My ESVAGT: Cooperation and leadership appeal to Nicklass

Nicklass Døssing started as a motorcycle mechanic and via management training in the Ministry of Justice, he is now Lead Auditor and HSEQ Coach for ESVAGT.

What illustrates most clearly the approach Nicklass Døssing has to his work at ESVAGT is the fact that there are two people on the photograph that accompanies his article in ESVAGT News.

”Henning is the best colleague I have ever had and that means a great deal to me. I can safely say that we both own this work,” says Nicklass Døssing when explaining why he has chosen to have a double portrait to illustrate the article about his work at ESVAGT.

The picture choice perfectly suits this 37 year old from West Jutland and his way of working: Fellowship and cooperation in working on new developments is what drive him as Lead Auditor and HSEQ Coach at ESVAGT. A duty that he shares with Henning Mærsk (who accompanies him on the photograph) and that embodies much of the appeal the shipping company has for Nicklass Døssing:

”We need to cooperate with colleagues to find good solutions that live up to the standards that the shipping company has. Cooperation happens through constructive dialogue that continually works towards gaining results – and that is the kind of leadership I enjoy,” he says.

Home to ESVAGT

Nicklass Døssing has broad background. He started out as a trained motorcycle mechanic and used this education credit to continue on to train and as maritime engineer. He then sailed with Maersk for a year before spending three years with ESVAGT. He left the shipping company in 2003 to apply for a position in the Prison Service, during which he trained initially to become a prison officer and later went on to management training. His work gave him the opportunity to work abroad: When you have worked at San Quentin; a so-called maximum security prison near San Francisco with 6,000 inmates, of which 900 are on death row, the ’exciting work day’ promised in job advertisements begins to sound somewhat hollow.

After a few years working at the prisons in Nyborg and Odense, he left the Prison Service in 2012 and returned home to ESVAGT.

“I stayed in contact with ESVAGT and always felt that it was ’my’ workplace. Whenever I was in Esbjerg, I popped in and said hello – I knew that I still belonged at ESVAGT. When the chance for employment in the HSEQ department arose, I made my move,” says Nicklass Døssing.

Holding on to quality

Since 2012 at ESVAGT, he has specialised in HSEQ and supplemented his management training with ISO 9001, 14001 and 18001 management systems and psychology in the auditing process. A master or graduate training in management is also pencilled in:

”My ambition is to continue in that direction and I would like to have an influence in my management role in my future working life,” says Nicklass Døssing.

As Lead Auditor, he is a direct link between the wishes of the management and their realisation:

”We are sailors attached to HSEQ and vice versa. We are the ones who go round to all the vessels and ensure that we maintain ESVAGT’s way of doing our tasks. I really enjoy this practical way of working with management,” says Nicklass Døssing.

The company has grown significantly since he left in 2003 – but the approach to work remains the same:

”Our task as Lead Auditors is, amongst other things, to ensure that the right culture lives on in a shipping company that has grown enormously in such a short space of time. ESVAGT’s size now means that a systematic approach is a necessity for ensuring that we always delivery a quality product. The systems must allow classic ESVAGT virtues to live on. The ability to keep a tight hold on the rudder even when under pressure and be brave enough to think laterally when needed are excellent qualities,” he says.

Private:

37 year old Nicklass Døssing comes from West Jutland but currently lives on Fynen with Ditte.

He is an active member of the flying club, where he is taking his pilot’s license – to feel free – and maintains his past as motorcycle technician by spending lots of time in his workshop at home.