Crew Resource Management (CRM) with Neil Jeffers

In this session I will be talking with Neil Jeffers on CRM or Crew Resource Management. We will examine a working definition of CRM, why it’s of fundamental importance to Neil, the history of CRM, the symbiotic link between human factors and CRM, and the detrimental aspects of collective agreement. In the conversation we will also examine some of the theory, threat and error management, CRM tools that Neil uses and advocates, and finally how debrief can be a fundamental tool to improving CRM.

Neil has been a Pilot with London’s Air Ambulance for 16 years and has been Chief Pilot for the last 8 years. Neil has flown over 8,000 hours since he started flying in 1997 and has over a 5,000-hour track record in instructing and examining. Neil was also an experienced crew resource management instructor and a certified first responder and has been a volunteer emergency responder with London Ambulance Service for 5 years. In the interview we cover:

• A working definition of CRM
• Why CRM is so fundamental to high performing teams 
• Brief history of CRM from aviation into medicine
• Flash points within a scene that mandate good CRM
• The linkage between CRM and Human Factors
• Deep dive on the hierarchy of CRM in order of importance - Decision Making, Leadership & Management, Situational awareness, communication (Closed loop, chunked, tone & intonation).
• Negative aspects of collective agreement
• Threat and error management
• Dunning Kruger effect
• CRM tools that Neil deploys and recommend
• Debriefing; The utility of debriefing

Some of the concepts that Neil mentions includes:

Threat/error management: https://www.easa.europa.eu/en/downloads/22642/en

Dunning-Kruger effect: https://thedecisionlab.com/biases/dunning-kruger-effect

Cognitive Dissonance: https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-cognitive-dissonance-2795012

My thanks to Neil for an insightful and engaging interview.