Situational Awareness And The Racing Line

To the ‘non-tactically minded,’ the concept of situational awareness can actually be intimidating, misunderstood, and even interpreted as a type of justified paranoia. To those of us in law enforcement, that may seem downright silly. After years of teaching the concepts of mindset, preparedness, and situational awareness to people in just about every single profession, I have found this fundamental misunderstanding to be relatively commonplace. It is something that can easily be overcome with a little care and feeding once it is recognized.

Codes and Loops

Situational awareness is typically described using one of two well-known concepts that lend themselves to the graphics that appear to the visual learner as well, and they are ‘Cooper’s Color Codes’ and the ‘OODA loop.’ These two concepts are very familiar to those in both law enforcement and the military. Both of these concepts, though originally actually intended to describe and define the combat mindset, are routinely used to describe situational awareness.

The challenge lies in conveying these ‘tactically oriented’ concepts across the spectrum of other professions. It simply requires a little creativity. 

Chris Grollnek, founder of the Active Shooter Prevention Project, and the nation’s foremost expert in active shooter prevention, likes to describe our mission in this way: “In order to achieve the impossible, you have to see the invisible.”  This comes from a quote by Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin. It is simply changing perspective.

Think back to the years immediately post-9/11: we had the Department of Homeland Security terror warning color codes and the seemingly endless ‘remain vigilant’ warnings. At the same time, many of our brothers and sisters traveled across the world into harm’s way to directly engage with the threats behind these warnings. These warnings were often issued with such a repetitive degree that it left many wondering if we were even allowed to blink, which led to these nonspecific warnings and guidance becoming ineffective at best. 

Jocko Willink, retired Navy SEAL and author of about a bazillion books on leadership, often speaks about using a ‘detached’ perspective to better understand a situation and effectively address it. That is absolutely true. Find a different perspective to see what others do not or cannot.

BEHIND THE WHEEL

After training tens of thousands of people across the country in active shooter awareness and preparation, I have found several concepts that resonate with many audiences. One of those relates to the generally common experience of driving vehicles.

One of my favorite examples to convey the concept of situational awareness is that of the lowly ‘Student Driver’ vehicle.

Everyone has seen these vehicles on the roadway, and many of us have driven them at some point in our lives. The nondescript sedan with a large “Student Driver” placard on the vehicle, along with the generally dented bodywork, advertises to everyone nearby that the driver of this vehicle has rank amateur status at best.

Do you want this car in front of you?  What about behind you? Or anywhere near this you?  Most reply with a resounding “NO!” What typically happens is that most will speed up and put themselves as far away from the student driver as traffic and open lanes allow.

This is the practical application of the principles of situational awareness. 

THE RACING LINE

Moving further ahead in experience, capability, and velocity, I like to describe situational awareness in terms of the ‘Racing Line.’  What exactly is the racing line? It is defined as the optimum route through a corner, minimizing the time spent in the corner and maximizing the average speed—the ‘Perfect Corner,’ if you will.

Achieving a perfect racing line on an empty track is challenging enough, as there are a myriad of variables. Add other racers, lap traffic, or other car classes racing simultaneously to that equation, and chasing the perfect racing line becomes exponentially more challenging.

Regardless of all the challenges presented, racers still try to chase the perfect line. Still, it is a rarely obtained level of perfection. Races are won by achieving a level of consistency with the fastest line allowed by the circumstances. This may vary dramatically from the perfect racing line, yet still wins the race.

That seemingly innocuous point is actually significant. Those striving for perfection will rarely, if ever, achieve it, yet succeeding – winning in this racing metaphor – only requires the best that the situation will allow.

GAINING SPEED

Situational awareness is exactly the same. It is absolutely a dynamic, ever-changing concept in which perfection is more concept than reality.

Like a racer striving for that perfect racing line, good situational awareness requires:

• A heads-up, forward-looking line of sight
• Continuously, often rapidly, evolving reactions
• Anticipation (and logical prediction) of changes to the environment
• An understanding of what is next to you
• An understanding of what is behind you
• The ability to react to unexpected events
• Predicting potential events
• Remaining flexible
• Keeping tabs on your fuel, temperature, and location in the bigger picture
• Applying all of this continuously, and repeatedly

FINISH STRONG

Discussions of the principles of situational awareness become so much more powerful when there is that palpable “Aha!” moment. This is the perspective change and the detachment that allows us to see what has been essentially invisible before that accompanying mindset shift. Perfection is not required to win the race, but what is required is to remain flexible and adaptable, stay positive, be decisive, and continually apply these principles, all while being willing to accept less than perfection. Stay in the race!