&samhoud Great Place to Work Magazine by &samhoud

GPT W S P ECI A L E D I T I O N

Aďż˝Great Place to Work

usualunusual General Information . Recruiting and Welcoming . Inspiring Speaking . Listening . Thanking . Developing Caring . Celebrating . Sharing Together we build a brighter future We achieve breakthroughs by inspiring and connecting people

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Contents

2 1 GENERAL INFORMATION

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RECRUITING AND WELCOMING

INSPIRING

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4 5 P.28

SPEAKING

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LISTENING

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THANKING

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DEVELOPING

CELEBRATING

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8 CARING

SHARING

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1 General information

&SAMHOUD IS A CONSULTANCY FIRM THAT IS BOTH USUAL AND UNUSUAL, AND THAT ACHIEVES BREAKTHROUGHS BY INSPIRING AND CONNECTING PEOPLE: IN ORGANISATIONS, IN SOCIETY AND IN TERMS OF PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT. FOR 25 YEARS WE HAVE BEEN ADVISING COMPANIES ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF FAR-REACHING ORGANISATIONAL CHANGES. WE CREATE MEASURABLE VALUE FOR ALL EMPLOYEES, CUSTOMERS, SHAREHOLDERS AND SOCIETY. FROM OUR OFFICES IN UTRECHT, KUALA LUMPUR AND ZURICH, WE WORK FOR MAJOR CUSTOMERS BASED ALL OVER THE WORLD AND ARE ACTIVE IN VARIOUS SECTORS, SUCH AS MONTBLANC, HONG LEONG BANK, ACHMEA, NESTLÉ, TNT EXPRESS, AEGON, RABOBANK, AXIATA, ICARE, SWISSCOM, AND MICROSOFT. WE ASSIST THEM IN THE CREATION OF MEASURABLE AND SUSTAINABLE VALUE. &SAMHOUD WORKS IN A USUAL UNUSUAL MANNER, RANGING FROM FORMULATING A VISION AND STRATEGY TO MAKING IT HAPPEN AND IMPROVING IT. AND FROM LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT TO BRANDING AND INNOVATION.

Higher goal Together we build a brighter future. We achieve breakthroughs by inspiring and connecting people

Audacious goal

Core values Intensity Authenticity Friendship

Top brand in the Netherlands by 2015 Top global brand by 2030

Core qualities

Inspiration Connection Change Entrepreneurship

Expertise &samhoud realises breakthroughs by assisting organisations in an integrated way with the following propositions (Product Marketing Combinations, PMC’s): 1. Vision and strategy development 2. Living the vision and executing the strategy 3. Organisational and behavioural change 4. Leadership, team and personal development 5. (Digital) innovation and new business modelling 6. Marketing and Branding 7. Business and IT connection We operate in fields of financial services, government, public transport and multinationals. Our biggest clients currently are: Huisman, Heineken, DELA, PGGM, Achmea, ProRail, Rabobank West-Friesland, MN, GVB and Malaysian Airports. Our biggest competitors currently are McKinsey, Accenture, Deloitte and Twynstra Gudde. However, our organisational culture does not meet any of these organisations. Approach In terms of its approach, &samhoud is a model for another way of consultancy. We are no detached consultants, but offer advice that can be applied in practice. We have a hands-on mentality and do things in an unusual way. We are involved in the implementation of recommendations out of a feeling of joint responsibility. We not simply accept any arbitrary customer, but conduct an intensive discussion before deciding whether or not we can be of assistance.

Our vision &samhoud’s deeper reason for its existence is our higher goal: “Together we build a brighter future. We achieve breakthroughs by inspiring and connecting people”. In other words, we realise breakthroughs within organisations. Rules of conduct for core values: Intensity I want to be the best in all that I do; • I work in a fast, effective and disciplined manner; • I exceed expectations and realise breakthroughs; • I manage my energy. Authenticity I am myself and know myself; • I continually develop myself in a goal-oriented manner; • I dare to be out of the ordinary; • I work with passion and am proud of the results. Friendship I am honest, approachable and can give feedback; • I inspire and connect customers and employees; • I help and develop organisations as if they were my own organisation; • I believe in the power of diversity and complementarity.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Our audacious goal is to become a global top brand. Therefore, we now serve cappuccino with an &-sign of cacao to customers who visit our office. Even as a receptionist I can help &samhoud to become a top brand!â&#x20AC;? Vicky

Value Profit chain Realizing breakthroughs through the value profit chain:

Costumers

Customer value Organization

Organization

Employee value

Continuous improvement Our aim is to continuously improve the services we provide to our customers and ensure continuous improvement of and for our employees. This is reflected in the study programmes we formulate for our employees (see ‘Developing’), in the feedback we request from employees and customers via our tools, and in the knowledge that we acquire. By continuously improving ourselves, we all work together to achieve our higher goal “Together we build a brighter future”. We focus on increasing employee value, customer value, shareholder value and social value.

Organization

Financial value

Employees

Shareholders

Societal value

Our definition of a breakthrough is creating sustainable and measurable value for all stakeholders: systematically higher employee engagement, greater customer satisfaction and loyalty, a more profound contribution to society and increased turnover and profits. A breakthrough heralds the beginning of a cycle of success. The Value Profit Chain was developed at Harvard Business School and reveals how employee satisfaction and loyalty lead to better quality and higher value of delivered performances. This has a positive effect on customer satisfaction and loyalty. This ultimately translates into the growth of financial performance indicators, including turnover and profits.

