Crew Safety

We were all labelled as ‘green’ crew as we jumped on board our first yacht. Being ‘green’ can certainly be overwhelming for some as you learn to navigate your department and responsibilities and find your place within an established team.

As ‘green crew’, we would have either been inspired by influential leadership or haunted by poor leadership, which can subsequently shape our perceptions of leadership and the attributes we choose to adopt as our own.

Recently, I interviewed Gemma – we discussed bullying and the disruption it can cause within your personal life and professional career.

In our upcoming vlog, Gemma publicly shares her experience as a victim of bullying for the first time, which left her with severe anxiety to the point that she was shaking at her morning pre-brief team meetings. Gemma, fortunately, realised that this sort of behaviour from her superior was not acceptable and wisely resigned before the bullying got progressively worse.

I think we can all agree that safety is a number one priority when working as a seafarer. Without completing your mandatory STCW 95 and ENG 1, you cannot secure a position onboard. The industry neglects to observe that psychological safety goes hand in hand with physical safety and therefore should be given equally enough attention. When an onboard culture supports dysfunctional attitudes and behaviours, it not only fuels a fear-based culture but directly puts the crews’ physical safety at risk.

Research studies have found that where psychological safety was absent, accidents increased due to the employees’ inability to ask for help.

This goes the same for yacht crew. If there is no tolerance for making mistakes, the crew are less likely to reach out for help, leading to unsafe outcomes. When the crew are not supported by their superiors but are shamed or blamed for making a mistake, this can manifest into a volatile working and living environment.

Promoting a learning culture onboard is crucial, where mistakes are embraced rather than criticised. Interestingly, Amy Edmondson and Google found in their respective studies that the teams that made more mistakes were more successful.

Creating an environment in which people feel comfortable to take risks is key to fostering innovative workplaces. When workplaces encourage learning through failure, you are likely to see an overall improvement in crew wellbeing, morale, engagement and productivity. The Crew Coach offers a membership program to assist the crew in building a positive onboard culture and thriving workplace.

For inspiration, see professor Amy Edmondson’s TEDTalk on “Building a psychologically safe workplace.”