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The Role of Mentors in Career Development
Presented by Leonard Holder - Extra Master, MPhil, FRIN, FNI.
Warden and Past Master, The Honourable Company of Master Mariners, London
Introduction
Mariners gain their knowledge and skills in many different ways. Their career achievements depend upon many things:
- Their basic education
- Their own motivation and enthusiasm
- The quality of their maritime education
- The quality of their sea training
- The attitude and skills of senior staff as mentors
It is the role of mentors in career development that I shall explore with you.
The Good, the Bad and the Awful
Each of us will have met many different senior officers during our formative years. Some are awful. They have no interest in trainees and even if they like you personally, will ask questions such as "Why did you join an awful profession like this? If I were you, I would leave as soon as possible! If I had my time over again, I would get a good easy shore job"
Equally demotivating are the ones who do not give clear guidance and then shout at you when you make mistakes.
Slightly better are those who ignore you.
The best ones take an interest, give encouragement and guidance, let you try things out for yourself, congratulate you when you get things right, and encourage and advise you on how to do better next time if things went a bit wrong.
Sea training would be much better if we could encourage all senior staff to become better mentors.
Can you teach Mentoring?
When the Nautical Institute revised its publication "The Nautical Institute on Command"(Ref 1) I was pleased to be asked to write the section on "On Board Training and Development". As the author of my own book "Training and Assessment on Board "(Ref 2), I thought I knew a bit about the subject. When I submitted my manuscript to the editor, Julian Parker, it came back to me with a note in red pen saying "Better go and do a course on mentoring and then complete the chapter". I did that, I learned a lot, and the resulting appendix is attached to this paper.
Mentoring
The key steps in mentoring or coaching are as follows:
- Identify the gaps in the trainee's knowledge and skills
- Choose a suitable project or procedure. Don't just delegate easy jobs:
- Briefing. Brief the trainee well beforehand; tell him or her the outcome you expect and any particular dangers to look out for. Help them to plan and let them ask questions
- Carrying out the project or procedure. Let them carry out the work without unnecessary interference
- Appraisal or de-briefing. Afterwards, talk through with the trainee how things went, what they have learned from the experience, and how they could do it better next time
- What next? Discuss with the trainee what the next step in their development should be. If it did not go well, perhaps try a similar exercise again. If it went well, then may be try something more difficult next time
Mentoring in the Wider Context
The City of London around the year 1350 AD was full of rogues and swindlers who took people's money for poor services and shoddy products. The City fathers decided to start craft guilds to ensure that all craftsmen were properly trained as apprentices and mentored as "journeymen", and that the services were supplied only by skilled craftsmen. These are the Livery Companies, of which The Honourable Company of Master Mariners is one (although it was not founded until 1926).
The company has more than 600 Master Mariner members some serving at sea in Command, some in company management, some in marine insurance, maritime law, the ports industry etc Nearly all of these people underestimate the breadth and depth of the knowledge and skills they have gained in their early sea training and then in moving into senior positions at sea and ashore.
A typical view is "I am out of touch with modern training; I have nothing to offer young people". They are wrong!
As one young trainee officer said to me: "I have only two problems. The first is to get the master and chief engineer of my ship to realise how much they know. The second is to get them to pass it on to me."
The Honourable Company of Master Mariners Apprenticeship Scheme
The Honourable Company has supported the education and training of nautical officers from its earliest days. At first we enrolled "cadets of the Company" who could attend functions and lectures, meet members and participate in activities. In the 1950's that was changed to an Apprenticeship Scheme (Ref 3) where each young person is assigned a mentor or "master" from joining (normally after six months at sea) to obtaining his or her Master's Certificate, when they can become full members. The scheme works well and is appreciated by both the Masters and Apprentices.
City University / HCMM:An MSc in Maritime Operations and Management
There are many jobs ashore which require knowledge of ships and the sea, that are currently filled by former seafarers. Research carried out for the European Commission in Brussels identified 135 such jobs. Filling those jobs in the future will be difficult if there are not enough European seafarers gaining the required experience and education.
