In this article, Thomas Schmidt, Partner and Senior Consultant, Green-Jakobsen highlights that in the maritime industry, the performance appraisal of senior vessel officers – specifically the Master and Chief Engineer – is perhaps the most critical component of effective performance management. These two top-ranking officers directly influence crew safety, efficiency, and morale, as well as the vessel’s operational performance.
Yet, in many shipping companies, the appraisal process is often done more like a formality than a leadership tool – it has, in many cases, become routine, with a lack of engagement to generate meaningful outcomes. This lack of engagement is a missed opportunity, not only for improving individual and team performance but also for capturing valuable insights that could inform broader organisational learning and strategic decisions.
Why are performance appraisals underutilised?
From their experience, Green-Jakobsen sees the following factors as contributing to this issue:
- Lack of training in performance dialogues: Appraisals require honest, developmental conversations. But here’s the challenge: many of those conducting the evaluations – typically fleet managers or shore-based superintendents – are not trained in managing performance dialogues, especially with highly experienced senior officers. This skill gap can lead to superficial evaluations rather than meaningful discussions.
- Subjectivity and bias: Appraisals can suffer from inconsistencies due to a lack of direct observation. Personal biases, cultural nuances, and unstructured expectations may skew evaluations. Furthermore, without standardised criteria, different evaluators may assess similar performance in divergent ways.
- Limited visibility into day-to-day operations: Shore-based personnel rarely witness on-board operations firsthand. Instead, they must rely on reports, incident records, and third-party feedback. While this data is helpful, it offers only a partial view, particularly when evaluating soft skills like leadership, communication, and decision-making under pressure.
- Overemphasis on technical metrics: Quantifiable indicators such as maintenance adherence and fuel efficiency are easier to assess and often receive disproportionate attention. However, critical leadership behaviours and team management are harder to measure and, therefore, frequently neglected. Ironically, these are the very competencies that most strongly drive performance.
- Fear of negative feedback: Both evaluators and those being evaluated often shy away from candid conversations. Appraisers may hesitate to confront high-ranking officers, while Masters and Chief Engineers may fear that admitting areas for development could jeopardise future assignments. This can lead to vague or overly positive feedback and, ultimately, limited growth.
Recommendations for improvement
Studies show that effective performance feedback can increase performance by over 40%, while poorly handled feedback can decrease it by more than 30%. This highlights the importance of giving appraisals a higher priority in driving company performance.
Fortunately, improvements do not have to be costly. The investment is primarily a commitment to develop better leadership and update processes with more supportive tools and guidance.
Here are the key steps to achieve this:
- Develop clear performance criteria: Detail the technical, operational, and leadership competencies in a way that makes the behaviours that drive performance clear and concise. This will help convey “what does good look like” and reduce subjectivity when evaluating efforts and results.
- Implement structured feedback: Include more structured feedback from crew members to get a better view of a senior officer’s interpersonal skills and management style. Feedback from other office departments with direct contact with the senior officers can add to the picture.
- Balance performance data: Typically, metrics such as audit results, voyage reports, incident logs, and energy efficiency indicators are used as a basis for discussions of vessel performance. But often, these quantitative data are not supplemented with what decisions and actions have been made to get the results. Looking at both efforts and results can create a good basis for learning and discussion of performance.
- Foster a culture of continuous feedback: Shift from one-off, end-of-contract reviews to regular performance discussions. Continuous feedback nurtures trust, improves communication, and helps avoid surprises during formal reviews. It also encourages officers to reflect on their performance and make timely adjustments. Giving senior officers the opportunity to also provide structured feedback on the experienced support they have received from office departments and superintendents, e.g., through anonymous questionnaires, can also strengthen the view on performance management.
Ultimately, the most powerful aspect of performance management is not the form itself, but the quality of the conversation it initiates. A well-executed appraisal discussion should inspire development, reinforce strengths, and address growth areas – all while maintaining mutual respect.
Capturing learning and driving organisational improvement
Beyond the immediate focus on performance enhancement, the appraisal process should also be recognised as a valuable opportunity to capture learning and generate data for continuous improvement.
Gathering structured performance data consistently can help refine the appraisal process and, more importantly, provide insights on actions and decisions that drive performance, which again can be used as a basis for knowledge sharing and learning.
Improving the focus on getting real data from the performance appraisal process helps identify patterns, highlight areas of systemic weakness, and show key actions that drive performance.
These insights can be leveraged to enhance fleet-wide operations and drive sustainable performance improvements from both technical and human capital perspectives.
In today’s competitive shipping environment, overlooking the potential of performance appraisals for senior officers is a missed opportunity no company should ignore. Be aware of whether your company’s performance appraisals are treated as a routine administrative task, and not really utilised as a performance development tool.
If that is the case, then there is an opportunity in enhancing your appraisal process to create meaningful leadership dialogues, supported by relevant data, to drive performance and learning in your organisation.
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.
