With the numerous health hazards and risks to be navigated each and every day, working in the maritime industry can sometimes feel like sailing into uncharted territories. Where the topic of public health is concerned, a common predicament shared by those working on board and ashore is that, quite often, expectations and responsibilities are unclear.
Gilbert’s Law is a principle that states, “The biggest problem at work is that no one tells you what to do.” It implies that employees often lack clear guidance from management and have to solve problems on their own. While finding certain things out for yourself is part and parcel of every job, public health is not necessarily best managed by your crew taking their own initiative. Mistakes can result in illness and even death; in the absence of sufficient company instructions, errors may be seen as corporate negligence.
In this article we explore Gilbert’s Law and its relationship with maritime public health. Moreover, how vessel owners, operators, and ship management companies can proactively prevent life-threatening health situations that can have serious legal, financial, and reputational consequences for their business.
Understanding Gilbert’s Law
“The biggest problem at work is that no one tells you what to do.”
Gilbert’s Law
There are different interpretations of Gilbert’s Law. For some, it is an invitation to be self-motivated, to show initiative and seek answers from co-workers or supervisors when needed. In most cases, individuals stepping up and taking appropriate responsibility at work is applauded. In this particular explanation of Gilbert’s Law—with respect to public health—self-motivation has a fundamental flaw: it’s based on the assumption that those you ask the questions of know the right answers.
In the cruise industry for instance, it is not uncommon to be hired or promoted into supervisory positions within on board guest services departments without any prior shipboard experience or public health training. With the challenges faced by recruitment teams in our industry at present, perhaps this should not be unexpected. One only has to look at recent cruise ship newbuild maiden voyages that have been delayed due to staffing issues as a justification offered in defense of this practice.
When an employee is assigned a role where public health is a crucial component of their managerial responsibility, there is a price to be paid if they lack the necessary experience and knowledge to effectively perform their duties. It is a heavy burden to bear for both the supervisor and the team members who look to them for leadership and guidance.
In his book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, the author Daniel Pink argues that people are often unhappy or dissatisfied at work because they lack clear guidelines and feedback on what they are supposed to do and how well they are doing it. This manifests into feelings of frustration, confusion, and demotivation. Team members may also lose trust in management and question the value of their work.
This rationale provides a more befitting interpretation of Gilbert’s Law. If a company does not clearly outline and communicate to its employees what is expected in regard to public health vis-à-vis topics such as food safety or water safety, it may face a number of unfavorable outcomes as a result.
What Happens When Employees Don’t Know What To Do?
It is perfectly reasonable to ask your co-workers or supervisors for help when you don’t know what to do. Following proper processes is crucial in public health as mismanagement can cause illness, disease outbreaks, and—in the worst-case scenario—loss of life. However, in the absence of clear company instructions, the answer received may be based on the respondent’s understanding, or misunderstanding, of what the correct response is.
The passing down of what is referred to as “tribal knowledge” is an established practice on board maritime vessels, but it is not without its own risks. Tribal knowledge is created through the interactions, conversations, and experiences of an organization’s employees. It tends to disseminate when new team members are informally trained by more seasoned and wiser colleagues during onboarding. However, tribal knowledge can be counterproductive.
When was the last time you heard someone say, “We’ve always done it this way?” While based on good intentions, it’s also the most dangerous phrase expressed in any company. Tribal knowledge in and of itself is not inherently undesirable as it can represent useful and valuable information learned through experience. However, when the information shared is inaccurate or outdated—or exists in isolated “knowledge silos” when correct—the ramifications can be harmful to your business.
As humans, we tend to react to threats when they are immediate and visible: public health does not always press those buttons. “Out of sight, out of mind” is an idiom typically applied when maritime companies quantify the efficacy of their current public health programs. While the aftermath of a fire, collision, or piracy attack can be instantly appreciated, the impact of inadequate public health measures, however, are not always so obvious.
Most people do not fall ill immediately after exposure to a virus or bacteria. As an example, it may take hours, days, or weeks to develop symptoms after consuming contaminated food. The incubation period for Legionnaires’ disease—the time from exposure to Legionella bacteria to when symptoms manifest—is typically between two to ten days, but in some cases can take even longer. More often than not, it takes a physician’s diagnosis before a company is made aware of the problems lurking within a vessel’s water systems.
The solution to the dilemma posed by Gilbert’s Law does not require reinventing the wheel. It can be accomplished by documenting public health processes approved by your company and making them accessible to everyone in your organization.
The Power of Procedures
When public health protocols for tasks and processes are not properly defined and established—when employees do not know the right thing to do—it can negatively impact your operations. Apart from obvious health consequences, key detrimental effects include:
- Operational Inconsistencies: Rather than adhering to Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), team members will have their own variation of doing things thereby increasing the probability of mistakes and negative outcomes.
- Training Deficiencies: Procedures provide the foundation for training your staff. When neglected, company training programs suffer.
- Diminished Accountability: Employees cannot meet expectations—or be held accountable—if they don’t know or understand what is expected of them.
- Reduced Efficiency: When sufficiently detailed SOPs are readily available, team members avoid wasting resources and time searching for information and can focus on doing their jobs.
- Increased Risk: Well-maintained policies help prevent compliance issues that may have significant legal and financial repercussions. When incidents occur, investigators often examine company procedures to determine if the organization is at fault.
- Lower Engagement: Team members may not feel valued, involved, or motivated by your company’s vision, strategy, and culture, leading to lower employee morale, productivity, and retention.
All maritime organizations need public health policies and procedures to operate successfully. They help steer your business in the right direction by ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements, enhancing the uniformity of operations, holding employees accountable, preventing health incidents, and lowering your legal liability. What’s more, they support the growth of a strong public health culture and the efficacy of strategic plans, as we analyzed in a previous blog: Why Public Health Culture ‘Eats Strategy For Breakfast’.
Gilbert’s Law tackles the everyday challenges that both employers and employees have to confront. When you’re hired to do a job—especially when it involves managerial responsibilities—you are expected to find the best ways to produce the desired results. Gilbert’s Law reminds us, not of its inevitability, but of the importance of being proactive and assuming appropriate accountability.
What makes humans different from every other animal is that we have the capacity to consider the future. Ensuring that your company has robust public health policies and procedures that are effectively communicated, readily available to all team members and easily understood, is the foundation for your organization’s success tomorrow and beyond. Furthermore, you’ll guarantee that your biggest problem at work is something else entirely…