Module 5 of Next Wave Maritime Leadership Program 2022-2023 took place at Bod24 in cooperation with EY and focused on Leading Diversity. The module built on the previous modules were the changing maritime landscape, strategic development, the green shift, and digitalisation were explored. With the increasing challenges facing the industry, there is extreme competition to attract and retain talent, not just within the maritime industry, but across industries as well.
According to the Norwegian Shipowners’ Associations latest survey, the percentage of women in the shipping companies is 19% in management, 21% in the board, 31% among shore employees and only 6% among seamen and rig employees. This is up from the previous 15% of women in leadership and boards, but still has a long way to go. While diversity is about much more than gender balance, the extreme lack of women in the industry shaped the scope of the module to focus on challenges related to the gender balance.
Cooperation with EY
EY recently teamed with SHE, an organization supporting women in business leadership, to launch SHE Index Powered by EY, a tool to map the share of women in executive positions and advocating to increase the number of women executives in Norwegian business. Due to EY’s leading support of women in business leadership, EY was a natural choice to cooperate with in developing the Leading Diversity module where content was developed together with partners Ina K. Rosenberg and Merete Skage.
Christin Bøsterud, Country Managing Partner of EY, is the Nordic sponsor for Women.Fast Forward and one of the co-founders of the Oslo initiative Women.3 – where the focus is on mentoring women leaders and potential leaders. During the module, Christin shared her experiences from EYs initiatives and how this experience can be translated to the maritime industry. Line Sandnes, Nordic Talent Leader in EY, presented on the important and popular topic of Unconscious bias, and how we can make sure to make as unbiased decisions as possible.
«There is a lot of research showing that women in management leads to better financial results. This is of course an important argument; however, it is also crucial that gender balance is reflected in all parts of society, including at management level. I strongly believe that a better factual basis and greater transparency in this area can help motivate business and industry to move in the right direction.» – Christin Bøsterud, Country Managing Partner, EY
Leading Diversity
The module started with research based insights from award winning professor Astrid Kunze from the Norwegian School of Economics. Here, participants dived into why firms should care about diversity, how it affects firm performance and efficiency, and what research has shown in terms of causation versus correlation.
The module also featured leadership coaching from Katrine Selvik who stressed the importance of purpose driven leadership, and challenged the participants to step outside of their comfort zone.
Industry leaders Marianne Møgster, Chairman of the Bergen Shipowners’ Association and Senior VP of Dof Subsea, and Siri-Anne Mjåtvedt, CEO of Utkilen, also shared their perspectives and how they work with diversity initiatives and navigate challenges associated with leading diversity, and challenges that a lack of diversity has posed on the company and industry.
Leadership Perspectives
The day included group work and an interactive discussion led by Krysta Alexa Singh, project manager in Maritime Bergen. Here, participants reflected on the current state of diversity in the industry, and evaluated how their own companies currently approach diversity. The participants then discussed how the industry can move forward to create a more attractive and inclusive culture in order to attract and retain more competence within the industry, ultimately utilizing 100% of the talent pool.
The day ended with an engaging sofa chat moderated by Ina Rosenberg, Partner in EY, with contributions from:
- Christin Bøsterud, Country Managing Partner, EY
- Hans- Christian Seim, CEO, Norwegian Hull Club
- Marianne Møgster, Senior VP of finance, DOF Subsea
- Harald Fotland, CEO, Odfjell
- Mette Rokne Hanestad, CFO, Corvus Energy
The module was followed by networking dinner where the participants continued discussions from module 5 and exciting topics throughout the program.
One of a kind!
The Next Wave Maritime Leadership Program is a new one of a kind leadership development and mentor program that will shape the next generation leaders for the maritime industry. This program marks the first time that Norwegian Business School BI and Western Norway University of Applied Sciences HVL cooperate and is one of the only executive educational programs geared towards maritime professionals. The 2022-2023 cohort consists of 24 high level maritime professionals with an average of 16 years of experience.
Module 6
The next module will take place at the BI Bergen campus, and will be the last of the six modules in the Next Wave Program. Participants will recap the lessons learned throughout the year, present their case projects and end the program with a graduation ceremony dinner.
If you have candidates in your company that are interested in participating in the next cohort of Next Wave, please express your interest to krysta@maritimebergen.no.
Thank you again to all of our sponsors and partners in cooperation!