At the same time, many ships officers in their late 20s and early 30s, when starting families, waste their maritime skills and seniority by transferring to shore jobs where they have to start at the bottom once again.
Captain Simon Culshaw, a past master of the Honourable Company, approached City University with a view to providing a joint modular MSc course in Maritime Operations and Management(Ref 4), to act as a stepping stone into senior management. This has been running for two years and has attracted an excellent group of mid-career students. It has yet to reach the numbers of the successful City University "Air Transport Management" course for former air pilots, run jointly with another Livery Company, but is well on the way.
In this way, senior members of our profession are feeding back their knowledge and skills to the next generation and raising the standards of competence and management in our industry. It is another, more formal example of mentoring.
Conclusion
Teaching and practising mentoring skills could play a major part in the success of our industry. Leadership and Management form a major part of the Nautical Institute's future programme and the portfolio of Videotel Marine International which is the major supplier of training materials to merchant ships, of which I am currently chairman.
Good leadership and management (including good mentoring) are not mandatory. They are not demanded in so many words but the whole of the regulatory framework, safety, security and efficiency depend upon them.
I hope that organisations such as BIMCO, which encourage high standards, will do their best to promote good practice.
References
- Various Authors. The Nautical Institute On Command. Published by the Nautical Institute. Web-site: www.nautinst.org
- L A Holder. Training and Assessment on Board. Third Edition. Published by Witherby and Company Limited Web-site Web-site www.witherbys.com
- The Honourable Company of Master Mariners. Web-site www.hcmm.org.uk
- City University.Web-site www.city.ac.uk/sems/postgraduate/moam
Appendix
NAUTICAL INSTITUTE: COMMAND BOOK
Chapter on Training by L A Holder
APPENDIX : Coaching / Mentoring Skills
Most shore-based training is through structured "off the job" courses. In contrast, training on board is mainly "on the job" training, LEARNING BY DOING, and requires special management skills. These are referred to as COACHING or MENTORING SKILLS and this appendix highlights some of the key points if this type of training is to be effective.
Coaching needs to be structured:
- Determine the development needs of the trainee. These may be:
- a) short-term development for those who are not performing well in their present jobs
- b) medium term to prepare for changes and challenges in the job
- c) long tern needs for promotion and career development
Decide on the priorities
- Choose appropriate learning strategies. These might include:
- a) "off the job" learning from books, videos or computer-based learning packages, or
- b) "on the job" learning by experience, with coaching
A combination of methods may be required
The steps in coaching are as follows:
- Identify the gaps in the trainee's knowledge and skills. Very often, junior staff on board know what needs to be done, but lack self-confidence. They may be unsure of their ability to plan and implement a certain procedure without direct supervision. Priorities can be determined by observation and by discussion with other officers and with trainees
- Choose a suitable project or procedure. Don't just delegate easy jobs: there should be an element of challenge, and it will probably involve some measure of risk. Don't make it too difficult. (For example, as Master, you might let the Second Mate anchor the ship in an open anchorage in daylight, but not at night in poor visibility)
- Briefing. Your management role is the key to good coaching. Brief the trainee well beforehand, tell him or her the outcome you expect and any particular dangers to look out for. Help them to plan and let them ask questions
- Carrying out the project or procedure. Let them carry out the work without unnecessary interference. If possible let them "do it their way" and clear up their own mess. Of course, the safety of the ship and people remains paramount
- Appraisal or de-briefing. Afterwards, talk through with the trainee how things went, what they have learned from the experience, and how they could do it better next time
- What next? Discuss with the trainee what the next step in their development should be. If it did not go well, perhaps trying a similar exercise again. If it went well, then maybe try something more difficult next time
REMEMBER
- people learn from you all the time, by the example you set
- people learn from their own mistakes
- don't blame people if they "screw up"
THE PERSON WHO NEVER MADE A MISTAKE, NEVER LEARNED ANYTHING!
I would welcome your views:
© Leonard Holder 2006
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