Critical Incident

Critical Incident is a participatory activity designed to analyze and reflect on challenging or problematic situations that participants have faced in the past. Through a structured approach, the causes, decisions made, consequences, and lessons learned are identified, promoting collective learning and improving skills for handling future incidents.

Preparation

1. Define the purpose:
   • Determine the objective of the activity:
     • Reflect on past incidents to extract key lessons.
     • Identify common patterns in decision-making.
     • Propose improvements to prevent similar incidents.
2. Prepare materials:
   • Templates to document incident elements (optional).
   • Flip charts or whiteboards to organize group ideas.
   • Sticky notes and markers to write key points.
3. Workspace:
   • In-person: A space with work tables for small groups.
   • Virtual: Collaborative tools.

Step-by-step instructions

1. Introduction to the purpose
   • Explain that participants will reflect on challenging incidents to learn from them and strengthen their problem-solving skills.
   • Emphasize the importance of maintaining a constructive and respectful approach.
2. Presenting the incident
   • Ask participants to think of a critical incident they have faced in a specific context (work, community, projects).
   • Have them briefly share the incident with their group or describe it using a template, considering:
     • What happened.
     • What the causes were.
     • What decisions were made.
     • What the consequences were.
3. Small group analysis
   • Divide participants into groups of 3-5 people.
   • Each person presents their incident, and the group reflects on:
     • Causes: What factors contributed to the incident?
     • Decisions: What alternatives could have been considered?
     • Consequences: What impact did the incident have?
     • Lessons learned: What can be applied in the future?
4. Documenting key insights
   • Groups summarize key takeaways on flip charts or digital tools to share with the rest.
5. Group discussion
   • Facilitate a conversation where each group presents their incidents and lessons learned.
   • Encourage reflection on common patterns and strategies for handling future challenges.
6. Proposing improvements
   • Work with the group to identify concrete actions they can take to prevent or better manage similar incidents.
7. Closing
   • Summarize the collective learnings and thank participants for sharing their experiences openly and constructively.