I am thinking of mentioning something along the lines of 'I will consult you for decisions at all times and I encourage you to speak up but the ultimate decision will have to be made by me as mentioned in the SOPs. You are expected to follow my command unless the safety of the aircraft is compromised'. Maybe you gents have a better way of putting it? I am trying to keep a shallow gradient where they follow my lead but at the same time are not afraid to speak up and the atmosphere is the cockpit is friendly and professional.
That's not keeping a shallow gradient, that's almost immediately steepening it up to a ridiculous level!
If you say that to a normal FO in briefing,expect him to give you the look of who the
is this retard?
Not only that, all the jobs I've had, if it became known to management that that was your briefing style well, you'd be summoned for a chat rather quickly!
My last job sitting in the LHS geez, I could probably count on one hand the number of times I 'overruled' the FO (for want of a better word). And it doesn't work by shouting "no" or "I am the PIC, I make the decisions." Ever the diplomat, wording like "I have no doubt what you're doing will work but I'd just feel more comfortable if we did this" or "I've done it that way before.....f**ked it up! Lets not repeat my mistakes."