A crew competent and compliant (8)
I believe the answer is:
amenable
'compliant' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'a crew competent' is the wordplay.
'crew' becomes 'men' (I've seen this before).
'competent' becomes 'able' ('able' can be similar in meaning to 'competent').
'a'+'men'+'able'='AMENABLE'
'and' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for amenable that I've seen before include "Friendly" , "Helpful" , "Nameable as being willing to be controlled" , "Agreeable and accommodating" , "Willing to comply" .)