Public Health
Incident Leadership
MODULE 2: COMMUNICATION
August 2015
Objectives
 Define effective communication within the
department emergency operations center
 Describe communication tools and techniques
Discussion
 Has communication ever failed in previous
responses or exercises?
 Can you share some examples?
Team Communication Distilled
Skill
Model
Situational Awareness
Common Language
“Me”
Who
• S-BARR-Out
• CLC-IN
Individual
Shared Mental Model
“You”
Individual
“Us”
Team
Areas of Communication
 Communication Delivery
 Intended audience
 Mode of communication
 Delivery technique
 Information Exchange
 Sending
 Recurring
 Verifying
 Validating
Situational Awareness
 Knowing current conditions affecting team’s work

Knowing the status of a particular event

Knowing the status of the communities affected

Understanding the operational issues affecting the team

Maintaining mindfulness affects my own work
Shared Mental Model
A shared mental model is the perception of,
understanding of, or knowledge about a situation or
process that is shared among team members through
communication.
Sustained by:
 The process of planning
 Team decision-making
 Vocalizing
S-BARR: Situational Briefing Model
• S = Situation
What’s the situation?
B = Background
• How did we get here? (the context)
A = Assessment
• What do I think is the problem?
R = Recommendation
• What are we going to do to fix the identified
problem?
R = Request
• What do you want me to do?
•
•
•
•
•
Closed Loop Communication
Creating High Reliability
Skill
Briefing
Huddle
Hand-offs
Callouts
Model
Planning
Problem Solving
Process
Improvement
Who?
Team or subsets
2 or more people
(small group)
Team,
individuals
Briefings
 Form the team
 Designate/Delegate team
roles and responsibilities
 Establish climate and
goals
 Engage team in short
and long-term planning
Huddles





Problem Solving
Hold ad hoc, “touchbase” meetings to regain
situational awareness
Discuss critical issues and
emerging events
Anticipate likely
contingencies
Assign resources
Express concerns
Hand-offs
 The transfer of
information (along with
authority and
responsibility)
 Includes an opportunity
to ask questions, clarify,
and confirm.
Callouts
 Sharing information before the
next scheduled briefing
 Provide quick status update or
critical new information
 Brief, clear and specific
Activity
 Form groups of 3 – 4 people
 Read the scenario
 Demonstrate the use of the assigned
communication tool or technique
10 MINUTES
Framework for Public Health Incident Leadership
Skills
Behaviors
“Do”
Performance
Skills
Leadership
Knowledge
Cognitions
“Think”
Situation
Monitoring
Communication
Mutual
Support
Knowledge
Attitudes
Affect “Feel”
Attitudes