Is Shipping Too Complicated for Mortals?

One of the amazing things about the global shipping industry is that it is a wonderful patchwork quilt of everything that makes it work. The terrible thing is that sometimes the stitching comes apart. What on earth do outsiders make of it all? I got some first-hand experience recently, and [spoiler alert] it wasn’t good!

THE INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX

Picture the scene, someone new comes into your company. They are eager, they appear to have all the skills you need and then some. The person is the pot of gold at the end of the recruitment rainbow. All seems good.

Now, the one slight sticking point? They haven’t worked in your industry before. Ok, so it’s a good chance to let them do some digging around, a bit of research and then they can come up with questions.

Then, things start to turn into a bit of a problem. The mood changes, the emails become more sporadic. Slack channels unanswered, Click Up thumbs down. Something has changed, but what?

Well, what happens if the person decides at that point they either don’t like or can’t understand the industry? They think it’s just not for them, and they don’t want to stick around? No questions, no attempts to learn, just a big fat no.

HELP OR HINDER?

Given that it is all too easy to blow people’s minds with too much information I decided to Google, “how to teach people about a new industry without blowing their minds”. The results weren’t overly helpful.

What it did do, however, is show how scary it can be entering a new industry. There are fears of failure, of looking stupid, of asking daft questions, of feeling out of the loop, not knowing jargon or being made to look silly in front of new colleagues.

It shows that, and it isn’t just shipping — though we will come back to that, it is a fear of the new. A paralysis that grips us all on an induction, when the brain simply refuses to take things in. Which is awkward, because that is what a new job is all about. It’s new kit, new passwords, new names, faces, new, new, new.

So start throwing in complicated constructs, stakeholder maps, commercial considerations and ramping into deliverables, then no wonder the most vulnerable time for any employee is when they walk through the door. It is the most vulnerable time for a company too, but perhaps we never think of it in that way.

WELCOME MAT

There is often surprise if someone hears of an employee who only lasts a couple of days or weeks at a job. “Woah they didn’t last long”, etc, etc.

We shouldn’t ever think we’re isolated from potential loss, just because someone has just walked through the door. It is all too simple for them to walk back out again. So, we need to minimise the risk of that happening.

How though? You give too much, you give too little? How do you get the right balance? How can we support and welcome, while challenging and encouraging? That is so hard, and perhaps it is made harder by the complexities of shipping.

MAKE IT SIMPLE

To understand shipping you need a telescope, microscope and a wallet. Sometimes you need to be able to see or consider things at a distance, other times you need to see them really, really up close and personal. While sometimes you just need to know whether they make money or not.

Shipping, ok “maritime” if you insist, has been around for a long time. Not for nothing are seafarers mocked as having the world’s second-oldest profession. There may be children reading, so the least said about what the oldest the better.

At the core of what shipping does is to take a very simple premise, move some stuff from A to B…it then makes it very, very complex to build barriers to entry and to justify as high a cost as possible for the service. Then ultimately it becomes simple again as you get your stuff, and they get paid. Or you don’t and everyone gets paid…it’s called insurance.

Anyway, to the outsider, newcomer, whatever we term them. All this can appear very mindboggling indeed. So, why is it that shipping just seems so unfathomable to people? Does this explain why so many problems within the industry have persisted for so long?

IS SHIPPING SCARY?

Shipping seems scary because of two elements, one is the interconnectedness of it all. There are geopolitical elements, practical real geography elements, and then you need to throw in a little history too. The other reason is that it has been designed to be opaque, with high barriers to entry, with its own jargon and subtle tests to show whether you are a “shipping” person or not.

So, is it possible for someone to pick up the shipping baton and run with it? Or is it all just so bewildering, and unapproachably unsurmountable, that it takes too long to pull all the pieces together?

You may remember a Channel 4 programme on TV called “Faking It”. In which someone had two weeks to be able to convince experts that they knew what they were doing. From art dealing to DJ’ing, through to a vicar becoming a tough used car dealer. The premise was that even the most unlikely people can learn and become anything if they put the hard yards in.

That is really what understanding shipping is all about. It just takes a little time, effort and desire. Shipping is super simple. People have stuff in place A and need it to be in Place B, and as most of our planet is wet, then it is handy to use ships. The rest of the process kind of falls together from there. So never be overawed, scared or put off — shipping is wonderful, and there are incredible careers to be built.

FAKING IT

So here are my 5 tips for anyone wanting to make it in the world of shipping.

· KISS — Keep it Simple, Stupid: As I said, at its most basic premise shipping is utterly simple, obvious and straightforward. It only really gets complex when you think about all the things that can go wrong, and of how the biggest pressure is to avoid losing your cargo, money and your business. So, think big and stay holistic, to begin with.

· Look at a map: Geography (human and physical) is key when it comes to shipping. So, take a look at a map. See all that grain over there in the Americas or Russia? See all those hungry mouths in Europe. Yes, you’ve done the math — they need bringing together. Let’s try again. See all those industrious cheap labour markets banging out the latest tech gadgets? See those marketplaces in America and Europe? Yup slam the kit in a steel box and get it from maker to market quick smart.

· Jargon needn’t be jarring: Just like any business, there are terms that indicate whether you know your naval architect from your cargo. Shipping is awash with them. From the old, historical ones — dead in the water, fathom out, keel over, know the ropes, sailing close to the wind, et al. You get the drift…as it were. Through to actual proper technical terms. So take a look at ships and get the basics, bow, stern, Port, Starboard, etc.

· Just Ask: There is nothing people who know shipping like more than being asked about things. So, the art of finding out what the secrets of the industry are is just to ask. Those who have been to sea will love nothing more than telling you all about it. Those who know the business side will be more than happy to explain, encourage and share. So asking questions is a win-win. Care about it: You can think about the world, about trade. You can think about the map, learn the words, phrases, acronyms and ask all the questions. Ultimately success is about caring. So if you begin to understand shipping, you will start to care. You will understand about seafarers and the pressures they are under, the importance of ships and you will gain very valuable insight into how the world functions.

Good luck, oh and NEVER CALL SHIPS BOATS!