Facilitation · 15-45 minutes per debrief, depending on the length and intensity of the activity.

Thiagi's Six-Phase Debriefing Model

A question-led debriefing sequence from Sivasailam 'Thiagi' Thiagarajan, a designer of training games. It moves a group from feelings, through facts and lessons, to real-world relevance, alternative scenarios and action planning after an interactive exercise.

When to use Thiagi's Six-Phase Debriefing Model

Right after an interactive activity, game or simulation, especially one that produced strong emotions or surprising results.

How Thiagi's Six-Phase Debriefing Model works

Use the six questions as the script for any debrief after a game, simulation or role play. Select or shorten phases to fit the time, but keep the order from emotion to action.

Phases of Thiagi's Six-Phase Debriefing Model

  1. How do you feel?: Let participants voice their emotional reactions to the activity first, so strong feelings do not block later analysis.
  2. What happened?: Collect data: ask people to recall key events, build a shared timeline and compare perspectives.
  3. What did you learn?: Invite participants to generate and test hypotheses and principles, checking them against what happened.
  4. How does this relate to the real world?: Explore how the activity mirrors situations at work or in daily life, treating it as a metaphor.
  5. What if?: Change a condition of the activity and ask how outcomes would differ, so insights are tested in new contexts.
  6. What next?: Ask participants to plan concrete actions based on their insights, for the next round or for real work.

Key principles

  • People learn from reflecting on experience, not from experience alone
  • Feelings come before analysis
  • Test insights against data and alternative scenarios
  • End with action

Best for

  • Training games and simulations
  • Role plays
  • Experiential team sessions
  • Online interactive exercises

Considerations

  • The 'How do you feel?' opening can be uncomfortable in cultures or groups where sharing emotions is unusual; offer written or anonymous options.
  • Thiagi published variations, including a later seven-phase version, so treat the phases as a flexible guide rather than a fixed script.
  • Needs enough time; a rushed debrief loses the later, most useful phases.

Attribution & sources

Developed by Sivasailam Thiagarajan (Thiagi), 2004

Primary source

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