What’s Going On Here?

I've lost my car in a parking lot.

I've tried to open the door of a car that wasn't mine.

Each time this happens, it’s because I've failed to pay attention to what was going on around me.

Situational awareness is an underrated and hugely important skill  - especially in a world of distractions.

It allows you to find your car after exiting a store.

And stay safe when walking from the store to the car.

It also allows you to make meaning out of what you're observing and predict what might happen next. 

Psychologist Mica Endsley developed a situational awareness model that explains how we perceive what's going on, make meaning of that information, and then anticipate what will happen next so we can make decisions and take action.

Situational awareness is a common term and concept in the military where honing these skills can mean the difference between life and death.

It's much less common in business circles. We may talk about running scenarios and strategic planning, but we also rely heavily on dashboard metrics that often tell us about what happened (past tense) using lagging indicators. We're not often challenged to make real-time observations, predictions, and decisions unless we're in crisis.

What if you, your leadership team, and your staff all honed your own situational awareness skills and applied them on a daily basis? What would that mean?

First, we all have to agree on what deserves our attention.

What is our situation and what does it mean to be aware? That starts with everyone having a common understanding of the company's purpose, vision, values, and current strategic priorities.

This information alone should give most employees the context they need to make real-time decisions aligned with company goals and culture.

Add this shared context and clarity about one's individual role in achieving company goals to the regular practice of noticing what is happening around them (internal and external to the organization and industry) and you enhance everyone's ability to avoid mistakes, reduce rework, improve efficiency, lower costs, control financial and reputational risk, and to head off potential problems before they occur.

For leaders, it's especially important to hone your situational awareness so you can make meaning out of all the data that's available and use it to make decisions and take action. Making decisions and directing your team on how to take action is your primary job. The better you get at cultivating your future-focus by being intensely aware of what's going on in the present the more likely it is that you're company will be prepared to create opportunities while your competitors react to disruptions and crises.

Situational awareness requires ongoing practice.

You can start by doing the following:

1. Noticing - Make it a regular happen to ask yourself "what's going on here?" Things aren't always what they seem and without getting properly oriented to your surroundings you might try to solve the wrong problem.
2. Grappling - This requires you to wrestle with the information you're receiving and what your analysis is telling you about what might happen next or what you can create moving forward. This is where thinking is doing.
3. Predicting - The idea of prediction puts business owners in the role of creator vs. problem solver. Run the scenarios. Which one do you prefer? What future do you desire and are willing to create? What decisions and actions will that require?
4. Deciding - Action that occurs without intentional decision making obscures what we believe to be true about the situation, what decision is underlying the action, or what decision the action implies. Without focused attention on decision making, you may fail to decide or act, act without intention, or act without first considering what unintended consequences may occur. Make a clear decision and provide the rationale for that choice. Then share it with your team.
5. Acting - Now everyone has the clarity they need to act in focused, purposeful ways to produce the results you desire. These actions will change the situation in some way. As a result, your situational awareness will change too.
6. Reassessing - Your actions have changed the situation, so it's time to reassess. What changes do you notice? What new meaning and understanding do you have? What are you noticing?

Repeat.

Now, where's my car?