This article is written by Olav Kjellevold Olsen, Associate Professor at the University of Bergen. He is a former military officer, and has a Msc in theology and a PhD in psychology. His focus is on leadership and cooperation in high-risk organizations and teams.
An expectation is a strong belief that something will happen. If positive, expectations are closely related to our hopes and even our sense of happiness. If these expectations are met, we are satisfied and happy. But often, this is not the case. Instead, we experience gaps between our expectations and the reality of life. What we expect does not happen.
During Covid-19, seafarers can get frustrated and sad because of prolonged separation from their loved ones. At the office, people may feel that they are failing to meet expectations – which can attack their self-image as professionals and also create a sense of failing colleagues that rely on them. And, family and friends at home can get frustrated and sad because of the indefinite separation. These reactions can create a negative spiral of emotions because negative emotions are particularly contagious and travel fast.
If not dealt with, this may in turn threaten the atmosphere and subsequently damage important things like motivation, safety behavior, work performance, as well as mental health.
We can feel a lack of control when our expectations are not met. This can lead to strong reactions, and can be very challenging.
How can we deal with such breaches? This is difficult – but here are some advises:
1. We should realize that each of us has a lot of expectations that we are not fully aware of – but that still influence us.
They are there without us noticing, and they are also often unrealistically positive. Psychology teaches us that we tend to be overly optimistic about the future. The good thing about this is that it helps us to stay positive. The bad thing is that we often have too high expectations – expectations that we may not even recognize.
One way of dealing with disappointment is to actively put into words the multitude of expectations that we hold and to get them under better control. Then, subsequently evaluate the expectations: Are they realistic?
It may be good to expect a little less to avoid too many disappointments.
2. It is important to accept that a breach of an expectation may cause strong disappointments.
This is a natural response. It shows that things matter to us. In such a situation, try not to immediately sweep it under the carpet by phrases like “get used to it – life is not fair”. As a leader or a colleague, start by listening and be prepared to meet the feeling of disappointment and sorrow.
Show compassion and that you understand. Listen and accept.
This may relieve the immediate pressure – and will create a building ground for moving forward again.
3. Think in a useful way.
Try to get away from negative thoughts about what should have been, and replace it with a mindset of appreciation about what you have in life.
Even when difficult, it will help you to find things to be grateful for. There is usually a lot to pick from, if you start looking.
4. For the leadership level, accurate and frequent information and dialogue about all the efforts you are putting into organizing crew changes is a bolster against conspiracy thinking and a sense of injustice among the seafarers.
It helps to know that your supervisors do what they can. Show that you are all in this together.
5. Nurture humor and play.
In severe situations, humor may turn a sense of hopelessness into something better. The old Greek philosophers advised “Agere Contra”:
Do the opposite of what you feel like.
In hard situations, this may be a good advice.
6. Be aware if you or your shipmates start to isolate and withdraw socially.
If there are sudden changes for the worse – try to reestablish contact. When things are difficult, it is usually better to cope with “a little help from our friends”.
Words from Svend Foyn-Bruun, VP MPS:
Through the weekly e-mails, we strive to give you realistic information of what we do as a company and how we meet challenges in crew changes. Also, we share cases where we fail to do changes and situations where crew tests positive. Recently we have also started to send you weekly crew change statistics. We hope and believe that these open messages give you a realistic picture of the Covid-19 situation and how it influences each of you, and Odfjell as a company. It is easy to focus on failed crew changes and unfortunate incidents. But, as we have pointed out many times, the negative influence of Covid-19 on crew-changes now seems to improve. We do more changes now than we did before.
It is essential for you to know that we do what we realistically can to make successful changes. Not even deviation to ports solely for crew changes and arranging expensive travels for individuals stop us.
We strive to keep ourselves updated on any new possibilities in the areas where you trade. Luckily most of the new possibilities matures and successful changes happen, but regrettably sometimes planned crew changes fail of reasons we could not anticipate. Such unfortunate situations jeopardize the expectations, but still we believe it is important to try all merging possibilities.
To explore all possibilities, we have weekly meetings with Norwegian Shipowners Association. Through their close contact with the shipping industry, the foreign ministry and other organizations we get the most updated information available and have the best support in difficult situations.
As to the selection of right crew for change. This is sometimes hard; the individual’s need may sometimes have to suffer from the principle of fair crew changes. Surely, health and pressing social reasons will be prioritized.
At last we appreciate your patience and understanding during these times.
