SBAR
Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation.
Explanation
Originally developed for military and hospital emergencies where clarity saves lives, SBAR ensures critical information gets communicated quickly and completely. It prevents the common problem of burying important news in long explanations. Each section has a specific purpose: Situation sets the scene, Background gives essential context, Assessment shares your analysis, and Recommendation states what action is needed.
Real-World Example
Email: 'Situation: Production database is at 95% capacity. Background: Growing 10% weekly since launch. Assessment: Will hit limit in 2 weeks, causing outages. Recommendation: Approve emergency storage upgrade today or implement data archiving by Friday.'
How to Apply
Situation: What's happening right now? One sentence. Background: Essential context only. 2-3 sentences. Assessment: Your analysis of situation. 2-3 sentences. Recommendation: Specific action needed. One sentence. Keep entire SBAR under 60 seconds spoken or 1 paragraph written.