Developing Soft Skills in Mariners

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Foreword

Preface

List of abbreviations

Introduction

Chapter 1           What are hard and soft skills?

Chapter 2           Creating and maintaining an effective learning environment

Chapter 3           Peer learning and action planning

Chapter 4           Experiential learning

Chapter 5           Assessment

Chapter 6           Sensitive issues and reflection

Chapter 7           Evaluating your own practice

Chapter 8           Stakeholders

References

Glossary

About the author

 

Professor Carole Davis RGN BA(Hons) MSc PGCE (Education) D Prof (Education)

Professor Carole Davis has built up a distinguished and varied career, spanning nursing, higher education and training and consulting for the global maritime sector. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology with Social Administration from Warwick University, a master’s degree in Palliative Care from University of London, a PGCE in education from Thames Polytechnic University and a professional doctorate in education from Middlesex University.

Carole began her career as a nurse, specialising in cancer and palliative care nursing. From there, she developed a keen interest in supporting students and teaching colleagues. She initially worked as a MacMillan nursing lecturer at Bloomsbury and Islington College of Nursing and Midwifery before spending 21 years in influential educational development leadership roles in a number of academic establishments. These have included London South Bank, Middlesex University, Queen Mary University of London and Solent University.

Carole spent two years as Head of Academic Development at Warsash School of Maritime Science and Engineering at Solent University. She continues to hold a Professor Emeritus role at Warsash Maritime School Solent University. Carole has also received a number of prestigious awards, including Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, a National Teaching Fellowship and Senior Fellow at the Staff and Educational Developers Association (SEDA).

Intrinsic to Carole’s work is the importance of connecting, collaborating and networking with others in order to create a positive and inclusive working environment. In July 2022, she set up Carole L. Davis Associates to deliver expert advice on education and training, mentoring and end-to-end project support. Clients include Oxford Brookes University, University of East London, The Royal Veterinary College, University of Greenwich, London Metropolitan University and The Seafarers’ Charity.

Carole is an external examiner for the University of East London and University of Liverpool, a regular reviewer for Advance HE Fellowships and was Co-Chair of SEDA from 2019 to 2022.

In 2023, Carole was proud to see the publication of the Maritime Professional Council’s Kind Leadership Report, for which she was first author and a crucial part of the analysis team.  She lives in east London, has three adult children and is proud grandmother to the ‘A’ girls who are Aria, Aila and Amelia. In her spare time, Carole enjoys training at her local gym, outdoor swimming and reading thrillers.

by Professor Carole Davis

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During a secondment to the United Kingdom Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) as assistant director for modernising maritime education, I led a review of human element leadership and management (HELM) courses. It became apparent that there was a need for an informative and encouraging handbook aimed at colleagues teaching soft skills. Developing Soft Skills in Mariners, published by The Nautical Institute this month, is intended to meet such a need.

My aim has been to produce a practical resource for the maritime community that both strengthens safety culture within the industry and promotes the wellbeing of seafarers. This resource focuses on up-todate evidence-based teaching and learning approaches and, at the same time, supports the achievement of course aims and outcomes, together with professional requirements and industry standards.

Why soft skills matter

Soft skills should be seen as the golden thread running through professional life. In complex systems, both operational and strategic, soft skills are essential since the key driver of human performance is social context. Soft skills training has become a ubiquitous feature of the maritime industry. The challenge now is to ensure that teaching and learning approaches can engage participants in a way that has a positive impact on their working practices.

Such courses vary in duration, from several days to a week. Some courses form part of a professional requirement and may be mandatory. Others are commissioned by companies as part of their in-house programmes, including courses for engineers, electro-technical and hotel officers. More and more maritime professionals are seeking out training to support their continuing professional development and position them for promotion or role changes, such as moving from ship to shore. Knowledge is needed in all departments, at sea and ashore, from boardroom to frontline superintendents working with the vessels. What matters is that, regardless of context, facilitators provide authentic learning experiences for participants that advance their critical and reflective thinking skills, improve their employability and instil a love of lifelong learning.

Yet even the most immersive and engaging programmes are, by themselves, insufficient. It is essential that organisations, through mentoring and onboard coaching, create the conditions to ensure maritime professionals, both on board and ashore, gain the necessary soft skills.

Who is this book for?

The handbook is intended for:

• course designers and facilitators of soft skills training programmes;
• maritime sector organisations seeking tangible outcomes from investing in soft skills training;
• people committed to effective work-based learning and mental wellbeing;
• individuals keen to develop and enhance their facilitation skills; and
• regulators and other stakeholders who may influence the curriculum.

Regardless of terminology, the book is intended to serve as a pragmatic resource for the design, development and delivery of soft skills training in a maritime context. Use the handbook as a helpful resource and dip into relevant chapters depending on your needs.

What does it cover?

