ESVAGT Standard

Employees have used their own words to describe ESVAGT’s DNA. This has become the ESVAGT Standard, which is what makes ESVAGT unique.

ESVAGT has had core values for many years; a set of values laid down that all are proud to follow. There are also a number of policies that direct day-to-day activities.

In addition to core values and policies is something else – a special DNA that is much harder to describe. Over the last six months, ESVAGT has been trying to describe what it is that makes customers choose ESVAGT and what characterises the employees that walk around with an ESVAGT logo on their uniforms. This process has resulted in the ’ESVAGT Standard’.

”We have spoken about the ’ESVAGT spirit’ and the ‘ESVAGT culture’ for many years,” says CEO Søren Nørgaard Thomsen:

”But we have never precisely defined what we mean by it. What is it that makes ESVAGT and our way of working so special? We all think we know what it is but we all have our own perception of it. We have now summed up what it is we stand for in the ESVAGT Standard,” he explains.

A summary

Legend says that a sculptor was once asked how he could create such a lifelike representation of an elephant out of a large piece of rock.

”It’s easy”, answered the sculptor. ”I just take away everything that doesn’t look like an elephant”.

That is how the ESVAGT Standard was formed.

The ESVAGT Standard is a summary of what ESVAGT already is, explains organisational developer, Anett Egsgaard from Egsgaard HR, which has facilitated the making of the ESVAGT Standard. In the process of making it, its essence has been honed more and more:

The seamen were the first ones asked to describe ESVAGT in words back in June. They came back with some excellent input.

”There was then a great deal of dialogue about the input they came with. By removing anything that blurred the picture, we have simplified and defined the message to make it accessible to everyone,” she explains.

The ESVAGT Standard has also been a theme at officer seminars and in workshops, where time was spent working towards a shared definition of ESVAGT’s way of doing things. Examples of how the shipping company lives up to the ESVAGT Standard were gathered.

“When we discussed the ESVAGT Standard at the four officer seminars we have held – seminars that have included 50 and 60 colleagues each time – it has received a warm reception.

”We asked whether this was a new concept to them – and it wasn’t. One participant said “This is just who we are already”,” says Anett Egsgaard.

It must make sense

“It is very important that the ESVAGT Standard does not include anything new,” emphasises Søren Nørgaard Thomsen:

”This is not some fancy idea dreamed up in an office and it is not something pushed on the company from outside. The starting point was things that we already had, already do and already are. We have received a great deal of excellent input from crews and from the organisation on shore. From this starting point, we have formed a precise description of what makes ESVAGT unique,” he says.

In that sense, the ESVAGT Standard has largely come from or crews, and that is also where it needs to live on.

”The ESVAGT Standard needs to live and breathe throughout the entire organisation. It already does this in many places but maybe not always 100 percent. It also needs to be a guide for new employees. When new people come to the shipping company, the ESVAGT Standard will be a helpful guide for them to understand what it is we expect from them,” says Søren Nørgaard Thomsen.

Anett Egsgaard adds:

”It is important that the ESVAGT Standard is present and workable in people’s everyday working lives. If you formulate expectations that employees cannot relate to, it is a waste of time. The feedback that we have received from colleagues has shown that the ESVAGT Standard makes really good sense – and that is exactly what we wanted to achieve,” she says.