We help organizations thrive.

EMPLOYEE COMMUNICATION !& ORGANIZATIONAL DIALOGUE

SPUP is an innovative business consultancy on the intersection of leadership, communication and HR. We help organizations maximize engagement, focus and collaboration in the workplace.

In the long-term people are motivated by purpose, autonomy and mastery!

Sustainable top-performance depends on shared and ambitious goals, constant feedback and learning and a culture that values collaboration over individual performance!

A climate of trust, openness, participation and supportiveness is the single most important driver of identification, engagement and collaboration and a precondition for strategic alignment and change!

Peer-to-peer influence is stronger than hierarchical influence which makes the informal social network by far the most effective agent of change!

Behaviors can’t be taught, they spread by social copying and imitation

We believe a healthy communication climate is what makes organizations thrive.

We provide actionable insights and solutions in the following domains of leadership and employee communication: !

Trust and openness in the workplace

Employee voice and participation

Supportiveness and collaboration

Internal social networks of trusted influencers and other change agents

Shared purpose and strategic alignment

Corporate dialogue & co-creation

Internal social media & channels

Our model of the world

“Organizations don’t change, people do.”

So we provide creative solutions to increase openness and trust and foster a culture of participation and supportiveness. We utilize the 'networks of trust' which exist in every organization to achieve levels of shared purpose and alignment that traditional top-down communication never will. By reinforcing openness, trust and shared purpose we allow people, teams and organizations to experience flow, learning and collaboration on a whole new level.

A clear-cut approach to collaboration that helps build the agility and resilience organizations need to thrive in today's hyper-competitive world.

SPUP helps organizations enhance collaboration with a simple and clear-cut approach: creating the right environment. High-performance, collaboration-friendly environments are characterized by a strong sense of shared purpose, clear and ambitious objectives and a healthy communication climate. !

Our approach comprises 4 pillars, transcending the boundaries between leadership, HR and communication: !

We measure the internal communication climate and the degree of internal alignment and we map informal networks of trusted influencers. !

We help identify and put into action the building blocks of a clear, unambig-uous organizational context: purpose/identity, objectives and rules of enga-gement.!

We provide feedback and learning solutions that support the adoption of and reinforce the desired collaborative behavior. !

We facilitate various forms of organizational dialogue to co-create strategy, crowd-source innovations or to resolve issues.

MEASURING & !MONITORING

ORGANIZATIONAL!CONTEXT

LEARNING & !FEEDBACK

ORGANIZATIONAL DIALOGUE

Purpose & Identity Objectives & Strategy Rules of engagement & Interaction Aligned People Policies & Practices

Collaboration Mind-Set & Skills Giving & Receiving Feedback 360 Degree Feedback Tools & Systems

Communication Climate Scan Internal Alignment Scan Social Mapping (Informal Networks)

Dialogue Formats for Co-Creation and Issue and Dispute Resolving

Building blocks of collaboration

1 2

3 4

Creating a collaborative environment

1

2

3

4

A healthy communication climate is the life-blood of an organization. It unleashes the energy that allows people to speak up and ideas to connect.

In today's fast-paced world, organizations are facing myriad challenges to their competitiveness. Where will the next big idea come from? How can existing knowledge and insights effectively be harnessed? How can frontline staff be empowered to adequately respond to the needs of customers? To address such challenges organizations are seeking to inject themselves with a strong sense of shared purpose and a culture of collaboration.!

The stuff collaboration is made of…!Mobilizing people around a shared purpose has both a cognitive and an emotional side to it. !

The cognitive side is about content such as ideas, values, strategy and objectives. The emotional side refers to the organization's communication climate. A healthy communication climate means employees experience openness and trust in the workplace, feel they can participate in decision-making and feel supported by both supervisors and colleagues.!

The smart thing to do…!Actively fostering a healthy communication clima-te is not just a nice thing to do. It is the smart thing to do because it is good for business. !

A healthy communication climate makes organiza-tions more adaptive and resilient and has a proven positive influence on financial performan-ce. It also makes organizations more attractive places to work and enhances the health of employees as well as the organization's reputa-tion.!

SPUP has developed a comprehensive and integrated approach to help organizations build and maintain a healthy communication climate.

More self-confident and engaged employees who identify more strongly with their job and employer.!

Employees more likely to speak-up, to go the extra-mile and to collaborate.!

Employees more susceptible to communication messages and training & development programs.!

Considerably lower costs of employee churn and sickness leave.!

Higher degree of organizational efficiency, quality and adaptability.!

Better and more sustainable financial bottom line.

'I feel trusted'

Openness

'I feel safe'

Trust

'I feel heard'

Participation

'I feel taken seriously’

Supportiveness

Main dimensions of communication climate

How a healthier communication climate leads to better performance

Actively fostering a healthy communication climate: good for business

Measuring communication climate provides actionable insights in what keeps employees from being engaged and from engaging with each other.

Communication climate - a measure of the quality of the relationships in an organization - is all about perceptions. The SPUP communication climate-scan provides reliable, concrete and actionable insights in the collective feelings of employees about this key driver of organizational performance.!

This serves as a solid starting point for the strengthening of leadership, HR and employee communication practi-ces.!

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The communication climate scan is !available in 3 basic configurations:!

Pulse: bird’s eye view of communi-cation climate based on online survey with limited sample.!

Basic: additional face-to-face inter-views for deeper insight.!

Deep: stratified sample and/or face-to-face interviews per unit for comprehen-sive and more granular view.

