Page 147 - ΝΑΥΤΙΚΑ ΧΡΟΝΙΚΑ - ΜΑΙΟΣ 2024

THE VALUE Psychological safety influences vetting perfor- of psychological safety, with little variation among

mance
them. Only four vessels were lagging behind. Inter-
To better understand how human performance
estingly, these four vessels also demonstrated the
data can be used in practice, let’s put the focus on
worst vetting performance during the same time
OF HUMAN psychological safety—one of the key performance period (with 10 to 8 deficiencies each).
Seen from a psychological safety standpoint, crew
influencing factors.
members who feel less safe to express themselves,
Psychological safety is a shared belief within a
speak up, and intervene, can have a significant
team that every member is free to express ideas,
PERFORMANCE voice concerns, ask questions, and report, as well impact on vetting performance in several ways.
Here are a few of them:
as admit mistakes without fear of facing nega-
Poor risk management
•
tive consequences. Psychological safety simply
describes the level of open and trusting work
DATA atmosphere. potential risks proactively, increasing the
They are less likely to identify and address
likelihood of deficiencies during vetting,
There are multiple benefits to creating a high level
of psychological safety among the crew onboard:
and setting themselves and the vessel at
1.
It fosters crew’s engagement and motiva-
Communication breakdown
tion, as the crew feel their contributions • risk during vessel operations.
are valued and they speak up without fear They may withhold vital information or hes-
of retribution. itate to communicate concerns even if they
2. Psychological safety can enhance deci- notice potential issues or have valuable
sion-making by encouraging the crew to insights to contribute; this results to failing
voice their opinions and concerns, result- to address potential issues or implement
ing in a more diverse range of perspectives necessary changes before vetting inspec-
being considered. tions and prior vessel operations.
3. Psychological safety can cultivate a cul- • Resistance to learning and improvement
ture of continuous learning and improve- They may be resistant to feedback or sug-
ment, as the crew feel comfortable shar- gestions for improvement, fearing criticism
ing their mistakes and learning from them. or punishment. This resistance can impede
Utilising Green-Jakobsen’s Safety Delta perfor- the crew’s ability to learn from past expe-
mance data bank, which contains over 50.000 crew riences or incorporate lessons learned into
responses representing the seafarer population of 13 their day-to-day jobs on board.
tanker and dry bulk shipping companies managing In conclusion, crew members who feel psycholog-
over 360 vessels, shows that there is a correlation ically safe are more likely to communicate openly,
between psychological safety and operational per- collaborate effectively, and perform better, ulti-
formance, particularly evident in vetting outcomes. mately contributing to better vetting performance;
Taking the example of one tanker company with 47 consequently to safer work practice during vessel
vessels, an analysis of its 2022 data showed that operations.
having low levels of psychological safety can lead As demonstrated in this article, human performance
to poorer vetting performance. data mined within an organisation is a treasure trove
After evaluating the level of psychological safety of insights waiting to be discovered. By analysing
among the fleet of this tanker company, it was found patterns and trends in this data, valuable insights can
that almost all vessels exhibited relatively high levels be picked up to drive improvements and enhance
overall performance at a company level.

If you want to hear more about how data on human
performance can help in taking better decisions,
visit us on 5 June at the Posidonia International
Exhibition, Athens (Seminar Room 2A). Reserve
your seat at: m.progoulaki@green-jakobsen.com.

References:
Ramlall, S. (2008). Enhancing employee performance
through positive organisational behavior. Journal of
Applied Social Psychology. 38(6): 1580-1600.

143