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Communications Workshop in Palma de Mallorca
I got one more thing about your onboard communication
Today I listened in on Vicky and then Tina
Vicky, you definitely talk a lot less onboard than those two.
I think to be able to communicate better,
independent of what I heard from all of you,
you'll need two things:
Most importantly you always need to judge and value any information that you pass on.
This is true for crew and helmsman.
To communicate a simple fact doesn't help.
You need to explain whether that fact is good,
whether the boat is doing the right thing or not.
Saying "We are here" or "There's more wind to the right" does not contain whether you actually want to sail to the right.
Whoever says anything needs to also say whether he agrees with it.
Not just a fact but also an opinion.
"It's like this and I would react like this "
If you communicate like this, you will still need to make an actual decision.
depending on how your crew dynamics are,
whether or not your helmsman has final say in the matter.
It is the helmsman's job to evaluate his crew's information and opinion:
If he agrees, he is reinforced in his view and acts on it.
Or he disagrees and ... well, he disagrees.
But there shouldn't be a conversation.
I think this and you think that, but I think this
and in the end there is no more time act.
One person needs to have the power to overrule the other, without there being any bad blood.
There is no time for any discussion.
You need to agree on how you handle this.
It is important to pass a personal opinion, for example, go left,
but a few seconds later the helmsman ends up going right
because of a tight situation when there is no time to talk about the decision.
There cannot be any discussion at that point. The decision has been made, it's final.
There might have been other more important reasons
As a team you need to pass the information and what you think of it,
but don't get hung up on it.
If you were right, nobody is going to discuss your opinion,
If you were wrong, you would tell you crew
"Hey, I told you and you went right anyway, you stupid cow ... bla bla bla"
In fact, the guys probably do the same!
But I believe that is the normal procedure:
Pass information, pass your assessment and what you would do
If the info gets ignored, well, it gets ignored.
I am sure that your partner doesn't want to sail any worse than you.
He just had different or more information.