Leadership and Management

Under SOLAS requirements, vessels must complete drills on board at regular intervals to ensure that personnel and equipment are ready for emergencies that may develop. STCW amendments also require training to be conducted onboard to allow seafarers to renew their STCW certification without the need to complete the full course again every 5 years. Making the drills effective and useful is, therefore, a priority for vessel managers and Masters to ensure the training is relevant, no time is wasted and the seafarers receive value from the exercises.

When you give corrective feedback to people, you aim at motivating them to change their actions or behaviours and improve their performance. To reach that goal, feedback must be expressed in a constructive manner.

The safety committee meetings from the master’s perspective need to be managed in line with both the Company (SMS) and mandatory regulations. In addition, they are used to encourage positive interdepartmental cooperation and reinforce the fact that all crew members must take reasonable care for their own health and safety and that of others on board who may be affected by their acts or omissions. In many companies, it is commonplace that any ship security issues are discussed at this meeting and if so the ship security officer should be present.

This is a course for Maritime leaders, current and future.

This is not a cold course quoting leadership models, it takes the student on a journey through real events in the maritime environment and the learning outcomes that these deliver. students on the course will learn a decision-making Strategy and then see this strategy in use in a real event.

Under SOLAS requirements, vessels must complete drills on board at regular intervals to ensure that personnel and equipment are ready for emergencies that may develop. STCW amendments also require training to be conducted onboard to allow seafarers to renew their STCW certification without the need to complete the full course again every 5 years. Making the drills effective and useful is, therefore, a priority for vessel managers and Masters to ensure the training is relevant, no time is wasted and the seafarers receive value from the exercises.

Ships are extremely complex environments, containing various hazards and risks. Due to this, a need arises to make the risks bearable in order to ensure the maximum safety of the crew, the vessel itself, and the environment. In order to achieve this result, a process to identify, evaluate and address all the risks relevant enough to endanger the crew, the vessel, or the environment is created. This risk assessment will ensure a proper analysis of the likelihood and potential consequences of each identified hazard or risk.

Effective leadership varies not only depending on the task, job or function that needs to be accomplished, but also on the profile of the person or group that is being influenced. Good and effective leaders are those who are flexible and adaptive when it comes to their approaches.

Clear instructions are simple, specific and short but complete. When you give clear instructions, you avoid confusion, rework and wasted time. At the same time, you help your team become confident in doing their job.

Being able to respectfully, sincerely and constructively express your thoughts, desires and concerns in the face of a potential conflict or stressful situation is being assertive.

In an environment with a speak-up culture, everyone is free and safe to express themselves and feel appreciated for doing so. When you encourage your crew to speak up — and therefore promote a speak-up culture — you empower them, keep them involved and feel confident that their input is valued.

It is important to develop cultural understanding to improve communication across cultures during work and off-work time aboard. Further, understanding cultural differences & similarities as well as reaching a cultural self-awareness level to help the crew avoid and manage conflicts caused by multi-culturalism.

Certification is required by flag states for compliance on board vessels for all food handlers. That includes the service of beverages. This is an initiative under the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC).

This is a short awareness of the role of a supervisor for food safety management onboard.