25 April 2014; The Never Ending Need for Training.

25 April 2014; The Never Ending Need for Training.

Training has always been a necessity to be able to do a job, or to be able to apply for a job. From the mists of time there are stories about people being trained to be ready for later life. The Romans who could afford it had slaves who taught their children, in the middle ages the Guilds would have extensive apprenticeship programs and since the 19^th. Century schooling for everybody is a right laid down in the law. What has changed from the past is the pace in which things are changing and thus the need for constant updating; e.g. more training. Not too long ago a Master Craftsman could survive on his skills learned long time ago, augmented by his/her talents. Life itself would virtually remain the same and you could reach a ripe old age by “just doing a good job in the same job”. That has changed significantly; not only at Sea, but also Ashore. Since the seventies a whole industry has sprung up with as main purpose keeping those who are at work, at work.

Training falls basically into two categories: Refreshment of skills and learning new skills.

As an example; we all go to fire fighting courses to refresh what we learned at the academy and to catch on with the latest techniques.  When you get older and progress up the ranks the focus moves way from actual being in a fire squad and fighting a fire to directing the fire fighting.  The large courses (with lots of actual fire, smoke and other mayhem) are done on the shore side.

On a smaller scale you can do actual training on board. You do not have the option to practise with a real fire but with (theatrical) smoke, darkness and obstacles you can create situations that come quite close to real life. That is done every week on board. On top of that travelling trainers are sailing with the ships on a regular basis to ensure that a high standard remains.

This routine is basically the same for each training that needs hands on skills.  Fire fighting, Boat handling, Life Saving etc. etc.

The opening page of the HAL University Website. 

Then there is the virtual training. A lot of things can be taught by CBT. Computer Based Training. For that purpose Holland America has a virtual University, which is called HAL University. Each employee has a login to the site and because your login ID is connected to your function, automatically the courses that are compulsory and/or related to your job will appear on the screen.  But you have the option to take any course if you want to.  I recently took the wine course for the Cellar Master and it was not simple at all. I never knew that there were so many grape variations out there, which all resulted in different wines. I will never look at a glass of wine in the same way again.

To keep this all more or less streamlined and to ensure that the employee takes all these courses, we have another program. The Career Program.  Every employee is locked into a career program, to support his/her progress through the years, hopefully up the ladder and to make certain that all that needs to be done, is done.

For this purpose each function, has assigned a list of skill sets. If a 4^th. Engineer wants to progress to 3^rd engineer then there are a number of boxes that need to be ticked before promotion is possible. First of course there is the License, then all the compulsory courses and then there is the skill set. Has the person shown, on board, that he/she has the skills to progress to the next function? The skill set is checked off by his/her direct supervisor. Is that all completed, then there is the need to review the End of Term appraisals. Not everything that a person does or does not do can be caught in checklists. The individual has to be mentally able to take the next step and has to fit into that position.  Hence End of Term Appraisals.

If all is complete: the person is added to the promotion list.  Once parked there, it is waiting for the next gap to appear and then the person can be slotted in. As our ships are not identical the company tries to have the promotion happen in the same class of ship.  That has the advantage that a person does not have get used to a new job and to a new environment at the same time.  Once settled down, a transfer to another class of ship can take place.

This system works the best if you start with the company as a cadet, or in a similar rank and then work your way up. The system supports you while you are making that progress. But it also works for crew that comes in sideways, joins in at a higher rank level. Now the system acts as a fail safe as it is exactly documented what HAL standards are that this “outsider” has to live up to. With other words, does he/she have what it takes to be able to join the Holland America Family in a successful way.

To be continued;………….. what HAL does in Asia.