In November 2018 I was fortunate enough to attend a Carnival Corporation Leadership Conference in Orlando. The conference explored three themes; the necessity for relentless curiosity, the value of inclusion and the importance of going beyond compliance to being committed in everything that we do.
In this blog I’m going to look at how these themes are all interlinked with respect to the environment, and how inclusion and curiosity can help us go beyond environmental compliance to environmental commitment.
During the conference we heard from some inspirational speakers. One of which was Michael Abrashoff, a Captain who spoke of the time he had been drafted in to improve performance on a US Navy Ship. The ship had a very low crew retention rate, and a very high accident rate. What Michael brought to the ship helped to reverse downward trends and achieve outstanding onboard performance. How did he do this? The answers are simple – he focused on inclusion; treating crew members as individuals, listening to them and asking for their feedback and ideas on how to improve the ship’s safety and processes. When good ideas were brought forward by crew they were thanked on an individual basis.
Another thing Captain Michael did was set an example… if there was litter on the deck, he would pick it up. In the end it doesn’t matter what rank we are, we’re all on the same ship, we all need to work together and look out for each other to be safe and compliant. When you feel like a team, great things can be achieved.
Inclusion and relentless curiosity are key ways to ensure ongoing commitment to environmental compliance. Carnival has brought in new ways to promote idea sharing; for example with the HESS Bright Idea Cards, as well as the ECP Coins. This will help the company to listen to us as employees and crew members, to hear our ideas and share them with the fleet and corporation as a whole, as well as giving thanks when outstanding environmental commitment is achieved.
Another theme which was considered at the conference was ‘Relentless Curiosity’. This theme was touched on by several speakers, including an ex-US Navy Seal named Kristin Beck. Kristin spoke of the challenges that she’d faced in transitioning from male to female, and spoke of how important it is to see people as individuals, as well as the importance of thinking outside the box and sharing ideas. One resonating quote Kirstin gave about the need for curiosity and acting on it was “’If not me, who?’ and ‘If not now, when?’”. This is the type of proactive attitude that we all need to have, to help our company go from compliance to commitment. We as individuals all have a duty to say something when we don’t think something isn’t right, and we should all feel comfortable enough to share our Bright Ideas which can help improve our commitment to environmental compliance.
In embracing these simple but key themes, we can take big steps to move from compliance to commitment. This is an exciting time for all of us, where our ideas can be listened to and taken forward. To move from compliance to commitment we need to part to play our as individuals… we need to speak up and share our ideas, we need remember: “If not me, who?’ and ‘If not now, when?”.
Naomi Hyland, Environmental Officer – Ventura