Employee Value &samhoud employees embody the core values of intensity, authenticity and friendship. We strive for sincere, intensive and long-term relationships with customers and each other. We always work in teams because we believe in connecting people and the added value that this yields. We also work together with the customer and not for the customer. What makes us unique in our work is the fact that we combine the ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ aspects of business and we do things in an usual unusual way. Where possible, we strive for freedom for every individual so that he or she can energetically choose what is best for him or her. At the same time we appeal to the responsibility of people, for responsibility goes hand in hand with freedom. The value profit chain starts with employee value. This means people have fun but they also perform. &samhoud focuses on all these pillars of the model to keep fun and performance in balance. According to our employee satisfaction measurement in which both fun and performance are being evaluated, we had fun this year. The overall satisfaction was a 8.7 out of 10. Moreover we performed: we outperformed ourselves with a turnover of 11.5 million euros.

Great Place to Work We also implement our advice in practice. That is the reason why we measure our employee satisfaction four times a year (we measure and improve it continuously). The same applies to customer satisfaction. We literally ask customers whether they would recommend us through our stakeholder watch. We wish to be a Great Place for: Employees So that they are involved and perform with fun, i.e. a Great Place to Work for. Customers So that they are satisfied and loyal and act as ambassadors, i.e. a Great Place to work with. Owners/shareholders So that they are satisfied with the results and involved in the organisation, i.e. a Great Place to Invest in. Society So that it can receive the benefits of a successful organisation, i.e. we are working on a Great Place for a brighter future. On top of us wanting to be a Great Place to Work with our consultancy firm, we also try to build our own Great Places to Work in different fields i.e. a 2 Michelin star restaurant and a media company. Those companies are still in the start-up phase but our goal is that all firms will be great places to work in the future.

Recruiting

People People are the focal point not only in our work but also in the search for and employment of new personnel. We try to create a situation in which the candidate can be himself/herself. Our job interview takes the form of a dialogue instead of a ‘cross-examination’. During the interview we try to place ourselves entirely in the candidate’s position. If we believe that the match between the candidate and &samhoud is not the most ideal, we provide him or her with feedback and advice on which position outside of &samhoud may be the best. We offer tips about other companies where the candidate could apply for a job or the type of position that we think suits the individual better or we give a book: You are who you become which helps to formulate a personal vision (see chapter 4).

The model we use for recruitment is founded by professor Das Narayandas from Harvard Business School and also says organizations should hire people on attitude instead of skills.

Cultural The cultural ‘click’ is of the utmost importance during the selection of new employees. We examine whether the new employees identify with the mission of &samhoud (realising breakthroughs by inspiring and connecting people) and whether they correspond to our core values (intensity, authenticity, friendship). Intensity &samhoud employees have an extremely high energy level. They are very motivated and strive for the best results. They want to exceed expectations. Authenticity &samhoud employees are themselves and know themselves. They do not pretend to be something they are not. They approach each other and are approachable themselves. They dare to be out of the ordinary. Friendship The people who work for &samhoud wish to establish sincere, intensive and long-term relationships with each other and with customers. They know how to connect people. We also ascertain whether they can contribute to our core qualities (Inspiration, connection, change and entrepreneurship) and whether they can contribute to our audacious goal.

Appraisal and procedure The first step in our recruitment process is writing the vacancy. We try to write our vacancy in line with the candidate we are searching for. For example: an unusual text if we search for an unusual candidate and an analytic text if we search for an analytical consultant. See Appendix: unusual vacancy text. We consider motivation to be an integral part of the appraisal of a candidate in addition to his or her CV. If a candidate has a clear motivation for &samhoud, i.e. he or she is keen to work for us and his or her CV matches the desired profile, we invite the individual to an interview. The first interview focuses primarily on the person. The core values are discussed with the help of various questions in order to determine whether the candidate corresponds to our culture. The first interview is conducted by HRM (our ‘People’ department) together with a colleague who holds a position similar to the one the candidate is applying for. The second interview, with somebody from the leadership team, takes a more in-depth look at the candidate’s competencies, knowledge and experience, and the position itself.

We have specified the competencies relevant to each position in the different competency profiles. See Appendix ‘Competency profile for junior consultant’ and Appendix ‘movie junior consultant’. The third interview is conducted with the founder Salem Samhoud. It goes without saying that a discussion about terms of employment also forms part of the procedure. Our aim is to complete this procedure within a few weeks. Recruiting in groups &samhoud endeavours to provide a candidate with an overall picture of the company so that he or she can truly say: “This is where I want to work”. It is not uncommon for candidates, for example, to eat lunch together with colleagues. This allows them to experience the atmosphere and attend internal meetings. We also have good experience with recruiting consultants in groups. Various types are used for this purpose, such as the Applicants Carrousel, the Applicants Seminar and the Applicants Assessment. For the Carrousel, we invite several candidates simultaneously for an entire day. They come into contact with several &samhoud employees, who can in turn form an opinion about them. For us it is an efficient and quick recruitment method given that multiple candidates can complete a major part of the application procedure on a single day. Participants also often indicate that it is an exceptionalexperience for them.

