Bullying and harassment, including sexual harassment, is an abuse of human rights and a key area of concern for the working environment, especially onboard ships where there is limited alternative for someone to avoid it. This aspect of abuse is particularly important for women, as it is considered one of the reasons keeping them away from a shipping career.
During the 2019 Hellenic American Maritime Forum in Athens, Capt. Apostolos Skempes, Training Manager, Arcadia Shipmanagement Co. Ltd., outlined ways to prevent offensive or hurtful behavior into the maritime workplace. As he stated, if unwanted behavior is left unchallenged it could lead to stress, lack of motivation and reduced work performance.
The Centenary International Labour Conference has adopted a new Convention and Recommendation to combat violence and harassment in the workplace. The Violence and Harassment Convention, 2019, and Violence and Harassment Recommendation, 2019 , were adopted by delegates on the final day of the Centenary International Labour Conference, in Geneva.
In the past both management and leadership were very much about processes or policies. However, these terms are evolving as long as humans continue to do so. That therefore means that the way leaders behave is changing as well.
One of leadership’s core requirements is dealing with employees that loosen and do not pull their weight, but, on the other end of the job spectrum, they are high talented. In most of the circumstances the answer to the question ‘Keep or Fire?’ is “Fire”. However, this needs to be a two way conversation. Which is therefore the best approach to such employees, so that you deliver your negative feedback in the best way possible?
In our special column this time, we are pleased to host an interview with Mr. Nick Brown, Communications Director, Bureau Veritas Marine & Offshore who says that by accident or luck, PR and communications felt right for a career in shipping, which is a indispensable part of the modern world trade, both a challenging and important industry.
Mrs Shaw says that studying for her professional qualifications was a worthwhile career investment, even if it impacted negatively her social life for a short time. Also, she suggests to only focus on the important things and delegate others when necessary. Overall, it is important to ‘work to live not live to work’ she concludes, meaning that it is worth putting family, and friends first as much as possible.
There are two types of mindsets we can cultivate: one that embraces each challenge as an opportunity to learn something new, and one that avoids them, often out of fear of failure. People that avoid conflicts can be described as having a fixed mindset while those who see problems as interesting challenges have a growth mindset.
Millennials have begun filling leadership roles in workplaces but faced with some common challenges like situations that test their skills, mindset but also their patience and consistency. Many of them strive to deliver performance, while others just enjoy the director’s position and sadly destroy their team’s performance. But what separates the first from the latter? Certainly, the way they handle daily challenges at workplace!
Harvard Business Review study reveals that “…rivalry could be an important lever for managers to pull to incentivize risk-taking. This could mean emphasizing longstanding corporate rivalries, or fostering (friendly) rivalries between employees, perhaps by creating incentive systems that provide for repeated competitions.”
