In aviation such training has been around for years but no-one ever thought of training seafarers – until now. The simple fact is that most accidents are caused by someone making a mistake. How can we minimise this?
Officer of the Watch HELM
At operational (OOW) level the emphasis is on teams and teamwork: what makes a team effective? What makes it dysfunctional? The course looks at the leadership function within a team and the role of different personality traits amongst the team members. There is an emphasis on effective communication and how to foster the sharing of ideas. At Bluewater we have tried to maximise the practical element of this three day course: students participate in a series of team games, specially designed by a professional psychologist to facilitate discussion. Each candidate will give a 10 minute presentation on a yachting related subject of their choice as part of the assessment.
Master and Chief Engineer HELM
The five day management level course (master/chief engineers) builds on the operational course with a focus on leadership and management and the distinction between them. A ship has several teams within it; how do we make them work smoothly together? We explore the importance of having a clear vision and how to break this down onto tasks and communicate this to your organisation. The course also examines personal crew motivation in some depth and at bluewater we focus on interviewing and appraisal techniques. This course also has a significant practical element with carefully designed activities aimed at drawing out discussion on the key themes.