Example program of a recruitment day * We ask the participants to play our Personal Vision Game on an iPad in advance (see Chapter 3. Inspiration) Round 1 • They pitch about who they are related to their values of the digital Personal Vision Game. • They play our Core Value game in groups in which we ask questions on our Core Values (intensity, authenticity, friendship) • We have speed dates with the candidate in 15 minutes • We do a case or a creative assignment (depending on the vacancy) in a group with one of the interviewers • We let the group present the outcomes of the case or their creative assignment • We lunch together with colleagues Round 2 We have in-depth interviews with people we think are having the right attitude – the rest will be sent home. Round 3 The candidate has a conversation with founder Salem Samhoud.

The recruitment carrousel gives new employees ample time to ask questions to another junior consultant and an HR adviser. Participants acquire a much clearer idea of what the position entails since other candidates ask questions that are different to ones you would think of. They are then given a tour of the building and the opportunity to talk to &samhoud employees over lunch, which allows them to really decide whether the organisation and the position suits them. Afterwards, each one has a job interview and the decision is then immediately taken whether the candidate concerned will proceed into the second round. A candidate who completes this second round successfully is immediately given the opportunity to finish the final round with the Leadership team at the end of the day. Within the space of a single day, the candidates as well as &samhoud know whether they will become future employees. Soccer match Last year we searched for male consultants. Therefore, we organised a recruitment tournament. The applicants had to play soccer against our current employees. During the day we had conversations and interviews. Eventually we found one great male junior consultant. See Appendix ‘Soccer tournament’ for a press article about this day. Mini internship For people who don’t know yet if &samhoud suits them, we organize mini-internships. A candidate can work in our company for one week, to explore our organization and get to know us better. Both parties can see if there is a cultural click and if the candidate quickly adopt the skills that are needed. Recruitment channels 1. Our own network Our own networks provide an effective recruitment channel. We encourage our colleagues to always look around for potential colleagues and to actively put forward candidates. The advantage is that our colleagues can already make a good initial assessment of the cultural click. Also clients help us to search for the right candidate. 2. Universities and student associations Another important recruitment activity is our participation in the various career days organised by universities and student associations (AIESEC, Integrand). We also choose a somewhat smaller setting (roughly 20 students) so that we can meet them in person and give them a proper indepth look at &samhoud. We organise a vision workshop similar to the one we also provide for our customers. The group always features two consultants who know truly everything about working for &samhoud. We notice that this personal introduction to &samhoud also yields many applications. Sometimes these are for the longer term;

however, once students have acquainted themselves with &samhoud, they do not forget us quickly and keep us in mind when they graduate and start looking for their first job. &samhoud consultancy hired 35 people in 2015. A total of 900 candidates applied for a position in our organisation. 3. &samhoud women network We also come across candidates via &samhoud women: &samhoud women, a spin-off from &samhoud that was established according to the personal vision of colleague Carolien, revolves around connecting female talent. The aim of &samhoud women is to ensure that more women occupy top positions and does so by offering a network and development opportunities, and by organising Female Leadership programmes and talent search services. This three-in-one service allows us to help women make full use of their talent and fulfil their ambitions. The &samhoud women network has only been in existence for five years but already boasts over 500 ambitious and highly educated women with between five and twenty years of work experience. The network is exclusive and meets every month to discuss a wide range of interesting topics. All of the women in our network have various backgrounds and work in diverse sectors, but share a positive fundamental attitude to get everything they can out of life. &samhoud women conducted an extensive representative survey on the success factors of female leadership. &samhoud women uses this expertise via its network, leadership programmes and labour market mediation to really help ambitious and highly educated women to continue developing within organisations. See Appendix Article ‘&samhoud women’. 4. Social Media We receive a lot of applicants by communicating on social media. Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are excellent channels to reach our future employees. Another tool is Magnet Me; a platform on which we can build our network of job applicants who are interested in &samhoud. 5. Talent Pool Our student trainees are a large pool of talented students who join us while they are still studying. Over the years, we see this pool is a rewarding way of educating our employees. For example: three of our partners have once started as student trainee in the talent pool. Diversity We search for a diverse range of people during the assessment and employment of candidates. However, we do seek uniformity in relation to our core values. Every employee must correspond to these values. We seek diversity in the nationality of our staffing complement, which includes German, Greek, Swiss and Asian colleagues. We also have

people with exceptional backgrounds. Three people are involved with top sports: a top hockey player, a top football player and a top waterpolo coach. Another such person is a taxi driver to whom we have offered a position as the corporate driver within our organisation until he retires. This provides him with greater certainty and connection in his life. Since we are operating on a global level, we always search for people who are able to speak and write in English. &samhoud women strives for more female talent in top-level positions and recently signed the Talent to the Top Charter. By signing the charter we have sent out a clear signal that we have ambitions and will take action to maintain women at the top of our organisation.