Framed against a sound pedagogic background, each chapter focuses on a different aspect of planning, designing, delivering and assessing soft skills.

Chapters include:

• What are hard and soft skills?
• Creating and maintaining an effective learning environment
• Peer learning and action planning
• Experimental learning
• Assessment
• Sensitive issues and reflection
• Evaluating your own practice
• Stakeholders.

In the first chapter, for example, we provide a definition of hard and soft skills, explain some of the jargon and offer suggestions that may be useful in soft skills training – as shown in the extract that follows.

Soft skills encompass a range of abstract human behaviours and interactions that are essential for the smooth running of any organisation. Within the confines of a ship and its accompanying pressures, the need to understand, accept and deliver soft skills is essential. The goal of this handbook is to highlight the need for these behaviours. I hope this approach is appreciated by participants and facilitators alike.

Hard and soft skills

Let us start with the word ‘cognition’. Derived from the Latin word cognoscere (‘getting to know’), ‘cognition’ describes the mental learning process we all use to acquire understanding or perception. We access cognition through our thoughts and experiences, using all our emotions and senses. It comprises everything to do with our intellectual functioning, including imagination and intelligence, memory, problem solving and decision making. Many familiar words come from the same linguistic roots, including ‘recognise’, ‘acknowledge’ and ‘connoisseur’. We would not be able to function effectively as professionals without well-developed cognition.

‘Cognitive’ describes these mental processes. You might have read about the need to acquire cognitive skills. These comprise the technical knowledge and training that we have been exposed to since birth and will, through continuing professional development (CPD), engage in throughout our working life and beyond. Everything you have ever learned at school or college will be covered by this taxonomy or classification.

Relevant examples might include the academic curriculum content in the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) Convention and, for example, short courses on firefighting, first aid, survival, navigation systems, dynamic positioning, health and safety, and risk assessment. During these courses you learn and practise new skills, techniques, procedures and systems. Such skills are usually referred to as ‘hard’.

Career moves or advancements inevitably require you to learn new hard skills or refresh old ones. For example, a motor engineer officer might need to acquire knowledge to transition from high- to slow-speed diesels, or from motor to battery/fuel cell propulsion. A container ship deck officer requires hard skills training before applying for a job on tankers. A seafarer coming ashore needs to acquire a raft of new hard skills to function effectively in a different environment. Developing, practising and proving professional competence is both required and expected.

Acquiring hard skills

Hard skills must be acquired and practised until competency can be demonstrated. The maritime sector has education and training frameworks such as STCW that outline learning objectives and provide strategic direction and support. These might be enhanced by internationally recognised model programmes with prescribed curricula, such as the IMO’s model courses. More information about these courses can be found here. 

These courses are facilitated by thousands of establishments and training providers across the world that deliver effective training and education, sometimes combined with practical experience at sea, on-the-job or workshop sessions. The courses are underpinned by a rich variety of academic and vocational assessment strategies, and many are linked to degree programmes.

Hard skills learning programmes, designed and delivered by professionals, are well established and continue to contribute to the competence of maritime professionals. To some extent, they also include soft skills, because leadership skills are included in maritime training programmes. Alongside bridge resource management (BRM) requirements, the IMO is currently revising its STCW personal safety and social responsibilities (PSSR) course to include more emphasis on aspects such as psychological safety. It can be argued, however, that insufficient time and attention are spent on soft skills.

Honing soft skills

Over the past few decades, it has become clear that a rigid focus on hard skills alone is not enough. Of course, it is still essential to learn how to overhaul a pump, put out a fire, steer a ship or load cargo. Acquiring the knowledge and skills to do those things alone is neither completely straightforward nor sufficient, however. While such a focus of learning satisfies the essential need to know ‘What?’ and ‘How?’, it misses those essential human and mainly abstract traits that are so important in maintaining a safe, efficient and happy workplace.

Consider the officer who issues orders in an aggressive manner and tends to shout at the crew. True, the job gets done, as crew members feel obliged to carry out the instruction, but will they perform tasks with enthusiasm and energy if they feel they are being spoken down to? Probably not. Now consider how much motivation and goodwill will be generated if the crew are treated and spoken to with greater respect. Will they ‘go the extra mile’ to complete a task, and act promptly and eagerly in future if spoken to in an adult-to-adult manner? Almost certainly they will. Importantly, they will be more likely to do the job safely in these circumstances.

Every situation is different and in some cases it is essential to speak with a greater degree of authority and issue instructions in a more assertive manner, especially in an emergency. Authority is a fundamental requirement of an effective leader. On a good human element, leadership and management (HELM) or crew resource management (CRM) course, participants will learn about the authority gradient, particularly when it steepens or when it becomes shallower.

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Disclaimer

This is an edited extract from Developing soft skills in mariners: A facilitator's handbook by Professor Carole Davis, published by The Nautical Institute. Find out more - and order your copy here!