Tools for capturing and training shared understanding in teams

The Defence Evaluation Research Agency (DERA) has been examining cognitive factors affecting individual and team performance with the aim of developing targeted teamwork support. This paper initially explores the concept of a mental model and seeks to explain how shared mental models potentially contribute to effective team performance. This is followed by a summary of an empirical study conducted with teams provided by the Kent Police Training and Tactical Firearms Unit. This study sought to understand how mental models potentially impact on aspects of team performance and also tested a range of data collection techniques for capturing team thinking. The remainder of the paper will describe how some of these techniques have been translated into a suite of prototype PC-based tools. The aim of the work is to enable a team leader, or team trainer, to expose the level of shared understanding that team members have for critical aspects of domain taskwork and teamwork knowledge. It is proposed that the outputs from these tools can subsequently be used to provide feedback and to identify training interventions.