ADS FORCE PHASE II: Assessment and Development Strategies FOr team Rapid Cognitive Effectiveness

Current military combat operations emphasize the use of teams, who are often expected to rapidly deploy together. This rapid deployment cycle is especially true for military transition teams. Such teams must quickly become highly functioning, as characterized by high levels of team cognitive readiness. To address the need for newly formed teams to rapidly become cognitively ready and effective, the Aptima team proposes to develop the Assessment and Development Strategies FOr Rapid team Cognitive Effectiveness (ADS FORCE) system. In Phase I, Aptima laid the theoretical foundation for the development of ADS FORCE which will help teams enhance their levels of cognitive readiness at various points in development. During Phase II, Aptima will use that theoretical foundation to fully develop the system which contains two different training stages. Stage 1 uses a virtual environment where teams can train prior to pre-deployment training (extending a teams training cycle). Automated measurement results and team development strategies are delivered to the leader. Stage 2 occurs in a face-to-face environment, where the leader has more control over the assessment and training functions. Measurement and training recommendations will be given to the leader in the form of a hip pocket card or smart phone application.