How do BRM-training participants understand non-technical skills?

Abstract

Non-technical skills (NTS) can be defined as “the cognitive, social and personal resource skills that complement technical skills and contribute to safe and efficient task performance” (Flin et al. 2008, Safety at the sharp end: a guide to non-technical skills, p. 1). This paper aims to explore how bridge officers understand and discuss the non-technical skills involved in behavior and performance of participants in Bridge Resource Management (BRM) training. A thematic network analysis is applied to transcriptions of post-simulation debriefing sessions, based on a peer observation system that encourages discussion between training participants. The five skills identified are situation awareness, decision-making, stress management, verbal communication, and balanced leadership, all of which are mostly found to be in concurrence with generic theory on non-technical skills. However, for each of these skills, the findings also provide examples of certain aspects where the informants’ understanding stray from generic theory and BRM syllabus. This is discussed as possible clues to domain-specific aspects of NTS at ship bridges, as well as yielding implications for BRM training.