Welcoming Integrate Great People program During the first day of our new employees, we make a poster with big pictures of them and we stick them to the walls throughout the building. We also put a note on Yammer to announce our new colleagues will start. Since not all colleagues are in the office every day, we also create a presentation during which they introduce themselves briefly. This immediately provides points of contact between new and existing employees. It also makes everyone aware of what new colleagues will being doing within &samhoud. See Appendix introduction November 2014. If possible, we try our colleagues to start on a Monday to present themselves in the Fish Bowl, the public start of the week of &samhoud (see chapter Speaking). The newcomers see plenty of colleagues, meet the leadership team and receive a business update. Apart from the Fish Bowl, the new employees get a tour around the building and are being introduced to everyone. Our aim is to ensure that a new employee feels welcome and at home immediately. During this tour we also explain lunch arrangements, how the coffee machine works, how to operate the printer, etc. In addition we organise an orientation programme that lasts one week on average. See the appendix Programme Integrate Great People. The programme is set up in such a way that all new colleagues talk to key people within the organisation, such as the founder Salem Samhoud, their people leader and the market leaders. The orientation programme also comprises more substantive components such as the Blockbusters of &samhoud, a PowerPoint training, HRM, Finance etc. Finally, practical matters are also discussed so that new employees can get off to a smooth start immediately (how to use the e-mail program Outlook, conditions of employment and formats used by &samhoud). After approximately one month, we organise a one-firm day in the integration program with our founder and/ or leadership team. Since &samhoud is growing, other business units and even people from &samhoud Switzerland will join this day to create an one-firm feeling. HR schedules an evaluation moment with the ‘introduction class’ in question to sound out whether everything is proceeding smoothly, colleagues still have specific questions, there are any issues and the new employees feel at home. Employees from the same class also organise a get-together on their own initiative to catch up with one another.

Books and flowers During the orientation programme new colleagues receive eight of the most important books written or used by &samhoud, such as Value Profit Chain, which explain the philosophy and concepts of &samhoud. New employees also receive an &samhoud pullover, a blue ball of connection with their names on it, an iPhone with an &sign and a bouquet of flowers to ensure they immediately feel welcome. See Appendix ‘New employee checklist’.

Mentor, coach and peergroup Appointments are also scheduled with the project leader, manager and the new colleague’s mentor during the first few weeks. The appointment with the project leader familiarises the new colleague with the project he or she will work on. The manager can be the same partner or senior consultant as the project leader, but this is not always the case. The manager is jointly responsible for the employee’s personal development. The new employee is assigned a mentor during the first six months. See the Appendix ‘Mentoring’. This is a person who holds the same

position. The purpose of the mentorship is to provide a new colleague with a permanent point of contact in the organisation and to ensure that the individual feels at home quickly and finds his or her way around the organisation (on a practical as well as a substantial level) as soon as possible. If necessary, the mentor can also look after the wellbeing of the new employee. Thanks to these measures, the new employee is fully integrated within &samhoud and finds his or her feet once the six-month period has finished. Lastly, the new employee meets his or her peergroup in the first months. We organise learnings and intervisions with this peergroup and by belonging to such a group of peers, people feel easily connected.

Pieterpad During the first six months at &samhoud, a new colleague also goes on a trip to walk the Pieterpad, a pilgrimage route from Groningen in the north to Limburg in the south of The Netherlands. A section of this pilgrimage route is walked together with all other new colleagues and several &samhoud partners. Colleagues are introduced to the

concepts used by &samhoud during this inspirational journey. But also more important is their acquaintance with one another. They discuss their personal vision by sharing their life stories with each other. In this way colleagues get to know one another in a very exceptional way. We observe that colleagues have experienced personal growth and established a more profound connection with each other upon returning from this trip. This is very conducive to their further growth and integration within &samhoud. See Appendix ‘Pieterpad Program’.

Oerol, Turkey and parties What also helps people to feel at home, is the amount of trips we organise. Last year we went to Oerol, a theatrical festival, to Istanbul and to Sneek together with all employees. Also ‘fun’ initiatives by our own employees as Sinterklaas, Wie is de Mol (a game with takes 10 weeks with several exercises), a junior consultancy weekend to Hamburg, a compliments day etc. help to feel immediately involved in the company.

3 Inspiring

Our vision is â&#x20AC;&#x153;Together we build a brighter future. We realise breakthroughs by inspiring and connecting peopleâ&#x20AC;?. Inspiration is in our DNA. We try to reflect our vision in everything we do. We want to touch people not only rationally (think, analyse, act), but also emotionally (see, feel, change). In order to touch our clients and employees, we often do things in an unusual manner. The leadership team does not have to think of everything themselves; plenty of inspiration is coming out of our own employees.

Internal Learning Programme To embed our Vision within the organisation we organise several study trips. During these trips we focus on: • Skills • Philosophy • Knowledge • Personal Development See the Chapter Development about our learning and development activities. Moreover: take a look at our welcoming program which explicitly help people to embed in our culture. However: we highlight a few programs that were explicitly organised to deepen out our vision. Senior consultancy programs India In 2011 we went on a study trip to India to focus on our philosophy and personal development. People did meditation, yoga and sat around camp fires to reflect about their lives and purposes. Also people were asked to think about what he/she wanted to do to build a brighter future. Accordingly we made a strategy together to realise these reflections. Istanbul In 2013 we went to Istanbul to explore chances in the Turkish market. We talked to several companies and thought about our Audacious Goal: to become a global top brand. One-firm learning trips Sneek In 2014 we went to Sneek to sail together for two days. We created a Visionary Route through Sneek, with the focus on our Audacious Goal. Our employees came up with several actions. One local action has been in publicity: the poster at the bridge during the start of Sneek Week. These days has contributed to the entrepreneurial spirit of &samhoud.

