Creating Situational Awareness During a Crisis: The Foundation of Effective Response
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When organizations struggle in a crisis, the problem is rarely a lack of effort. More often, teams are working from different versions of reality. That leads to delayed decisions, duplicated work, and conflicting messages.
In this episode, host Rob Burton explains situational awareness and why it’s central to crisis management and operational resilience. He traces the idea back to its military roots, including Colonel John Boyd’s OODA loop (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act). He then covers the four ways organizations most often lose awareness during a crisis. Finally, he walks through five simple tactics any team can put in place right away:
- Build a common operating picture, so everyone works from one source of truth
- Use a standard situation report (sitrep) template
- Set a regular schedule for updates
- Sort incoming information as confirmed, pending verification, or unconfirmed
- Keep an incident action plan at both the crisis team level and the functional team level
The main point: situational awareness doesn’t happen by accident. It comes from discipline, simple processes, and regular practice.
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