Now we're where we need to be!

At Viking Supply Ship's head office in Kristiansand, the company's management is headed by CEO Trond Myklebust. The leadership group has been through leadership group development with Execu. It has helped them to play each other good and work better together towards a common goal.

The listed company, with Kistefos as the main owner, counts 24 employees onshore: 14 in Norway and ten in Sweden. If we bring in the sailors, they are 370 employees in total. The fleet of 11 boats, with icebreakers as specialist fields, operates mainly in the North Sea and polar regions. In the last two or three years, they have been through a process of optimizing and professionalizing their operations and getting better structure.

“The offshore industry is developing rapidly and new demands are constantly emerging. We are never fully trained, and if we want to stay in the industry, we need to constantly update ourselves so that we can continue to deliver at the top level,” says Myklebust.

The reason why they wanted leadership development was that they wanted a system controlled company that was not person-dependent, but with distinct roles. The management group consisted of seven people when the program started, but was reduced to five as a result of the process.Now the group consists only of those who report directly to the CEO. I add Office Manager to the program.

“We agreed that we needed some frames,” Myklebust says. The leadership meetings took far too long and had turned into “talk meetings.” Cases were not followed up and we were too ill-prepared for the meetings. We wanted help for better internal cooperation and better interaction between departments.

The program consisted of five physical gatherings, one of which was a social gathering that included accommodation. In addition, all had 1:1 conversations with Tor Åge. He also attended a leadership meeting to see how it worked.

They started early on by crafting a management team contract. Myklebust says that it is easy to think that it is unnecessary, but that the beauty was the process. Interacting with each other in different areas of focus.

'Getting things down on paper was really good, 'Myklebust continues. “We agreed on a contract for the leadership meetings, how we should behave and take responsibility. Everyone gave input and we developed together — here the process was as important as the product.It took three more collections before we concluded, we had to let it mature for a while. But everyone has participated, and everyone has committed

The basic process had a particular focus on the division of responsibilities and the distribution of roles. Now the situation was that the roles had slipped out and the procedures no longer aligned with how things were done. What was perhaps the most challenging thing for Myklebust and his leadership group happened at the first gathering. Then everyone was required to present their strengths and weaknesses to the rest of the group.

“It was both difficult and uncomfortable,” he says honestly. “Personally, I found this incredibly difficult, but the outcome of the exercise and the sense in it makes it absolutely worth the discomfort. I think most people experienced it as a relief. It creates different expectations from the environment when devotes completely open and honest to each other.

—It was heavy there and then, but incredibly useful.Now we have a much better understanding of each other's strengths and weaknesses. We know what it takes for us to be good together.It's also easier to ask for help. We are not so many, so we have to support and help each other.