At the 2023 SAFETY4SEA Athens Forum, Mariangela Zanaki, an Organisational Development Consultant and Psychologist with Ceosan, offered insightful perspectives on crew management strategies, informed by neuroscience. The insights she shared offer a fresh perspective on how leadership behaviors and people management system can be structured in brain-friendly ways, enhancing both efficiency and wellbeing in the crew and shore personnel management systems.
Zanaki began by introducing the critical distinction between the conscious and unconscious activities of the brain, a fundamental concept in psychology and neuroscience that is vital for gaining deeper insights into human behavior and decision-making. She referred to Daniel Kahneman’s influential research, which delineates how our minds operate on both a conscious level (System 2) and an unconscious level (System 1). Kahneman’s conceptual framework posits that while System 1 is fast, automatic, and driven by instincts and emotions, handling most of our daily activities without our active awareness, System 2 is slower, more deliberate, logical, and is called upon for complex decision-making and reasoning.
The implications of this duality for crew management are significant. As Zanaki highlighted, our capacity for focused, deliberate thinking, which is critical for optimal performance and enhanced productivity, is a limited resource. It is energy-intensive, making it susceptible to depletion and necessitating recovery time. Moreover, this capacity can be easily disrupted by both external and internal distractions, making the management of ‘noise’ a key leadership skill.
Zanaki further delved into the brain’s key organizing principle: the instinctive drive to avoid threats and seek rewards. This principle, she explained, is not only tied to our physical well-being but is also deeply embedded in our social interactions. Our brains perceive social factors like exclusion, humiliation, and lack of autonomy as threats, triggering stress responses in the body and mind. In modern life, it’s these psychosocial threats that predominantly cause chronic stress, impacting our health and well-being. Zanaki emphasized the necessity of managing not just our physical environments but also our social interactions and the emotions they evoke.
A significant part of her discussion was dedicated to Amy Edmodson’s concept of psychological safety. This involves creating an environment where team members feel secure in sharing ideas and concerns without fear of judgment, criticism or blamed. Zanaki underscored the group-level nature of psychological safety and how relationships are fundamental to the success of any organization.
The focal point to achieving operational excellence in crew management, as Mrs. Zanaki concluded, lies in two interlinked elements: the processes implemented and the behaviors promoted within an organization, which, essentially, entails aligning personnel management processes for assessing, rewarding, and developing the right behaviors.
In concluding her presentation, Zanaki emphasized the importance of adaptability and growth, across the individual/ group and organisational levels. She highlighted that just as our brains are plastic and capable of lifelong learning and evolution, so too should our practices and institutions evolve. This approach, grounded in the principles of neuroscience, encourages continuous development and adjustment to changing circumstances, mirroring the dynamic nature of the human brain.
Above article has been edited from Mariangela’s Zanaki presentation during the 2023 SAFETY4SEA Athens Forum.
Explore more by watching his video presentation here below
The views presented are only those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of SAFETY4SEA and are for information sharing and discussion purposes only.
