THE HOW

Nordic Tankers’ new CFO realised the necessity of a cash mindset and culture with constant focus on cash flows and competitiveness in all organisational processes. Valcon was invited to facilitate this transition process, and project Smart Cash was set up. In its initial phase, Project Smart Cash primarily focused on the low-hanging fruits to enable everyone in the organisation to quickly realise the possible benefits of the culture transformation journey the company had embarked on.

Valcon’s extensive experience with cash flow improvements and transformation processes, not least within the shipping industry, shows that the difficult part is to change the day-to-day behaviour as there is truth in the saying “old habits die hard”. But Valcon never leaves a project before the desired results are achieved, and the cultural change is implemented throughout the organisation. In other words, Valcon goes all the way.

An essential element of getting the entire organisation involved was communication, and Nordic Tankers published no less than three booklets on Project Smart Cash and made use of their intranet, town hall meetings, etc. to ensure that no one was left in the dark and to keep motivation high by continuously reporting on progress.

Nordic Tankers is beginning to see signs of a cash culture with organisationwide focus on cash flow and liquidity. The individual functions have also begun to have faith in the processes, eliminating the need for buffers in deadlines. Jean-Yves Lancestremere, Treasury manager in Nordic Tankers, who has been the internal project leader, defines the overall learning from this project as “Don’t work harder but smarter.”