Consultancy

The key to sustainable management success for every company is to think further ahead as to the financial goals of the current fiscal year or the commercial targets of the business plan. Sustainable success in management and leadership comes from the deep understanding that it is always people who we are working with, who contribute with their work to the success of an enterprise. It is the fire and inspiration one is able to instigate in people which leads to long term high commitment and loyalty. If we make  mistakes, if we do disappoint and frustrate colleagues around us by short sighted or inadequate management decisions we urge them to loose their spirit, commitment and loyalty on the long run, which can damage or even destroy entire companies. The central question of today is, do we understand the complexity of our business to have the right answers for tomorrow? Do we understand where we go wrong, when we believe this is the right thing to do, but in hindsight it turns out to be  serious mistake?

For organizations who have to manage safety critical processes the challenge of forward looking sustainable management is crucial for the success of these companies. Entire industry branches like aviation, shipping, nuclear power plant industry, medicine along with national and international research institutes have spent tremendous efforts and resources into the development of  safety systems and management concepts to make all safety critical processes robust against the so called "human error", where a single person mistake can lead to unacceptable high risks or to dramatic accidents. Modern psychology provides new insights about the cognitive capabilities but also limitations of human beings.

In companies where this "human factor" is understood, where the limitations in the interaction between humans and machines and the interaction between humans and humans is addressed, safety systems are adequately designed, trained and managed in that way that single person errors are detected and managed before they create an accident in these companies management of their safety critical processes works successfully including the management of crisis situations like onboard emergencies.

Companies who do not consider the "human factor" as a key success factor for their safety critical processes do allow accidents to happen like total loss of ships (container vessel "RENA", ferry "SEWOL", cruise vessel "Costa Concordia", etc.).

HORIZONS - Maritime Services provides a network of high caliber consultants and trainers and coaches who fully embrace the theoretical background of "human factor" effects and provide deep understanding to develop and train "non-technical skills" in the successful human to human interaction in all management processes. In the focus of managing safety critical processes are the following factors:

• Anatomy of accidents - the mental model approach
• Human error and their root causes
• Perception, projection, decision making
• Communication, interaction, monitoring
• Working under pressure in crisis situations

We provide support on all levels of an organization for sustainable leadership and management of safety critical processes. Asking for our services requires the ability to listen, the willingness to change and patience to see results by the key leaders and responsible managers. 

The following Consultancy Services are available:

• Management support
• • Review and analysis of safety management systems and operating procedures
  • Design, implementation and training of sustainable management processes
  • Individual coaching for senior management staff
• Leadership training
• Communication training
• Crisis Management