My father-in-law, then a trainer at General Motors, was fond of telling the “frog story” to illustrate the notion of ‘Situational Awareness’. The gist of the story is that a frog will jump out if placed in a pot of hot water, but if placed in a container of slowly heating water will eventually be boiled to death. The moral of the story was that we often fail to become aware of critical changes in our environment when those changes occur perceptibly slowly.

Situational awareness refers to the ability to understand and interpret surroundings, recognizing potential dangers, and anticipating future events. The behaviors associated with Situational awareness have been extant for centuries, but the designation and the academic discussion of it is of recent vintage. The phrase was introduced by Endsley in a seminal paper published in 1995. Since that time the concept has been used in the analysis and the teaching of wide swaths of human undertakings. Situational awareness is the designation given to a form of mindfulness (cf: Zen mindfulness), which holds in one’s mind a map of the entire environment a person may encounter.

It is thus to be distinguished and stands nearly opposite the ability the ability to focus on a specific narrow problem, whether it be scientific, social, political, or theological. This ability to focus is essential for the thinker and for specific problem-solving. However, it is different from the situational awareness required of the practical man or woman.  Situational awareness is akin to what Aristotle termed phronesis, translated usually as “practical wisdom”.  

Formal training in situational awareness has become essential for several disciplines. Cybersecurity and law enforcement, flight training, and medical disciplines, such as anesthesiology and emergency medicine, all involve situational awareness training. Perhaps the quintessential example of the application of situational awareness is the air traffic controller, a function all too much on our minds of late. Likewise, the “rear guard” in military sorties functions to make the team situationally aware. 

The changes in the culture and structure of the western world, while largely imperceptible, are never-the-less profound and have already dramatically affected higher education. Popular interest in higher education has lessened.  The number of people of college-going age that want to go to college has decreased. Government support has wavered, often dramatically. Almost four hundred and seventy institutions of higher education have disappeared (either closed or merged) between July 2004 and June 2020, most of these actions driven by financial exigency. However, notably many college or university chief executives and their teams, and governing boards and their members have failed to notice that the proverbial water is heating up quickly and to critical levels.

It might reasonably be argued that higher education leaders have been set up for failure, particularly college and university presidents or chancellors. These deeply committed leaders are selected by a process which increases the likelihood of failure at situational awareness. They frequently emerge from a lifelong commitment to a specific discipline, often a narrow discipline or problem – which requires the very kind of focus which is inimical to the adequate development and exercise of situational awareness.

Most universities use the traditional ‘search committee’ process for identifying candidates for president or chancellor roles. Such committees are invariably heavily populated with faculty and alumni who, in turn, have often contributed much to improving the human condition by focusing successfully on a narrow field of study. But they are often devoid of significant situational awareness and its value, particularly as it pertains to the broader and complex environment in which higher education is currently sitting.

The chief executive search process was designed or has evolved (perhaps inadvertently) to reproduce itself and its leaders. And it does just that. The successful candidates are often contemplative and eschew actions based on summary judgement. They are risk adverse by nature. They would rather be late than wrong. These are wonderful traits in the right context but unlikely to promote the development of the kind of broad-based situational awareness so critically needed in higher education today.

Today’s higher education leaders often fail to notice that the water in which the sector and their institution sits is slowly heating to crescendo. Sometimes, because they choose not to grasp the major trends their institution and their sector are facing, but most often, because they simply are not focused nor trained to secure and use broad-based situational awareness. Leveraging external parties can be of great help in better understanding the institution’s environment and state, yielding valuable situational awareness insights. Let SPH assist your leaders in obtaining and leveraging critical situation awareness insights. 

To learn more about SPH Consulting Group and how we can help your organization, contact office@sphconsultinggroup.com.

Writer: Lloyd Jacobs, Senior Consultant, SPH Consulting Group

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