around Start, Stop, Continue.  There’s a twist on that which I like better.

Roses, Buds, and Thorns explores the WHY as well as the WHAT to do differently.  Let’s talk about that …

Transcript

One of my favorite learning opportunities is right after a big project or event finishes – with what some call an after-action meeting, usually framed around Start – Stop – Continue.

You go around the room and each person hopefully suggests:

  • A START – a new idea for the group to consider
  • A STOP — something for the group to avoid
  • A CONTINUE — something beneficial that you want to encourage, which is important because sometimes the best things are taken for granted. Celebrate those so they Continue to be done.

Outside a work, a twist I like better is – Roses – Buds – Thorns

Start Stop Continue is tactical, but Roses Buds and Thorns helps me understand how people feel about something, as well as what we should do about it.

So go around the room and everybody has to offer two items … that are some combination of Roses or Buds or Thorns with two rules:

1st Rule – one has to be a ROSE; something that you liked. Sometimes if the work project or the scout campout was tough, it might not be easy to pick out what you liked. But this develops a great skill to force each of us to search for something that you’re grateful for.  There has to be a rose.

A BUD is like a START – something for us to think about doing in the future.

A THORN is something that you didn’t like, kind of like a STOP.  But THORNS phrase it around how it impacted you or how you felt about it – not just suggesting we shouldn’t do it anymore. That helps everyone understand your WHY and that’s important.

The 2nd Rule is that ‘weather cannot be a thorn.’

We use this in scouts, cuz we camp every month, during rain, heat, or cold. You can’t control the weather, so it can’t be a thorn. Your thorn might be that you didn’t bring rain gear or a coat; and that’s something you could learn from.  It teaches us to accept and adapt to things outside our control – which is a lesson that works in business and scouting.

So, next time you finish something that you want to improve on for the future, ask your team to share their Roses … Buds … and Thorns.

See you next Monday

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