Page 20: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (July 2020)

Leadership Training

Photo: © Coloures-Pic/AdobeStock

Leadership development in the Merchant Marine:

A growing signifcance for the future

By Matthew Bonvento ow many times have you heard someone say, o 4. assertiveness and leadership, including motivation “Oh, that person is a born leader, I could nev- o 5. obtaining and maintaining situation awareness er do what they do as I am not a born leader.” ¦ Knowledge and ability to apply decision-making techniques:

That train of thought has recently come under o 1. situation and risk assessment

H increased scrutiny and debate as the Merchant o 2. identify and generate options

Marine enters the 21st century. As part of this o 3. selecting course of action focus, the IMO updated the STCW code with o 4. evaluation of outcome effectiveness the 2010 Manilla Amendments. Included in that update were (Development, implementation, and oversight of stan- training requirements for management level offcers to have dard operating procedures) For Management Level training in Leadership and Managerial Skills. Junior offcers offcers only.

are trained at an operational level with the same skills: STCW At the end of the day however, the question remains, is this 2010 outlines the requirements for Junior offcers to have the enough? This was a topic focused upon by both Admiral Alfultis following skills at an operational level and Senior offcers to of SUNY Maritime and Admiral Buono of USMMA during last have been assessed for the same skills at the managerial level: year’s Maritime Education Summit held on the Massachusetts ¦ Knowledge of shipboard personnel management and training Maritime Academy campus. During their presentations both of ¦ A knowledge of related international maritime conven- the Admirals made a point of discussing how each school is tions and recommendations, and national legislation focusing on training the future leaders of the maritime industry. ¦ Ability to apply task and workload management, including: STCW is only the mast upon which the sails of leadership can o 1. planning and co-ordination be fown. Much more is needed if the vessel is to get underway.

o 2. personnel assignment I thought back to my time at SUNY Maritime as a student o 3. time and resource constraints and dug up one book which was required reading to Indoctrina- o 4. Prioritization tion offcers at the time (Leadership Secrets of Atilla the Hun by ¦ Knowledge and ability to apply effective resource Wess Roberts) and decided to re-read it after many years. After management: reading that I picked up James C. Hunter’s book The World’s o 1. allocation, assignment, and prioritization of resources Most Powerful Leadership Principle, How to Become a Servant o 2. effective communication on board and ashore Leader. Before I knew it, I was taking online courses in AGILE o 3. decisions refect consideration of team experiences leadership and next thing I knew I had embarked upon a path of 20 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • July 2020