Situational Awareness: Content in Attention

Atticus told me to delete the adjectives and I’d have the facts.

Harper Lee

High speed driving, whether rally-, dragsters or formula 1 cars, is about moving a car from point a to point b, and ideally speaking, be available to enjoy the outcome of winning. To drive well, the one non-negotiable is an awareness of the road and surrounding conditions at every moment in the race.

Successful high speed drivers, from information gathered during a modelling project, gave evidence of high situational awareness. And so did managers who manage safety well (recording in excess of 2-3million lost-time-injury-free hours), and business managers who read the environment and competitors well, as well as people displaying courage.

In another modelling project (a modelling project is the description of the thinking and behavioural strategies of peak performers with the aim of replicating the common denominators for success) regarding excellent shift bosses, it was recorded that when they are underground at least a significant part of their attention is about gathering information about their environment, no matter what activity they were involved in.

What is Situational Awareness?

“It’s the ability to observe the world around you without fouling it up with internal dialogue, judgment, or other distraction. It’s the ability to see a dress as red instead of cute, or of experiencing disappointment for what it is, rather than seeing yourself as a failure.” (Todd Kashdan, Ph.D., and Robert Biswas-Diener, Dr. Philos: “The upside of your dark side: why being your whole self—not just your “good” self—drives success and fulfillment.” Penguin Publication, 2014; p.123).

To quote the late US senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan: “You are entitled to your opinion. But you are not entitled to your own facts.”

The Process of Situational Awareness

Awareness is the first stage of our contact with “reality.” Awareness, consider what is appropriate/right, act. The mind goes through these three stages in pico-seconds, especially in conditions where expertise or habits are present. The good news of habits are the neurological speeds with which we can think and act. Habits, however, are the worst potential pitfall because it leads to over-generalizations and faulty attention.

A useful way of unpacking how the mind does situational awareness is the use the acronym TOTE, coined by a team of researchers (Karl Pribram and associates) to describe how the brain knows what program to run. This process run at very high neurological speeds and it is unusual to even become aware of it, except in certain situations needed to slow down the process deliberately. For example, slowing down will not happen during driving a rally car through short turns.

• T1=becoming aware if the content of the situation, followed by an assessment or judgement about the meaning of the information. This first step determines what will happen in the next step: what kind of action is to follow on this initial assessment. Here is the time of thought viruses, of “fouling up with internal dialogue …” which has the effect on the next stage. T1 is assessment post-awareness.
• Operation: the thinking about, and with reference to, the results of T1. The creation of a mental map becomes the basis for behaviour. The intention of Operation is to replicate the outcome in T1, or to make a correction as the judgment indicates a deviance from an internal standard. O is the source of all behaviour and thinking about …
• T2=assessing whether the thinking and creation of behavioural maps will meet the conditions identified in T1. If yes, the person will exit (E) and continue with something else, or do the appropriate behaviour needed which again will require its own TOTE. T2 is the conclusion for stopping, or a realization to continue with a “plan b.”
• E=exit.

Managing safety

After extensive modelling of safe-behaviour management, both in South Africa and companies in the USA, one active process that stands out is the situational awareness of the supervisor and management when they are walking on site. It is like the have a constant radar-like awareness about what is right and it does not need attention, and what needs to be acted on immediately. Awareness is on occasion unconscious attention, and at other times a deliberate act of concentration.

During a site visit these people have normal conversations, but with much less eye contact when compared to having a conversation in their offices. T1 is the assessment of yes/no of what they are becoming aware of. Yes means they do nothing (Exit). No means an immediate intervention (Operation). The behaviour of coaching the person to remember or comply with the rules of safety, is the behaviour that is appropriate for the moment and for the person.

In the context of underground during mining operations it was remarkable how the successful shift supervisors were alert in a multi-sensory way. It was like their senses of sight, smell, feel and sound were on a “switched on” mode. The non-successful shift supervisors had single minded end-point goals in mind and were less aware of the ongoing environment.

Conclusion

At least in the domain of managing safe behaviour there are three variables displayed by the peak performer:

1. Non-judgmental awareness
2. Followed by consideration of what is the right/appropriate action to take, and
3. Then to act or not.