"During the NINA training sessions I have facilitated, I have experienced that NINA can motivate people to look at things differently. For example, in the Gulf of Thailand we had to work together with five or six different companies that all had their own ways of operating. The NINA training sessions made them see the bigger picture: they started sharing ideas to sort out problems together. In Ivory Coast I also saw that NINA was a good steppingstone. There were some health and safety issues on board one of our client’s vessels that we had to use for the project. The client called an ‘all stop’ and asked us to give a NINA course on board. Huge discussions always come out of these sessions, which is a good thing because it gives insight into what is really going on. During the sessions, I saw people opening up. Getting together, regrouping and refocusing got the team back on the same page.”

So NINA is an ice breaker?
“Yes, indeed. However: words alone are not enough. You need consistent actions to go with them to make sure NINA is more than just a poster on the wall. In Ivory Coast for instance, the vessels were fumigated, upgraded with wi-fi, and communication was made more transparent. The result was that people became motivated to do their jobs again, because they felt they were heard, they felt they mattered. That’s what NINA does. Or more precise: that is what we do, with NINA being a tool in our toolbox.”

“PEOPLE BECAME MOTIVATED TO DO THEIR JOBS AGAIN, BECAUSE THEY FELT THEY WERE HEARD, THEY FELT THEY MATTERED. THAT’S WHAT NINA DOES. OR MORE PRECISE: THAT IS WHAT WE DO, WITH NINA BEING A TOOL IN OUR TOOLBOX.”

You sound really enthusiastic!
“Yes, sorry for that [laughs], but I am. I love seeing how NINA can motivate people. I love it when they first sigh, mumbling something about ‘another bloody safety training session’, and then seeing them change during the session. Sometimes they even become an ambassador for NINA, and Boskalis. Because that is what we hope to achieve in the end: people feeling that they are Boskalis people and starting to share the NINA message with others.”