The maritime industry has recognised that Officers at sea and shore based personnel need to refresh their skills and develop new ones as their careers progress. This applies to personal skills just as much as technical ones.

Developing personal skills should be seen as contributing to the development and success of an organisation as a whole, and personal skills can be developed at all levels. For example, providing interview technique training to Deck and Engineering Officers could improve the overall recruitment and retention of crew, or providing time management skills to a Marine Superintendent could help improve operations and reduce costs.

Precious Associates (PAL) has listened to a wide variety of shipping companies talking about the skills they see as important for Deck and Engineering Officers as they achieve senior ranks at sea or transfer into a shore based role.On the basis of those conversations we have developed a suite of personal skills courses that concentrate on the high priority areas. These courses are designed to meet the needs of people working in the maritime industry and can be tailored to meet the requirements of individual shipping clients.

Our Personal Skills training courses can cover the following:

PAL provides training on skills required to prepare and conduct a competence based interview within the shipping industry environment. The core skills are covered and opportunity to practice and receive feedback on interview technique is provided. This training course can be tailored to use the client’s documentation and procedures.

Presentation skills

This course covers all skills required to prepare and deliver an effective presentation. It involves steps including: defining the purpose, preparing the material and structure, assessing the audience, and managing nerves. The course provides opportunity to practice and receive feedback. This course can be general as well as tailored to project-specific presentations, such as tendering for business within a shipping environment or delivering internal training to Officers and Ratings.

Time management

During this course PAL highlights the principles of managing time from goal setting to time planning and interruption management. The course looks at how to develop a time planning system appropriate to the job and how to prioritise and plan tasks.  This general course can also be tailored to specific operational roles, from Senior Officers and Crew Managers to Marine Superintendents if required.

Problem solving skills

Here we introduce the process of problem solving using analytical and creative techniques. The course provides a systematic approach to solving problems and a range of techniques that can be used for different types of problems.  If required, this general course can be tailored to specific operational departments, such as a Senior Director or Technical Superintendent.

Coaching skills for the workplace – at sea and ashore

This course provides a practical introduction to the powerful technique of coaching and how it can be used as a means of developing performance in others and encourage individual initiative.  PALcan also tailor this course to the specific needs of individual shipping organisations, such as improving the skills for managing Junior Officers and Officer Trainees as well as Marine Managers ashore.

Assertiveness

Managers need to balance the achievement of their objectives with the need to build and maintain working relationships.  Assertiveness training provides an opportunity to assess your own preferred style and practice techniques to give you more options in any situation.

Negotiation skills

During this course we introduce and practice the key negotiation skills that enable people to prepare effectively to negotiate and to recognise and deal with common negotiation ploys.

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