leadership Archives - Page 4 of 12 - Situational Awareness Matters!™

Flawed Expectations of Personnel Can Impact Situational Awareness

Leave a Comment / Anger, Article, Attention Management, Checklists, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Distractions and Interruptions, Emotions, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Human Factors, Leadership, Neuroscience, Risk Assessment, Safety, Situational awareness, Tacit Knowledge, Teamwork / Rich Gasaway

You develop situational awareness by using your senses to capture information (Level 1 situational awareness). Those clues and cues are then processed into understanding (Level 2 situational awareness). Once you understand what is happening, you can then make predictions of future events (Level 3 situational awareness). This article focuses on the third level of situational […]

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Imagination Can Influence Situational Awareness

1 Comment / Article, Attention Management, Confabulation, Decision Making, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Human Factors, Neuroscience, Safety, Situational awareness / Rich Gasaway

If I were to tell you that on an emergency scene it is possible for you to use X-Ray vision, you’d probably think I’ve been watching too many Superman movies. But it is possible for you to look right through a solid object on an emergency scene and see what’s beyond it. Seriously! Read on…

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Firefighting: It’s a whole new ballgame

6 Comments / Accountability, Article, Complacency, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Emotions, Fear, Human Behavior, Leadership, Mayday and RIT, Personnel location, Risk Assessment, Safety, Situational awareness, Situational Readiness, Staffing, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Stress, Teamwork, Training, Workload Management / Rich Gasaway

There is little doubt the economic recession of 2008-2009 had a significant impact on the nation’s fire service. Hardly a day went by where there wasn’t some news about an organization that downsized, rightsized or capsized. There are all kinds of explanations and terms being attached to what happened. One I heard at the time

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Fear can be a barrier to situational awareness

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Article, Assumptions, Bravado, Close Call, Decision Making, Emotions, Fear, Human Factors, Judgment, Optimism, Risk Assessment / Rich Gasaway

Everyone has fears and fear can certainly impact a person’s situational awareness. Some people are better at controlling their fears while others are controlled by their fears. Some people mask their fears well while others wear their fear on their sleeves. Some people live in denial of their fears and others face their fears and

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Explaining Tunnel Vision

18 Comments / Article, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Neuroscience, Safety, Situational awareness, Tunneled Senses / Rich Gasaway

When it comes to developing and maintaining situational awareness, tunnel vision is a big deal. Effective situational awareness is developed from having a broad perception of the environment in which you are operating. As your focus narrows, you start to miss things. Those “missed things” are like lost puzzle pieces, leaving holes in your understanding

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Explaining Resistance to Change

Leave a Comment / Article, Communications, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Ego, Expectations, Fear, Human Behavior, Human Factors, Leadership, Repetition, Safety, Size Up, Teamwork / Rich Gasaway

Imagine for a moment that you’re part of a 4-person first-due crew responding on to an apartment fire. On the way to the call the dispatcher announces over the radio that a caller is reporting the fire to be on the first floor of a three-story apartment building. Your company officer tells you that on

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Every EMS Call Starts with Scene Safety

7 Comments / Article, Checklists, Communications, Decision Making, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Neuroscience, Safety, Situational awareness, Situational Readiness, Size Up, Training / Rich Gasaway

“Scene Safe, BSI.” These words have been uttered by every first responder who has ever received medical training. In fact, any responder who has performed a practical exercise for certification knows the first two mandatory skills to be completed on the evaluation checklist are: (1) Ensure the scene is safe before entering; and (2) Don

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Don’t shoot the messenger

Leave a Comment / Article, Communications, Decision Making, Leadership / Rich Gasaway

Situational awareness is developed by combining three component parts: perception, understanding and prediction. The first part, perception, is a process of gathering information – clues and cues – about what is happening in the environment around you. Some of those clues and cues are obvious. Others are subtle. Some happen right in front of you.

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Culture And Situational Awareness

3 Comments / Accountability, Article, Communications, Complacency, Culture, Decision Making, Ego, Emotions, Fear, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Leadership, Safety, Situational awareness, Teamwork / Rich Gasaway

Each member of an emergency response team is guided by a unique system of values, beliefs, assumptions and norms. Every member also brings their own unique habits and routines. What happens when you combine the values, beliefs, assumptions, norms, habits and routines of many unique individuals within an organization? You create culture. Organizational culture can

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Confabulation: It Sounds Better Than Lying

5 Comments / Accountability, Article, Attention Management, Communications, Confabulation, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Neuroscience, Safety, Situational awareness / Rich Gasaway

Confabulation may sound better than lying, but it’s no less dangerous. One of the most amazing demonstrations I do during my situational awareness programs is to show how a person, when placed under stress, will lie. Only in the world of neuroscience, we don’t call it lying, we call it confabulation. You won’t do it

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