In a competitive business landscape, decision-makers gather information (observe), form hypotheses about customer activity and the intentions of competitors (orient), make decisions, and act upon them. The cycle is continuously repeated. The conscious application of this process gives a business sustainable competitive advantage over those who merely react to conditions as they occur or have poor awareness of a given situation.

Organisations within which teams of people are utilising OODA Loops often gets stuck at 'Decide': ie. no decisive action is taken, allowing competitors to gain the upper-hand.

The OODA loop favours agility over raw power when dealing with human actors.

To this end, OODA loops are employed throughout the learning process to support participants in activities designed to generate competitive advantage.