Observing Sensemaking in C2: Performance Assessments in Multi-Organizational Crisis Response

A crisis can involve multiple organizations during high pressure events, and it is up to the Command & Control (C2) unit to provide direction and coordination for the response (Brehmer, 2006). Hard as this problem is, there is still no ‘one-solution’. Dissimilar organizations with very different methods seem to be able to master the problem. This paper presents the initial development of a new evaluation method for C2 in the context of multiorganizational crisis response. The data is collected at an emergency water exercise series conducted in several cities in Sweden. Each exercise involves multiple agencies and organizations, with up to 76 participants from 15 unique organizations/units. The analysis is brief, but presents the possibility of observing Sensemaking as it unfolds, and that generic behavioral patterns can be found. The existence of generic and observable behavior patterns suggests the possibility of assessing, and maybe even quantifying, Sensemaking performance in C2.