CRITICAL THINKINGUSING SITUATIONAL AWARENESS AND DECISION MAKING

Thinking About Thinking

SITUATIONAL AWARENESSGood situational awareness requires:

1.Gathering data (sensing, perception), seeking cues in the environment

2.Assembling information to give understanding (comprehension)3.Thinking ahead (projection)

Thinking about situational awareness involves:• Directing our attention to seek data; scanning a range of sources

• Evaluating information without bias, for accuracy and relevance

• Understanding, using our knowledge and previous experiences

• Comparing and checking, visualizing future events — ‘What if?’

• Planning ahead, considering possible outcomes

Gathering data

Understanding

Play

Defense

Offense

FutureNowSituation

SCAN

EVALUATE

ANTICIPATE

CONSIDER

PlanningAhead

Decision MakingDecision making requires an understanding of the situation and controlled thinking. Decision making involves assessment and choosing a course of action.The situation determines the urgency of the decision, risks and limits of action.

Controlled thinking:Reduces riskModerates behaviorManages time constraintsUses knowledge; seeks optionsJudges relevance and the quality of the choicePrepares for action, evaluates the outcome or a future situation

O A D A Observe Analyze Deduce Act

Critical ThinkingCritical thinking provides the mental control and

discipline required for situational assessment and decision making. It involves several skills that can be learned, practiced and improved.

Control your mind by:Seeking and understanding information, facts and dataEffective planning, briefing and communicationIncreasing knowledge; gaining experienceLearning within a context (situation)

Maintain discipline by:Being aware of how you think; affects possessionEvaluating your actions; having self regulationBeing aware of all available resourcesBeing sensitive to feedback

Critical thinking is the skill of thinking about your thinking

Think inside the box before you think outside of the box

“Are we in charge of our thinking, or is our thinking in charge of us?“

Critical Thinking — Self awareness Self awareness — self questioning, self

monitoringAm I biased in my thinking?

Have I made a plan for what I want to do?

Are my ideas or knowledge on this issue correct?

Am I aware of my thinking; what am I trying to do?

Am I using all of the resources for what I want to do?

Am I evaluating my thinking; what would I do differently next time?

Am I aware of how well I am doing; do I need to change my actions or intentions?

Monitoring is checking the quality or testing the accuracy of a situation on a regular

basis. It is keeping a close watch over parameters and supervising the outcome.

It is checking for threats

in our thinking.

CRITICAL THINKING — KNOWLEDGE Improving your thinking — Knowledge

About yourselfCommitment: training, not letting feelings or individual preference detract from the game

Positive attitudes: seeing the big picture, persistence, resourcefulness, learning from set-backs

Attention to detail: determining relevance, assessing affects

About the thinking processesKnowing the facts necessary to do a task by seeking information

Knowing how to do a task, how to scan, understand and think ahead

Knowing why certain strategies work, when to use them, why one is better than another

Knowledge to control the thinking processesSelf evaluation: assessing current technical knowledge, setting objectives, selecting resources

Self regulation: checking progress; reviewing choices, procedures, objectives, resources

Planning: choosing and planning a path to the objective, using procedures

Planning is the process of thinking about what you will do

in the event of something happening or not happening.

Critical Thinking — Habits

Critical Thinking — HabitsImproving your thinking — Habits

Changing our thinking habits requires effort; clear thinking is an essential part of officiating and has to be developed throughout our

careers.5 Levels of skill:Unskilled: Basic training only provides those skills necessary to be on the field.Skilled: Continuation training and experience enable effective management.Effective: More technical knowledge, practiced skills and experience give an

efficient operation.Efficient: Skillful command in controlling the game and crew leadership move

toward a precision operation.Precision: An official who has gained and maintains precise technical and non-

technical skills as a result of great personal effort.

Expert thinkers

Focus on central issues

Identify relevant information

Consider information on merit

Test and check the basis of their awareness and decisions

Critical Thinking — Personal briefing

Improving your thinking — BriefingBefore games, self-briefing reinforces memory cues and

knowledge, which aid the recall of information for use in situational assessment and decision making.

Know what, who, where and when to prioritize your attentionAlways brief routine situations — repetition aids memoryStructure the briefing along game situationsVisualize your actions (position, players, calls)Consider the significant game situationsRecall lessons from trainingRefresh mechanics and rules

What if questions

Do not rush: Your thoughts control your actions.

Critical Thinking — Personal debrief

Improving your thinking — Debrief After each game, consider the following points: Plus, Minus, Interesting

Plus:What was goodWhat went according to plan

Minus:What was not so good, and whyWhat didn’t you know; find the answer before the next game

Interesting:Have you changed the way you see things:

situations, penalties, players, mechanics

What did you learn, why, and where did theinformation come from?

Will you share this with others; if not why not?Anything for a commissioner, assignor to report?Any issues for confidential reporting?Did you experience:

Administration, field, supply issues?Poor attitudesBiased opinionsMismanaged timeUnanswered questions

Thinking about Situational Awareness and Decision MakingSituational awareness and decision making depend on our ability to think.Thinking enables humans to be very successful, but this ability also enables errors that, if not controlled, present risks in our daily activities.

Value your ability, use it wisely

Game Players Situations

Working memory

Long-term memory - knowledge, biases,

beliefs

Situational Awareness

Decision Making

Senses:

See

Hear

Pattern recognition

Comparison

ChoiceSelection

Responses

Review

Monitor

Action

CRITICAL THINKING — FOR SITUATIONAL AWARENESS

Critical thinking for situational awareness — seek

informationEssential components:

Accuracy — Is the information true?

Clarity — Can the information be understood?

Precision — Seek detail to understand the situation.

Relevance — Is the information connected to the situation?

Depth — Does the information address the complexity of the

situation?

Breadth — Are there other points of view or other ways to consider

this situation?

Logic — Does your understanding of the situation make sense?Whenever you do not understand something,

ask yourself a question for clarification

Critical Thinking — for Decision Making

Critical thinking for decision making — the choice of actionEssential components:

State the objective of the decision to be made

Identify information to be used in making the decision

Gather the evidence and information required to make a decision

Make a decision based on criteria (a safe outcome), information and risks

Ask what the evidence and information mean, considering the objective

Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is at the center of all safety processes and

human activity.

Situational

Awareness

Safety, Game, Player Management

Decision

Making

Critical Thinking