Leadership Lesson: How Should a Ship Commander Appear to his Crew?

The following extract is taken from Running a Big Ship, the guide book to how to run a Second World War Battleship. Written by Captain Rory O’Conor, it is now seen as one of the most important documents we have to understand the role and function of a World War Two Battleship commander.

 

In the course of the day’s work innumerable people have business to do with the Commander of a big ship, and his ready accessibility is a matter of importance. Even with a properly decentralised organisation, it is inevitable that the Commander should be constantly sought after for consultation, advice, approval, permission, information, and a hundred and one other reasons. In addition, he must be at hand, especially in flagships, to receive visiting senior officers at the gangway.

Inaccessible versus Accessible. – An inaccessible man may be defined as one who:

(a) can never be found, or

(b) invariably expresses annoyance at being interrupted.

People soon cease to seek out a man like these, with a result that he loses touch, and so much the worse for the ship.

The Commander wants to feel free to wander about the ship at will, seeing the hands at work and getting to know them. But there is a time for everything, and there should be at least one hour, both in the forenoon and afternoon, when the whole ship knows that there is one place where he can almost certainly be found, and available.

Outward and Visible Signs. – His cabin is probably the best position in which he can come to rest, and once he is fixed, there are certain outward and visible signs of accessibility to be attended to:

(a) Cabin door open and curtain drawn back.

(b) Sitting at a table facing the door.

(c) Never too preoccupied to glance up at once and greet the caller with ‘Come in.’

(d) A chair ready placed for the caller to sit on.

The very reverse of accessible is the man who sits writing with his back to a closed door, fails to notice you on first arrival, then looks up, and with irritation or impatience says ‘What do you want?’

The Commander of a ship needs separate day and sleeping cabins, as it is disconcerting, when transacting official business, for him to be constantly interrupted by the necessary coming and going of his servant, and it is hard on the latter to be turned out in the middle of his work.

A Suggested Technique. – The late Lord Inchcape had a technique in dealing with subordinates reporting difficulties or problems:

1. Listen.
2. Question until understood.
3. Ask for a remedy.
4. Weigh it.
5. Decide: Yes or No.
6. If No, give reasons if time permits.

In a matter of urgency it may be necessary for a superior to give an immediate decision without awaiting a subordinate’s proposals, but, normally, the latter is only half doing his work if, when he comes along with a problem, he fails to suggest a solution. The Commander must take care not to develop into a penny-in-the-slot machine, into which others drop their difficulties and expect the answer to fall out.

This is one of the worst forms of centralisation.

Off Duty. – Like everyone else, the Commander feels the need of leisure time, and after hours he may well turn his executive duties over to the Duty Lieutenant-Commander. Having done so, he is entitled to shut his door and settle down to a book, with orders not to call him when it comes on to blow, but when it has stopped blowing.

 

If Punctuality is the first virtue in the Commander of a ship, then Accessibility assuredly comes second.

 

Comments

comments