Oerol We have been to Oerol twice, in 2009 and 2013. This theatrical festival helps us with thinking out of the box and use our creativity differently. We have followed workshops in posture and theatre. And of course as we went sailing across the Waddenzee the Oerol trip always adds to colleague connection, especially as all colleagues from consultancy NL, Asia, the restaurant and media were there in 2013. Student study program Traineeship students Our student trainees focus in the first years of working at &samhoud on the core qualities of the company (Inspiration, change, connection, entrepreneurship). This year the students organize twelve Connecting activities in the House of Connection to experience the vision by doing.

Daily Inspiration Physical Office buildings - Seeing Our buildings on the Maliebaan and Parkstraat in Utrecht are inspiring and innovatively furnished. The building on the Maliebaan has flexible workplaces and unique meeting rooms, a world café where employees can meet, and a cheerful and authentic kitchen for lunches and birthdays. In the basement we also have a ‘wellness room’ with a massage table, a floating tub and a shower. Employees can book a beauty or wellness treatment. &samhoud does its utmost to ensure that everyone enjoys working in the building and ‘feels at home’. The building on Parkstraat is called ‘House of Connection’. Our unique culture is expressed in its interior, which literally and figuratively embodies &samhoud’s vision with its large kitchen-cum-living room adjoined by a living-room restaurant on the ground floor where the encounter occurs. The first floor has an area where people can connect with each other (along with a tearoom and a large living room), while the second floor houses the inspiration with the gallery, the film area, and the breakthrough where employees can work with the latest technologies. The building’s garage has been converted into a studio to record our inspiring movies. And another wellness area is situated on the second floor so our customers can also book a beauty treatment or take a massage during an intense session. Art - Feeling In all offices (in Utrecht, Kuala Lumpur, Zurich, the restaurant in Amsterdam), a lot of art is represented. Art is one of the ways to inspire employees and customers every day. The art we have is inspiring: it reflects our vision but it also

touches all senses and emotions. It leaves room for imagination. We have made an art book with all pieces of art in it. Example: Gao brothers The Gao Brothers show in ‘The forever unfinished building’ people from all social classes, sexes and religious groups. Loneliness, melancholia, curiosity, happiness are only a few states of this cheerless but at the same time astonishing world. The photo criticizes the rise of the Chinese economy by showing people who suffer of loneliness. &samhoud perfume - Smelling A couple of years ago, we have created an &samhoud perfume for men and women. All senses are important by feeling and embedding things in our lives. Smell is one of the elements we had never used before. However, research showed smell is of great importance to remember information. Eventually we made a ‘bellenblaas’ (bubbles) and a perfume with a smell that all employees liked. We have used the scented bubbles at several events. &samhoud song - Hearing &samhoud has developed a song which is called: brighter future and has an inspiring clip. We use the song during sessions and parties and accordingly it is the ringtone for our iPhones! Appendix &samhoud song &samhoud coffee and employee recipes - Tasting To contribute to our audacious goal to become a top brand, we now serve cappuccino’s with an &sign on top of it. If customers eat at The House of Connection we make sure they eat together in our kitchen at a round table where everybody is equal. Additionally, we cook recipes from our own employees with an inspiring story around it. See Appendix ‘Cook Book’ Wellness treatments - Touching In our two wellness areas our employees and customers can book a massage. We use massages also in our sessions to give our customers a moment of reflection and find back the connection with themselves (authenticity). See Appendix for our latest wellness programs.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;I always try to plan the sessions of my clients at the House of Connection. It is just the most inspiring place I can think of with all art and the catering facilities. I feel proud if I introduce the wellness facilities to my customersâ&#x20AC;?.

Marijke

Digital inspiration &samhoud inspiration platform We have developed an online media platform to inspire others on topics that inspire us. For Consultancy we post information on Society, Business and Personal Development. All information keeps our employees up-to-date and inspired on what we do. Furthermore, it gives our employees a platform to share their knowledge, thoughts and experiences with others. Most blogs are written by our own experts. inspiration.samhoud.com &samhoud TV &samhoud TV is a platform which showcases inspirational management videos. This channel offers an extensive selection of short, powerful videos about leadership, strategy, vision, innovation, branding, culture change and numerous management-related topics. These videos are updated daily by mangers to inspire their employees in order to make a brighter future. We share movies that contribute to our PMCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s (propositions) with our employees and other stakeholders to enrich our sessions for customers and to strengthen knowledge of our consultants. samhoud.tv

&samhoud IntoConnection IntoConnection is a worldwide movement that provides people with a platform where they can share their stories as well as the ideas and trends happening in their city. IntoConnection features short video clips produced in a talk show format from our studio in Amsterdam in cooperation with contributors from cities around the world, discussing the topics and trends they are passionate about in the city that they love. IntoConnection strives to connect and inspire people from all around the world. People from more than 100 countries are viewing this platform on a daily basis. This channel contributes to our vision by sharing our brand to the world (audacious goal), by inspiring and connecting people on a global level and by building a brighter future by bringing optimistic media to the world (Higher goal). intoconnection.com Yammer Via Yammer, an internal Facebook site, people share breakthroughs, sales news, knowledge, experiences, people related facts, pictures of sessions and more. This platform helps to get insight in others, help to stimulate a one-firm culture and helps to learn from each other. The information is primarily for internal employees. The power of this

platform is that employees from Switzerland, Germany, Asia and other business lines, are all connected. &samhoud Core Value Game We have developed a Personal Core Value game which can be played on an iPad. We use this core value game primarily in our recruitment process to help people formulate where he/she stands for. See Appendix list to download the game. &samhoud Vision Game Our Asian office has developed an &samhoud vision game for all of our employees. With this game, which can be played on an iPhone, people explore our Vision according to several levels and actions they have to go through. People earn points per level and people can win several prices. The game involves all parts of our vision: our higher goal, our core qualities, our core values and our audacious goal. For example: upload a picture that reflects what friendship means to you.

