# The Leader Checkup — Debrief

> Eleven questions, three failure modes of the debrief itself, one rule: the leader speaks first and defends nothing.
> Use with `the-leader-checkup-guide.md`. The debrief runs after the commitment, while the cards are still in the center of the circle.

## How to run this debrief

- Sort the cards on the table into three piles — keep, block, ask — before anyone talks; the piles speak before the people do.
- The leader answers first. Their honest surprise or pull-to-defend sets the safety ceiling for everyone else.
- Finish on the commitment: say what changes, who watches, and when it gets checked, in that order.

## For the leader

**1. The real surprise.**
"What did you hear that genuinely surprised you?"
→ Proof the filter broke at least once; if nothing surprised the leader, the room wasn't honest yet.

**2. The pull to defend.**
"Where did you feel the pull to defend or explain — and what did you want to say?"
→ The discipline named from the inside; saying the unsaid defense out loud is how the next checkup gets easier.

**3. The repeated block.**
"Which block showed up for more than one person?"
→ A pattern, not a complaint — the item that must anchor the commitment.

**4. Real change or try-harder?**
"Is the one change you committed to real, or a promise to 'try harder'?"
→ The difference between a sentence and a test; the room is allowed to reject the vague version.

## For the team

**5. Was it safe?**
"Did it feel safe to be honest? What made it safer, and what made it riskier?"
→ The checkup's own instrument reading — the safety is the product as much as the feedback is.

**6. Heard or waited-on?**
"Did the leader actually listen, or wait to respond? People can tell."
→ Uncomfortable, load-bearing; run it even when the answer will sting.

**7. The unsaid thing, finally said.**
"What did the leader hear that you'd been carrying for a while without saying?"
→ The delayed relief measure; naming it in the open shrinks it.

**8. Making the next one easier.**
"What would make the next checkup easier to be honest in?"
→ The improvement loop — the answer usually costs the leader something small and specific.

## For the commitment

**9. What exactly changes.**
"What exactly will be different, and how will you all know?"
→ Observability; a commitment nobody can see is a mood.

**10. Who holds the date.**
"Who owns the follow-up date, and what happens if it slips?"
→ The date needs a name that isn't the leader's; slipping needs a pre-agreed response, not a new guilt cycle.

**11. The sentence each person leaves with.**
"What's the one sentence each person says aloud before leaving?"
→ The public close; it should be repeatable at the follow-up without embarrassment.

## Failure modes of the debrief

1. **It drifts into a performance review.** Blocks start getting scored and ranked. Rescue: keep every question on behavior + impact and the single commitment — titles, ratings and "overall" belong to a different room entirely.
2. **The leader hijacks reassurance.** After each block, the leader explains how hard they're working. Rescue: the leader speaks first, then listens — the rule from the run carries over; two reassurance rounds end the debrief early rather than let it hollow out.
3. **The commitment debriefs itself to death.** Ten follow-up questions water down one promise until it means nothing. Rescue: the commitment gets exactly one test and one date; everything else waits for the next quarterly checkup.