18 STAFF TRAINING Motivation and direction By Mick Bettesworth* I
n these days of ever-increasing customer expectations, today’s exceptional service becomes tomorrow’s norm. There is an old
adage that says, “the mechanics of industry is easy. The real engine is the people: their motivation and direction”. Many marina companies
traditionally have a weak training strategy and poor identification of training needs. Sometimes geographical location and diversity of equipment can add to the problems. This can lead to high annual turnover of staff and low morale leading to difficulty in recruiting good candidates. These problems can affect the core business and lead to a loss of profitability and an increase in minor accidents. To confront these issues solutions must be sought that improve morale and inspire all staff from Managers to Marina Operatives. In many cases, this means changing
of customers. Ways of achieving this might include: allocation of a defined and ring-fenced training budget under the control of a Director or a designated Training Manager; link training to recognised qualifications such as NVQs, etc; and consider a competency programme. A competency framework
Mick Bettesworth is Chairman of the Global Marina Institute.
the culture and endeavouring to make the organisation become a learning company where continuous development of employees is seen as an investment by the owners especially to meet the changing needs and expectations
generally covers the skills and knowledge that people need to be able to do their job, as well as behavioural indicators as to their performance. Many of us in the industry do not have the luxury of too many staff, so in times of holiday or sickness, staff levels can be heavily depleted. A competency programme aims to train staff to do each other’s roles and, in the case of marinas and boatyards, cross train on equipment. As a further incentive, each qualification achieved can be given a points value, which can then be equated to a monetary value either in terms of salary or bonus.
This programme works equally well for a small single site or larger multi-site operator. As an example, the core skills identified below could be seen as a basic requirement for all marina staff:
Core health & safety • Induction training, including the corporate message.
• First aid training to Health and Safety Executive standard (this is a legal requirement in the United Kingdom.
• Safety in the marina environment. • Correct lifting of loads by hand.
Dockmaster skills • Boat handling, use of VHS radio (legal requirement in the UK).
• Customer service. • IT skills.
Yardhand skills • Use of yard equipment such as cranes, hoists and forklift trucks.
The training courses of recognised qualifications
MARINA EURO-REPORT • DECEMBER 2014
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