Competence > Certificate

I've been to quite a few conferences this year, so I don't recall exactly which one it was where a USCG Captain asked the crowd, "Do you have a culture of compliance, or a culture of competency?" He continued to make the point that if a company had the former they were in big trouble. Ultimately, you shouldn't be training because you are required to tick off a check box on a list from a regulatory body.

It is a mindset that is, unfortunately, all too familiar in many high reliability industries. For whatever reason, it seems that human nature is reactive rather than proactive. It was this mindset that led to the creation of Maersk Training following a blowout aboard the Maersk Explorer in the North Sea in 1977 (picture above). The investigation showed that all personnel had their certificates - all the check boxes were ticked. So... how could this have happened? Turns out, the training was wrong, the crew had their certificates but they were missing the right competencies. When the company was unable to find a better learning experience, it was decided to create one.

I see a lot of parallels to public education in the United States. If you have kids in the public school system here, you are probably all too familiar with standardized testing and the inherent flaws therein. Friends and family that teach provide additional "behind the scenes" perspective. Typically, these tests set a bare minimum standard (much like training certificates). Teachers are placed under immense pressure to ensure students achieve this standard, nothing more and nothing less. They are handcuffed in their teaching objectives and methods throughout the year - limited in their ability to add depth or engaging content. Once the test has passed (with roughly 20% of the school year remaining), curriculum takes a nosedive. The remaining time is not spent delivering quality learning outcomes, more or less waiting for the last day of school to arrive. It is the same flaw we see in the average industrial training program - teach to the test, certify minimum standards are achieved, lather, rinse, repeat.

"Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think." -Albert Einstein

So, are you building your team's competencies? Or just doing training? Are they simply required to memorize facts, regurgitate them on a test every two years, and then get to work? How do you ensure they are building competencies and problem solving skills? Critical incidents offshore do not look like the problems present in black and white inside a comfortable, climate controlled classroom.

The question then becomes, how do you define competency? This is a very pointed question - with a not so clear answer. We employ a training philosophy whereby participants are able to apply what they learn in the classroom - studies show practical application of knowledge and skills in high fidelity simulators improves knowledge retention and capabilities. You must be able to observe people in their natural working environment, and if this is not possible you must simulate situations as close to their actual workplace as possible.

Of course, we are accredited by various organizations that govern training standards and requirements which allows us to issue certificates for standard courses. However, our approach to any of these courses is that the standard set is just the bare minimum - with our global network of highly knowledgeable and experienced instructors we strive to enhance each course beyond these minimums. We do this because we learned a long time ago the dangers of training for compliance and not for competence.

I'll leave you with a favorite quote of mine from Michaelangelo. Strange that words spoken so many centuries ago still carry such profound weight.

"The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark."