Who wins - the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier or the Lighthouse?

There is an urban legend circulating on the Internet about a rather tense conversation between a U.S. Navy captain and a civilian.  The conversation goes something like this (note that the name of the ship often varies, but here I use the USS Abraham Lincoln, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier):

Navy Captain: Unidentified vessel, please divert your course 0.5 degrees to the South to avoid a collision.

Civilian: Recommend YOU divert YOUR course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision.

Navy Captain: This is the Captain of a United States Navy ship.  I repeat, divert your course 0.5 degrees to the South.  NOW.

Civilian: No.  I say again.  YOU divert your course 15 degrees to the South.

Navy Captain: This is the USS Abraham Lincoln.  I am the Commanding Officer of a fighting warship of the U.S. Navy.  Divert your course now or I will be forced to take active countermeasures to protect my ship.

Civilian: Okay, Captain.  I am a lighthouse keeper.  This is a lighthouse.  Your call.

While humorous, the story is not true.  In fact, the story has been around since the 1930's.  Regardless, the story is a great example of something called "Situation Awareness."  Situation awareness is essentially "knowing what is going around you."  There are three levels of Situation awareness:

1. Perception
2. Comprehension
3. Projection or Prediction

Being aware of what is going on around you is the first step (Perception), but you also have to be able to comprehend the meaning and importance of the information being presented to you in real time (Comprehension).  Based on your understanding of the information, you then use that information to project into the future and predict what will happen.  Using the example above, the Navy captain may have had sufficient Level 1 Situation awareness (the captain correctly perceived that there was something standing in the direct path of the aircraft carrier); however, the captain was clearly lacking Level 2 Situation awareness, as the "something" was actually a stationary object.

Situation awareness may be more clearly defined by examples of its absence.  There is a well-known Far Side cartoon of two commercial airline pilots asking, "Gee, what is a mountain goat doing way up in this cloud bank?"  If you search using the key words, "Situation awareness" and "shark", you will also find a number of photographs of various swimmers, boaters, or scuba divers doing something stupid in front of the camera while a Great White shark slowly swims up behind them.  These are clear examples of the lack of situation awareness.

Situation awareness is absolutely essential for leaders in all disciplines.  Moreover, each and every member of the team should share the same level of situation awareness with the leader.  Here are a few techniques to improve team Situation awareness:

1. Use a daily brief or huddle to update all members of the team on what is likely to occur on that particular day, how the events will be handled (and by whom), and what is the expected outcome.

2. Leaders should develop a shared mental model with the other members of the team by actually talking out loud what he or she is thinking about a particular issue.

3. Use time-outs before starting on an important task (similar to the daily brief above). Make sure all members of the team are on the same page.

4. Use technology to help gather and quickly process information.  However, beware of data overload - too much data, especially irrelevant data, will actually worsen situation awareness.

Any of these four simple techniques would have helped our Navy captain in the story above.  Well, that and maybe less arrogance!  The best news is that we can improve our situation awareness skills through practice.  The important point is to develop and practice your situation awareness skills with the rest of your team.