Religion connects?! (2010) In 2010 we have filmed a documentary on religion with two colleagues: Jeroen Geelhoed and Nur Hamarcu who are both very religious. One is a Christian, the other a Muslim. In the Film Religion Connects! Jeroen and Nur tell us about their faith, their work, their connection with God, their connection with each other and their connection with the rest of the world! The film was partly made in Jerusalem, a place where the tension is sometimes very high between Jews, Christians and Muslims. Jeroen and Nur show us their special friendship and connection that is rooted in deep religion in both of their lives. “Fear builds WALLS, Hope builds BRIDGES!” The documentary premiered in Amsterdam’s oldest movie theatre Tuschinski. See Appendix Religion Connects?!

Knowledge Books Be Useful (2011) Plenty of Dutch people are having entrepreneurial ideas. In practice, only 7% of these ideas are actually being executed! According to Salem Samhoud and Jeroen Geelhoed, this is unnecessary. The book Be Useful shows we can change this spirit. They believe entrepreneurship can be educated and learned. If you want. See Appendix Be Useful. Together we build a brighter future (2013) This book is an inspiring collection of interviews, photos and quotes on connection. Together with the documentary the Road to Connection it was launched at the Tuschinski theatre where all employees, family, friends were invited along with several inspiring and well known guests who spoke on what connection means to them. See Appendix Together we build a brighter future. Creating lasting value (2013) The book creating lasting value, written by Ingrid Smolders, Jeroen Geelhoed and Salem Samhoud, formulates how businesses change holistically to create lasting value. The book gives answer on the questions: “How do you create lasting value?” “How do you manage enthusiastic stakeholders?”. This book answers these questions showing different cases of Rabobank, Zappos, Starbucks and Aravind Eye Hospital. Moreover you will be provided with tools, questions for reflection and new research outcomes. See Appendix for a review about the book.

Brilliant business models Jeroen Geelhoed wrote a tryptych on Brilliant Business Models: 1. Brilliant Business Models (2013) This book has been written for professionals who want their organisation to do things differently but who do not know how to actually realise this. The market demands for continuous change. Let other companies that truly have made a change in the life of all stakeholder inspire you. Brilliant business models gives inspiration but also practical tools to start to make a change within your own company. 2. Brilliant Business Models in Healthcare (2014) This book is written by Jeroen Geelhoed to show there are business models in healthcare that are actually brilliant. The book is a follow-up on brilliant business models. The healthcare area is facing lots of problems. With this book we want to inspire people to build a brighter future by making healthcare more lean, human and business-based. See Appendix for a review of the book. 3. Brilliant Business Models in the financial sector (* expected March 2015). Another book is being published about brilliant business models in the financial sector. See Appendix Online Columns by Jeroen Geelhoed

External Connection lessons Realising breakthroughs in society is just as essential to us as the breakthroughs we achieve with our clients. In our experience business and society are closely connected. It’s about people. Because people make the difference people take initiative, people champion ideals, people care for each other and the world around them. The &samhoud foundation was founded based on that premonition with the aim to increase connection in the world and to inspire and connect people. We deliberately choose to invest our time, energy and expertise in the &samhoud foundation and so take our responsibility for society very seriously, together with our clients, suppliers and friends. For Children Especially for upper level primary school pupils and firstyear students in secondary schools, we offer an interactive, two-hour ‘usual unusual’ lesson about connection. It has been taught to thousands of children already and in several schools it’s part of the curriculum. &samhoud employees teach the lesson, regularly with clients and other people who support our higher goal. During this connection lesson children will think about their dreams and talents and how to connect with others. They do this by answering questions such as ‘What do you want?’ and ‘What are you good at?’. Children will also discover why it’s important to know the answers to these questions. That is how they learn to connect with themselves and that is the basis for positive connections with others. The connection lesson is linked to social emotional learning objectives and consists of group discussions, video clips, exercises and the exclusive &samhoud board game. The lesson is offered free-of-charge, although voluntary donations to the &samhoud foundation are very welcome. See Appendices for our brochure, programme and an article. For Young people Stress among young people caused by the amount of choices available to them is a hot topic. The pressure to make the right choices increases, especially in light of financial consequences. That is why we want to invest in young people aged 16 to 18 who need to make important decisions about their future. During the &samhoud #brighterfuture programme young people work on their own personal vision, guided by &samhoud employees. Personal Vision is an integral, ‘inside-out’ approach that starts with the person and not with the options. It is much broader and more personal than a career test. Young people will seek to answer questions such as ‘What do I find important?’, ‘What am I

