Explorance Gets on Board with Carnival Maritime GmbH for 360 Degree Feedback Talent Development Voyage

Montreal, Quebec – March 14, 2024 – Carnival Maritime GmbH, responsible, as part of Carnival Corporation, for the Maritime Operations of AIDA Cruises and Costa Cruises brand vessels, has partnered with Explorance to provide 360 degree feedback for its captains, chief engineers, and other high-ranking officers.

The company was founded in 2015 to ensure safe, compliant and environmentally advanced ship operations and to foster communication processes between ship and shore, as well as further strengthening collaboration and cross-sectional coordination between Carnival Maritime and Costa Cruises and AIDA Cruises brands.

It was seeking to innovate its approach to people development, having previously used a 360 feedback survey platform with another provider.

In Hamburg, where Carnival Maritime brings together marine, nautical and technical, as well as, other professional expertise including Human Resources, Technical Procurement and others, Maritime People Development Manager Elianne Rongen oversaw the sourcing, purchasing and implementation of Explorance Blue late last year.

Following a trial period in December, the Explorance Blue 360 degree feedback software has now been rolled out to both shipboard and shoreside personnel. It will be applied, ultimately, to up to 150 individuals. Elianne said:

“360 degree feedback is not new to Carnival Maritime, but we were struggling with our previous survey platform where we were limited by the same question set. It was difficult to make changes, and we could not achieve the level of analysis we wanted, for example, year by year, by role/rank and company-wide. We found Explorance online, which had really good reviews, and we realised the possibilities through their survey platform. The personality of the company really appealed to us too, and Explorance gave us some things to think about and suggested opportunities to modify our approach.”

In the past, Carnival Maritime has mainly undertaken 360 feedback for captains and chief engineers, evaluating around 50 people per year – but as part of a new development process feedback through Explorance Blue will be used alongside a variety of other assessments as the company prepares for succession planning.

“We have more awareness about how we develop our people now,” Elianne explained. “Previously promotions were quick and not always based on data, but the insight emerging through Explorance Blue will give us a better understanding of our talent base. For instance, if we need a captain, we will be able to gain more data, for example with a 360 feedback, prior to decision making. We have changed our questionnaire, which is now more focused on behaviours and soft skills, and created our own questions which vary by role. An important function of Explorance is that we can also show/hide questions based on role. For example, those already at the top level do not need to be asked about promotion potential or native English speakers do not need to be asked on their English level. The system gives us greater flexibility.”

The sophisticated nature of reporting through Explorance Blue will also be a major asset in Carnival Maritime’s people development strategy. “Reports for individuals are only seen by them and a very select team in the office,” Elianne said. “It is not compulsory for them to share with their superior, although we encourage it. If required, we afterwards have a meeting to discuss points to work on, suggested by them and us, and these are mostly self-developmental. Later this year we will be able to produce a six-month overall report to see if there are trends in certain roles or ranks, in which case we can create bespoke development plans or target all staff. This is about individual development, and we hope motivational.”

Elianne added: “Not only did Explorance fully meet our original criteria, the support that we have received from them has been really good. The teams are very engaged and always willing to help. I would definitely recommend their services.”

John Atherton, VP Sales EMEA at Explorance, commented: “This is a really exciting project for Explorance and we are delighted to be supporting Carnival Maritime in its organisational people development strategy.”

About Explorance 

Explorance empowers organizations with next-generation feedback analytics to accelerate the insight-to-action cycle, encouraging the philosophy of “Feedback for the brave” to drive purpose, impact, and growth. 

Bringing 20 years of expertise, Explorance, a member of the World Economic Forum and a trusted partner for 35% of Fortune 100 companies and 25% of the world’s top higher education institutions, has influenced over 25 million individuals with award-winning solutions like Blue, Metrics That Matter, and MLY.  

Consistently among the top employers by the Great Places to Work Institute®, Explorance, a Brandon Hall AI award winner, is also a two-time Global Leader in the 360-degree feedback market by Fortune Business Insights. 

Visit explorance.com or connect on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.