With as many leadership styles as there are mariners, we all have our own leadership style. How do you manage people to help them get the best out of themselves and your team when you are under stress and tension?
Just to get things started, I prefer the Agile Leaderhip approach but you could be using the following styles:
Autocratic
Authoritative
Pacesetting
Democratic
Coaching
Affiliative
Laissez-Faire
Servant
Transformational
Maybe share an example of when you were in a stressful situation and brought a team together with your leadership style.
“It’s called poetic use of words. Like Robert Frost, stopping by the woods on a snowy fucking evening. That kinda shit.” — Coach McGuirk, Home Movies
Had the luxury of hand picked crew later in my career. Gave them their space. Most came up for coffee at some point in the day. I loved my later years in the business.Develop trust in them, they will do the right thing.
Situational Leadership theory has informed some of my more difficult decisions regarding crew
From Wikipedia:
“The fundamental principle of the situational leadership model is that there is no single “best” style of leadership. Effective leadership is task-relevant, and the most successful leaders are those who adapt their leadership style to the performance readiness (ability and willingness) of the individual or group they are attempting to lead or influence.”
I agree with the situational leadership model but I hate the “task relevant” phrase which came from some MBA’s class as well as the phrase “performance and readiness”.
These trite phrases do not translate well to most folks who have to get a job done nor do they make one a better leader.I am familiar with companies performance readiness [ability and willingness] requirements. In plain language this means can you get your people to do more with less for the same pay? That is some MBA speak, doesn’t translate well.
Developing and maintaining motivation is a good goal. In my experience treating people well, letting them know the truth insofar as the information coming down from the onshore office served me well; never lie or BS. They may not like the cuts in budget for people, parts and maintenance but they at least understood the facts.
Leadership is easy. Treat everyone with respect,be honest and don’t be a dick. Companies come and go, mariners stick around and they talk. One lives or dies by ones reputation and integrity.
Tengineer, appears you have gone through budget and personnel cuts as most of have had at the knife of the efficiency experts. We were left with the cream of the crop in most cases, I let them roll. Made my life easier, not because of the cuts, but knew I could rely on what was left. Wish my last years were as good as the first. Not because of downsizing, but the most excellent crew that made it work in spite of the changes. Got my hands dirty with them until my retirement. Did my best to get them promoted. No regrets.
My last most excellent engineer a Maine Maritime guy, trained a Texas Hawespiper I snatched under cover of darkness in Mississippi River. He did quite well under his tutoring and became a well respected and licensed Chief Engineer. He still cusses me for retiring early.All good, I know I did the right thing at the time.Was it sneaky, oh hell yeah.Gave a guy a good shot that turned out well that shoreside would have missed.Are friends to this day. He put in the work. Fucking proud of him and the most excellent Maine engineer that took him under his wing… Shorthanded went for the best people I could get.Beg, borrow or steal. Was almost fun grabbing those dudes. We treated them well. They stayed. Again get a good group together, let them roll. That was my management style. They gave me the same space.as I gave them. It works people.
Interesting, it’s also the name of a cutting-edge tech company that is going to help shape the future of how you and the world perceives information.
