Rethinking the Briefing (Louden and Moriarty); are the any similar papers?
 

The company I work for at the moment insists on a briefing format that seems to be stuck in the paper cockpit days where nav database suppliers may not have had as robust QMS in place.

Despite using EFBs and electronic charts, our briefings must follow the format of chart, date, effective date, then reading aloud the full top blurb of the plate, then the full briefing strip, then each leg track and distance, etc... This is done in a PF monologue, ending with a few threats, no real strategy to avoid the threat - but just to be aware of the threat, and then "any questions?"

I haven't encountered this for quite a few years, nor the dogged insistence that this script will not be changed. I did ask if the operator allowed interactive briefings, and was told that they do in fact do interactive briefings, before launching into the script with no sense of irony. On one unfortunate briefing, when the tracks and distance were being read aloud, I made the mistake of venturing a missed altitude and speed constraint, and I was asked, "hold on, who's giving the briefing here?"

The final element I find disconcerting is that we don't have any briefing prior to getting in the cockpit - so no discussion about the overall weather for the days sectors, our fuel strategy to take advantage of cheap fuel or even how much to carry (all decided by PF with no discussion), notams, etc... This is all done in the cockpit, usually last minute(!), and given the above description of the briefing, generally gets distilled down to reading aloud the date, plate, top notes, briefing strip and the tracks and distances.

I'm not really sure what the best course of action is here. We don't seem to be adequately addressing threats up front and we only seem to be doing the job of nav database suppliers QMS by checking the database. Company OMs are very loose on the briefing format, and the above is all being learnt "on the line", so it's hard to know if this is company culture, policy, or what. Previous companies took a much greater focus on actually how a safe approach was going to be achieved, where both crew would take turns to review the routing and plate independently i.e. PF would hand over and setup, then take back control and tell PM what they'd setup and let them have a good look at it, then have a concise briefing discussing any threats they both felt were present, how best to guard against them, and how we would fly the approach (in this example) i.e. modes, stabilisation point, automation, etc...

Are there any other good resources to draw from to make a recommendation via the management system? Does anyone have any general advice? Is it just me, and is this all perfectly normal in a modern, EFB equipped cockpit?

I find Skybrary a good "go-to" for such things.
I haven't read it, but this might be a good starting point.
https://www.skybrary.aero/index.php/Effective_Briefings

The Skybrary document is definitely worth a read, but if you are in search of higher-level, more academic, support for a different style of briefing, then you may have to widen your search.

Adult communication, and other industry briefing techniques should provide a good starting point for highlighting the deficiency in your current scenario. Which, as you describe it, is nothing more than a checklist, rather than a briefing.

It depends on if you are addressing the “how to” or the “why”.

As an additional are to look at, searching under Situational Awareness with communication should bring up some really useful results.

I think it was Mica Endsley who specialised in this, but it’s been a while since I looked at this...

After all, a common level of SA is what we trying to achieve by the briefing.

The above suggestions are great. As mentioned, you will need to broaden your searches through academia to find better content.
I have sent you a PM; I have some resources I can share.

Thanks Red Snail - Skybrary is always a good resource; on this subject they've effectively summarised the Louden and Moriarty article.

Expanding my research with regards to your recommendations. Much appreciated!

I have online access to my University's library, and by extension the wider education network library, so will get stuck in. I'll respond via PM - thanks for getting in touch.

I imagine with something so variable in terms of what might be pertinent to the scope of a briefing, and what might be best omitted, educating crews on “why” would allow crews to develop the how. I’m finding annual CRM courses, as with most courses that are now pushed online and computer based, are wholly inappropriate focussing predominently on the human factors science, when often more practical and pragmatic advice is what may be required. I lament the loss of in person training where a group share experiences as situations that we learn from as a group.​​​​​​