Why Situational Awareness Fades - and How to Rebuild It

Steve Barbour
Jun 30
2 min read

Updated: Jul 19

In high-stakes environments - like aviation, emergency response, sport, and leadership - we talk a lot about situational awareness. But too often, we only talk about it after it disappears.

One moment you're tuned in. The next? You miss a cue, overlook a signal, or lose track of what matters most.

So why does situational awareness fade? And more importantly, how can we rebuild it when the pressure’s on?

1. Situational Awareness Isn’t a Switch - It’s a System

Situational awareness (SA) isn’t a one-time action. It’s a continuous loop of perceiving, understanding, and projecting what’s happening in your environment. It relies on your attention, your experience, and your mental bandwidth.

When the loop breaks, even briefly, awareness fades.

Common causes of breakdown:

Fatigue or overload
Complacency
Task fixation
Distractions or interruptions
Assumptions based on outdated mental models

You don’t lose awareness all at once. It fades quietly, then fails loudly.

2. High-Performers Lose It Too (But Know How to Catch It)

Losing SA doesn’t mean you’re inexperienced. Even experts miss things, sometimes because they are experts.

Overconfidence, routine, or automation bias can all play a role. Pilots have landed on the wrong runway. Athletes have misread plays. CEOs have missed key signals in a meeting.

The key difference? Top performers notice the drift sooner. And they act faster to reset.

3. How to Rebuild Situational Awareness in Real Time

Rebuilding awareness starts with pausing the drift.

Here are 4 practical ways to do it:

1. Stop and Scan: Mentally zoom out. What’s changed since you last checked? What cues have you missed?

2. Ask, “What’s the picture now?” Recheck your mental model. What did you expect to happen, and what’s actually happening?

3. Communicate Out Loud: In team settings, verbalising your perception helps everyone recalibrate. Pilots use techniques like "say what you see" for this reason.

4. Trigger a Reset: Step away, breathe, or change posture. A short interruption can help break a fixation loop and restore broader attention.

4. Build Habits That Protect Awareness

You can’t be perfectly aware all the time. But you can build systems that make losing awareness less likely - and easier to catch.

Try this:

Use checklists to stay anchored when attention drifts.
Debrief regularly to strengthen feedback loops.
Create a team norm where asking for clarity or calling out confusion is encouraged, not penalised.
Rest (yes, really). Fatigue is a silent killer of SA.