Ever experience this?
Question:
"Hi, Honey, welcome home. Please tell me about your day?"
Reply:
"It was fine. The boss was in a grumpy mood. Had lunch with the team at work. Closed the Penske sale. Planned a big conference call for tomorrow. How about your day?"
Sounds like a 1950's sitcom, right?
Perhaps. But it also illustrates the ingredients of a good ol' Situation Report, or SITREP.
- Survival Tip! Exercise great caution before replacing any nurturing, marital communication with demands for a tidy SITREP, though. Your results may vary!
SITREPS are a simple, straight-forward accounting of what's currently happening.
- Not a story
- Not a theory
- Not a wide-reaching explanation of other stuff
- Just a wham, bam recitation of where we are
Here are some examples of the SITREPS that my state (Texas) publishes during notable events.
You may be thinking: "Argh! More paper!"
Not necessarily. For my state, lots of folks contribute to the SITREP, it's seen and analyzed by thousands of people and it's archived for posterity. Paper makes sense.
For your responses, verbal relay may be acceptable. Or a cocktail napkin. Or a Sharpie on your forearm.
The point is that a SITREP contributes to the elusive situational awareness that every response needs to be successful.
That's the 'WHY' part of utilizing a SITREP in your responses. Once everyone is on board, life is much easier.
Bonus info #1: The ICS form equivalent is called a ICS-209 Incident Status Summary and can be downloaded for free HERE.
Bonus info #2: If you are relying on verbal SITREPS, be sure to cover the elements discussed in this communications guidebook.
So, how was your day?
** You know that sharing my articles with your network brings good luck, right?