I learned about retros through agile methodologies. It’s one of the official parts of this working process and happened at the end of each focused work period (sprint).

I was working as a product owner, to launch a website, supporting underpresented young people into the careers they want. It was fast paced and our sprints were every 2 weeks. Retrospectives/retros, were a time to breath, reflect on what’s happened and essentially reconnect as humans – all online with the team, located globally.

https://miro.com/templates/quick-retrospective/

I’ve been bringing this into some of my other work with arts and non profit spaces, since. At Stanley Arts, we are using it to support the reporting and evaluation of the NLHF funded project that I’m leading. It’s not at the same frequent intervals but I’m using some of the same tools to support conversation and participation
– easyretro boards so we can anonymously commeny on how the process is going
– Miro online whiteboard for collaborative feedback and sometimes using them as a springboard for focused working sessions.

It’s not always a purist approach to how to run a retrospective. Adjusting so it fits in with the work culture is something I’m very prepared to do. Even just naming these sessions in the diary, ‘retrospectove’ can help to filter down that we have intentionally set this time to step back and look at what’s going on.