First day in the office?

be very afraid

Corporate, office environments are genuinely scary and confusing.  Imagine a visitor from another planet staring in a window.  What would they see?  A large room, open plan with a low (sometimes not so low) hum of conversation.  Serried ranks of desks & screens.  At some of the desks, stressed humans grapple with - seemingly - tens or hundreds of communications an hour (instant messages, phone, email), while plugged into innumerable databases & systems.  Amazingly, every second of every human’s time seems to be scheduled.  Meeting follows meeting.  Discussions are endless while clarity, direction and desire for singular accountability for deliverables are rare.  There’s a lot of focus on pretty pictures.  Not always so much on the underlying issues…

We exaggerate.  But not that much.  The point is this: working in an office environment is very different from working at sea.  Especially when you layer in differences in leave (you mean, aside from weekends and a handful of holidays, people do this every day!) and pay (I get taxed too!).  

the best talent and operational competence is often afloat

Yet, in the maritime sector, it’s essential that shoreside leadership draws on its talent at sea.  We (rightly) talk a lot about diversity and inclusion. One area that is often absent is consideration of non-oxbridge or red-brick university backgrounds; such as those with the tenacity to make their own way straight from school to the big scary world of the sea. 

The very best of those on ships, and not just those sailing in senior ranks, have the potential to contribute hugely to success ashore and for the business overall.  They understand the operational challenges.  They have first-hand experience of the risks that exist at the sharp end. They are used to getting things done, to being accountable. They also know the cultures onboard and will have seen the corporate initiatives that have succeeded, and those that have failed.  

Accessing this pool of talent is not a, ‘free good’.  As we can see above, the office is wholly dissimilar from life afloat.  Identifying, supporting, preparing & transitioning those who want to come ashore is important, difficult activity.  Nor does the process stop on day one in the office.  Done properly, top talent should continue to be supported & developed.  The very best?  Potential c-suite material in time.

how we can help

stonefort marine talent is run by those who have worked both at sea and ashore.  We have run sea-to-shore programmes.  We’ve been part of them ourselves.  We understand what works.  What doesn’t.   This is why we are so well placed to advise businesses, both at the macro level (assessing existing systems, helping to strengthen sea-to-shore transitions) and the micro level (one-to-one coaching and mentoring with individuals as they come ashore).  

so don’t be afraid…

So - while we can all admit that the office is a crazy, barely rational place to work often filled with misdirection, no direction or conflicting direction - it doesn’t need to be overwhelming for those coming to it from sea for the first time.  In fact, properly nurtured, those are the people who might just bring some sanity!  

stonefort marine talent works with companies to make those transitions easier.  More systematic.  More repeatable.  You can read more about our work with sea-to-shore programmes here.  Or contact Mark Fortnum on mark.fortnum@stonefortmarine-talent.com.