really good at?’, and ‘Where do I want to be heading?’. They do this through fun and creative assignments, as part of an interactive programme with plenty of time for fun. As a result, they will get to know themselves better, which will help enormously when making important decisions about their future. When you know who you are, what you want and what you are good at, it is easier to choose your next path that fits you 100%, and so significantly decreases the probability of making the wrong choices. And that gives peace and a great deal of energy! The programme consists of two workshops of 4 hours each and is offered at the &samhoud foundation’s offices in Utrecht, the Netherlands. The workshops are interspersed by three fun homework assignments spread across three weeks. Universities Salem Samhoud is Honorary Professor at the School of Management at the University of Sheffield. Here, he teaches our philosophy on how to build businesses to hundreds of students. We do not want to keep all information ourselves but we actively try to build next generations towards better leaders for the future. TEDx Sheffield Jeroen Geelhoed, partner of &samhoud, once said he wanted to speak on TEDx. In 2012 he was at TEDx Sheffield to tell about the scientific part of connection. This speech strengthened company pride since the speech was often being shared on internet. See Appendix TEDx speech. De Klerk, 7 December 2010 In December 2010 we invited former President Frederik Willem de Klerk from South Africa to come and share his life story of the Apartheid in South Africa and his cooperation with Nelson Mandela. In the huge Janskerk in Utrecht, family, customers and friends were invited to join this day and discuss topics about how to change societal inequality. In doing so, we shared our vision “together we build a brighter future” with an audience of 500 people.

“I gave 7 lessons last year to children. I think it is incredible to teach social skills and connection skills to kids. These skills are so important for their futures. Last time I was singing the ‘compliments song’ with these kids and I thought: yes, I feel I am building a brighter future by teaching kids something I believe in.” Renske

4 Speaking

COMMUNICATION LINES AT &SAMHOUD ARE VERY SHORT. EMPLOYEES CAN ALWAYS APPROACH AN IMMEDIATE COLLEAGUE, THE FOUNDER OR SOMEBODY FROM THE LEADERSHIP TEAM. THEY CAN SPEAK TO THEM DIRECTLY OR BY TELEPHONE, WHATSAPP OR SMS IF ABSENT. ALL MANAGERS WORK ON PROJECTS THEMSELVES. THEY THEREFORE ALWAYS KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON AND CAN BE CONTACTED DIRECTLY BY COACHEES WHO ARE HAVING ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS. WE TRY TO DISCUSS EVERYTHING OUT IN THE OPEN. WE DID SEVERAL INTERVENTIONS TO STRENGTHEN THE TRANSPARENCE THIS YEAR:

Participating Fishbowl As of January 2014 we have focused even more on transparence. We introduced the ‘fish bowl’ (to see which big client fish we are catching) every Monday morning from 09.00 until 11.00 o’clock. In this Monday morning meeting, the leadership team, including the founder, discus all relevant themes and current issues in front of all employees. EVERYTHING is transparent in this meeting and there is plenty of room for interaction and questions. During this meeting all employees are invited and see:

• The financial facts (and see which big fish are in our bowl) • The people facts (HR facts as illness, pregnancies but also people who leave) • The strategy Sharing successes We share knowledge We give Inspiration And everybody is free to add themes We believe openness in decision making is important to understand and to learn from it. To see an impression of the Fish Bowl: see Appendix Video Card and Article Fishbowl

Week start with project team Every project team (including the senior manager) is having a week start or week closing to reflect on the status of the client, update everybody and see what results have been achieved. Mostly people look forward to the week: what are the tasks of everybody? People can address a problem and ask for help during this weekly meeting. Working together on strategy The long-term strategy of &samhoud will always be designed during a participatory process. We think it is important for employees to feel involved in the direction that the company is focused on and everybody should be able to share his or her views and ideas. This ensures that &samhoud’s strategy belongs to the employees and as a result understand why the company takes a particular direction. It also provides an insight into how one’s own activities contribute to the strategy of the organisation as a whole. Skills trainings We want our employees to be open and honest to each other. Even if they don’t agree or feel bad about something. Therefore we organize skills trainings with actors to practice how to speak up, how to address a problem to the person the message belongs to and how to deal with feedback

Informing Yammer See Chapter 3 to read about Yammer. This tool helps to share relevant information, best practices and give comments to each other. There is a real dialogue on this platform. Senior managers use this platform often.

about customer projects or internal project i.e. proposals, information, manuals and policy. This site is our ‘cloud’. This site makes it easy to share information with colleagues since everybody can see documents of others. Everything is open to our employees. Lync and whatsapp An internal chat program is often used when people are working on their laptops. With senior managers, whatsapp is often a faster way to communicate since they are often in sessions with clients and away from their computers. Every project team and peer group has a separate whatsapp group. CRM In our CRM system we upload all sales related information so we can easily find our contacts, see the financial status of projects and the according sales actions. All facts and financial information is open to all colleagues. 365 feedback tool We think feedback is important to be transparent towards each other and to see how we evaluate our friendship and collaboration. Therefore, we have developed the 365 feedback tool (see chapter 8) Every employee has to take ownership for his or her own performance review by making a “personal contract” which is uploaded on our internal SharePoint website. The goals of the year of every individual are thus being shared. During the year every person has to collect feedback from 10 people (clients and colleagues) who will review the performance and behavior of our employees. In doing so we create openness about how others think of one another to avoid surprises at the end of the year.

