Introduction to Crew Resource Management — Page 332, Lesson 550

I want to walk you through two important concepts in Crew Resource Management: communication style and overload, and then we’ll look at situational awareness and mental models. Let’s start with the submissive style. This is a communication style where the person transmitting—the one speaking or sending a message—has very little regard for their own needs, or even for the task at hand. In a cockpit, that’s dangerous. A submissive communication style leads to inefficient teamwork, and it increases the workload on other crew members because they have to pick up the slack or try to extract information that should have been shared clearly. Now, here’s a critical point: someone who is normally an excellent team member—both on the ground and in the air—can become submissive if they are sick. So if you see a normally assertive colleague suddenly being quiet or deferential, don’t just assume it’s their personality. That situation must be addressed. You need to check on them and help them communicate. Next, let’s talk about overload. When a person becomes overloaded, they are no longer able to process information. They cannot operate an aircraft effectively, and they cannot learn effectively either. So if a pilot becomes overloaded, it is extremely important to resolve that situation quickly. The way to do that is usually by reducing their workload to a point where they can become effective again. Who is most likely to suffer from overload? It’s more likely to occur with those who have less experience, because they need more mental capacity just to fly and operate the aircraft—they haven’t automated those tasks yet. But—and this is important—it can and does happen to the most experienced crews as well. It’s a particular problem when a person’s capacity is already reduced by illness, stress, or any one of a multitude of other outside factors. So what do you do if you become overloaded during your flying career? You must admit it to yourself first, and then you must tell someone—an instructor, a fellow student, or a crew member—so that they can help you reduce your workload. In a learning exercise, once you’re safely on the ground, the instructor can often identify ways to reduce or reorganize your workload for the future. And if you notice someone else becoming overloaded, reduce their workload, at least temporarily, if you can. Here’s a practical tip: when someone is overloaded, the ability to listen is often lost. So you may have to gain their attention by changing the way you address them. For example, instead of using their first name like “Jeff,” use their formal title like “Captain.” Or you might need to touch them to get their attention. Finally, a hard rule: if you are ill or highly stressed, you should not fly. Your capacity is already reduced, and you are at much greater risk of becoming overloaded. Now let’s move to situational awareness and mental models. Pilots combine large quantities of information from a variety of sources to build a mental model—a picture of what they believe to be reality. A pilot with good situational awareness has worked hard to assimilate that varied information, and has developed a mental model that reflects reality accurately. What factors affect the creation of that mental model? The excerpt lists three: First, experience—what we know, what we have heard, or what we have read. Second, expectation—what we expect to happen, based on our experience or our expectations. Third, briefing—training to expect a situation. So a good briefing sets you up to build the right mental model from the start. A pilot relies on situational awareness to operate an aircraft safely. But situational awareness is prone to error when an incorrect mental model is created. And that can have fatal results. So building and maintaining an accurate mental model is absolutely critical.