Social skills are behaviors mostly done verbally through communication, allowing crew members to discuss possible conflicts and work together to resolve problems.
[4][5] Examples of communication between crew members include acknowledging commands, conducting briefings, and conveying information, all essential components for a safe and efficient flight.
[6] The Federal Aviation Administration also announced that important areas of communication improvements include pre-flight briefings, and landing procedures.
The test subjects are evaluated in the following elements: Considering others Supporting others Conflict solving Providing and maintaining standards Planning and co-ordination Workload management Awareness of external environment Awareness of Time Option generation Risk assessment and option selection Outcome review The NOTECHS system added the behavior markers under each element in order to "assist the examiner to describe the observed behavior in standardized and objective phraseology"[11] It gives an indication whether a specific action in accordance to the element projects a positive or a negative impact in the overall skill.
[12] To ensure crew members are given fair and non-accidental evaluation, the Joint Aviation Authorities implemented five operating rules to follow while using NOTECHS for assessment.
[14] As the NOTECHS evaluation system is based on standardized conditions of acceptable skills and behaviors in a manner that can be organized by practitioners, it can be used to check whether the performance of crew members in the actual work environment has improved.