76

Communication climate

74

non-supervisors

77Openness/trust

80Employee voice

70Supportiveness

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76

69

non-supervisors

Example of dashboard communication climate

Why measure communication climate? 1. Monitor one of the key drivers of organizational performance and vitality.!2. Demonstrate interest and trust in what employees have to say about the work

climate. !3. Obtain actionable insights to strengthen trust, well-being, engagement and

collaboration.!4. Learn which factors are undermining the susceptibility of employees for inter-

nal communications and organizational development initiatives.!

5. Set a solid base-line for a fact-based communication climate strategy.

Where to start: the communication climate scan

Building a compelling organizational context that fosters collaborative behavior allows your organization to communicate more effectively.

All it takes is a small set of non-negotiable behaviors and networks of highly influent, highly connected people. We assist our clients to:!

1. Clearly delineate purpose, object-ives and strategy of the organiza-tion.!

2. Determine which key behaviors are fundamental to the identity and strategy of the organization and hence should be treated as non-negotiable.!

3. Foster a healthy communication climate which empowers employ-ees and allows the organization to harness the collective intelli-gence and available information.!

4. Fully align all drivers of behavior, e.g. leadership messages and behavior, corporate messaging, recruitment & performance practi-ces, rewards & recognition sys-tems. !

5. Harness the power of informal social networks to support change and to communicate more effect-ively. !

6. Support individuals and teams in becoming excellent team-workers by helping them to acquire the mindset and skills to collaborate effectively.

Stakeholder-analysis!Capturing of mission, values, strategy and key behaviors in a compelling Corporate Story!Solutions for increasing openness, trust, employee participation and supportiveness!Mapping of Informal Social Networks!Social Communication Strategies !Employer Reputation Management!Corporate Publications & Reports!Media & Channels, incl. Internal Social Media and Collaboration Tools!Alignment of Recruitment and Reward Systems

How we contribute

Social communication is the science, art and strategy behind generating word-of-mouth based on deep understanding of the real social networks at play within organizations. By connecting strategic intent with natural com-munication processes, social communication offers unprecedented opportunities to win.

“Behaviors can’t be taught, they spread by social copying and imitation.”

Supporting people in developing new behaviors through self-discovery, social contagion and feedback.

A key reason change so often fails to materialize is the disparity between what people know they should say and do and what they actually do in the moment. !

Self-discovery and self-development!One reason for this so-called performance-gap is that people often overlook the need to make fundamental changes in them-selves. Identifying and addressing pervasive mind-sets at the outset makes an organiza-tional change effort four times more likely to succeed.!

Social contagion!By nature, behavioral change is a viral process of social contagion. New behaviors spread by social copying and imitation. This is why com-munication and teaching alone, are rarely enough to sustainably change behavior.!

Systematic feedback!Finally, individual and organizational learning depends on continuous, systematic feedback.

360 Degree Feedback Tools and Systems!Workshops, Team & Personal Coaching!

Collaborative Mindset & Skills!Giving & Receiving Feedback!Communication Climate

The building blocks of change 1. UNDERSTANDING the why, what and how of the change !2. BELIEVING the change is credible!3. LEARNING the new behavior!4. Experiencing SUPPORT

“Behaviors create culture, not the other way around.”

How we contributeBridging the gap between knowing and doing.

Harnessing the power of conversation enables your organization to find the most creative solutions to complex challenges.

Formal guidelines, processes and communication are sel-dom helpful in addressing the increasing complexity organi-zations are facing. In many successful organizations, the best ideas and important strategic information come from front-line workers.!

Real communication!Organizations that thrive in this day and age are foste-ring environments in which creative solutions to com-plex challenges are the result of co-creation and collabo-ration. !

They stimulate dialogue with internal and external stake-holders. They show that they appreciate the value of real communication by adopting channels that allow ideas to move in multiple directions across their organization. !

Conversational culture!A conversational culture dra-matically increases the odds of hitting upon truly innova-tive ideas and of successfully implementing them. When corporate communication gives way to organizational conversation it becomes an !

engine of value that boosts employee engagement and improves strategic alignment.!

Dialogue concepts!SPUP helps organizations create conversations that make a difference. With pro-ven dialogue concepts, live and online, tweaked to reflect the specific objective and context of your organization.

Dialogue formats, e.g. Fishbowl Conversation, Work Conference!Creative Problem-Solving!Alternative Dispute Resolution

How we contribute

“In true dialogue, both sides are willing to change.”

THE 4 ATTRIBUTES OF INTERPERSONAL CONVERSATION!

Intimacy!Interactivity!Inclusion!Intentionality

From corporate communication to corporate dialogue.

Energize your organization. Changing long-existing patterns is surprisingly easy. All it takes is creating the right context.

We help organizations perform better and become more flexible and resilient. We do this by reinforcing employees' sense of shared purpose and objectives and by strengthening the internal communication climate, resulting in more confidence, more engagement and more collaboration.!

Like to know more? Contact us for an open dialogue and/or presentation on communication climate and/or network-driven communication strategies and find out how empowering people can drive your organization forward.

“Effective communication drives financial performance.”

For employees!

More self-confidence!Stronger identification!Increased sense of purpose!

For the organization!

Higher profitability!Increased productivity!Better reputation!Less absenteeism!Increased employee retention!Better quality of customer service !Less incidents!More collaboration!Higher employee engagement

Benefits

SPUP!Havenstraat 23a!3014 SG Rotterdam!Netherlands!+31 6 5181 7500!info@spup.nl