A manager communicates by just being there. Crew aboard follow the leader whether or not he/she is silent or talkative, acts or fails to act. So it is important for managers to be aware of their role and aware of the consequences of what they say.
Information aboard is an absolutely core issue in crew well-being. Do you have good meetings? How do you ensure that people know what they have to do and what their duties are. If they feel well informed and involved, the working environment is well along the way to success.
New guidelines on working together and communication for shipowners and seamen
Good communication requires good relations between ship and office. That is the advice of Seahealth Demark in a new publication ”Ship and office on the same wavelength – two worlds meet".
Communication between individual ships and the office ashore has always been a challenge, among other things because of the great distances involved, further complicated by differences in time zones and working situations. Vital messages often get lost in e-mail and the feeling of the lack of understanding from the other party makes individual personnel feel frustrated and irritated. On contrary, the good working environment generates effective collaboration. The guidance gives good advices to personnel in the office and aboard to initiate a positive process. Seamen and office staff can get excellent tips for improving communication.
>> The guidance can be downloaded as a PDF here.
Read more about good communication and information aboard in A Good Working Life at Sea
In the section on communication and information aboard in A Good Working Life at Sea, various seamen report on what they feel is required for good communication and information on a vessel.
>> Download the case study section
In the book's toolkit section, you can read about the significance of the fact that we see things and sense them differently and about the challenges this presents for communication aboard. There are also five tips on how to run a good, effective meeting and about induction for new crew. You will also find a good, simple tool for making joint agreements on how to establish good communication aboard.
>> Download the toolkit section