Sharepoint On our secured Sharepoint site we upload all information

â&#x20AC;&#x153;First of all I was a little nervous about this new way of discussing themes. Everybody can see if you are doing well (how billable you are as a consultant for example) and even some people related themes were discussed. But now I feel very excited to hear what is going on and to always know how the company is doing. And about the people facts: I am actually happy to see that every person is discussed very properly with great respect. I see the leadership team of the company is doing very well for both organization and employee. That gives a feeling of trust.â&#x20AC;? Tim

Listening

The leadership team is very open and accessible. Listening is one of the most important consultancy skills of &samhoud employees. In addition, a component of one of our core values entails being approachable for clients and colleagues. Employees are frequently asked to give their opinion, ideas and/or feedback. This occurs for example during the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Fish Bowlâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, the strategy process, the week start, a job interview involving an applicant, participation in the employee satisfaction survey, mentoring or coaching sessions. Open sessions are also held regularly when new plans are drawn up. Regarding to the topic listening: within &samhoud it is very common to make an appointment with somebody you want to talk to. We try to communicate as direct as possible. By only writing things anonymously in employee surveys, problems cannot be fully solved. Therefore people leaders often ask for feedback on their own performance and listen carefully to what coachees are trying to say.

Ways to communicate, to give feedback or to ask questions Fish Bowl (See chapter 4.) The Fish Bowl as mentioned in chapter 4 (see the Video Card) is a good opportunity to speak to senior managers and the leadership team. During this start of the week, people can explicitly come up with ideas, share knowledge, give feedback and improvement points. Often we have great discussions on the table with all layers of the organization. Personal Vision All employees develop their own Personal Vision (See Chapter 7). Someone’s Personal Vision is a guideline for staffing and other new developments. A Personal Vision is a plan for the upcoming 3 to 5 years. Maarten, for example, is in Paris for an MBA on innovation because that is what he formulated in his Personal Vision. Carla is no longer working at the HR department since she wants to become a strategist consultant. 365 tool The 365 tool as described in chapter 7, is the ultimate tool to give feedback to senior managers. Senior leaders always ask their team members to fill in their feedback. Also the founder asks for feedback from all employees once a year. Listening is also explicitly measured by questions in the 365 feedback tool (i.e. <name> shows evidence of good listening and reconfirms that a message is understood). If the score is low, we will make a program to work on this specific quality.

Other programs Employee satisfaction survey Four times a year we measure the employee satisfaction. At the end of the year we send out a bigger survey to ask questions about the following themes: • General satisfaction • Balance • Celebration moments • Openness • Opportunities and Challenges • Degrees of freedom • Inspirational working environment • Acknowledgement and Appreciation • Salary and Appraisal • Fun in work • Vision and rules of conduct • Making strategy happen • Involvement • Knowledge sharing • Internal services

This yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s scores from the employee satisfaction survey were once again high (8,6), but several points for improvement did emerge of course. We listen to these attentively and action is undertaken immediately. Listed below one of this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s points: Balance: This year balance rate was a 7,9. The score is higher than last year (7,6) but we want it to become a 8,0. We will focus even more on rest, sleep, holidays and staffing. Yammer Via Yammer people can suggest improvement points and respond to one another. See chapter 4. Leadership developer Leaders send out the leadership developer once a year to ask for specific feedback on their leadership skills. This tool is developed according to our own leadership model. The tool maps you leadership profile using a state-of-the art concept created by Harvard professor Thomas DeLong. The leadership tool gives you insight into various perspectives by clients, employees, managers and others. See Appendix Leadership Developer.

Stakeholder Watch In September 2014 we have started with Stakeholder Watch. This 24/7 tool will send out questionnaires to our customers, suppliers, applicants, network and a selected panel in small batches. With this method we can measure in real time how people experience the &samhoud brand and our employees. This will add value to our audacious goal.

Problems Within &samhoud senior managers are very much approachable. In a difficult situation, we first support people to go their people leader who are members of the leadership team. If the problem cannot be solved, people can talk to the founder. People are of course always welcome at the HR department who can start mediation or share thoughts and feelings in an intervision group with their peers. The intervision peer group comes together twice per quarter to discuss actual themes, feelings and personal cases.

6 Thanking The work philosophy of the Value Profit Chain shows that satisfied and loyal employees lead to improved quality and a higher value of delivered performances. That is why we wish to thank our employees, which we do by means of excursions, small gifts, flowers and an additional financial reward now and again. The leadership team is on top of everyone’s work and therefore of everyone’s successes. It leads the way when it comes to remunerating and complimenting colleagues. Profit Day and employee satisfaction At the beginning of the year the leadership team sets targets for the year to come. As soon as we reach the target, we celebrate! All people receive for example flowers or another gift since we all contribute in reaching this goal. This year, work life balance and employee satisfaction increased. People were thanked for not only their performance but also the fun they had. We gave them a fun gift; a ‘piek’ for the Christmas tree since they have ‘gepiekt’ (reached the peak). Since employee value exists of ‘fun’ and ‘performance’ we also appreciate the ‘fun’ part. Christmas (NL) It has become a tradition during the Christmas party for all employees to be thanked again personally during a PowerPoint presentation that is shown to everyone during the party. Also, during Christmas everybody is getting an extraordinary present. This year, all employees received a Blue Bike with their own names on it! This is of course only possible because we all exceeded our profit target. Thanking customers Customers also thank our employees. At the end of a project we ask our customers the ultimate question: “Would you recommend us to others?”. They can then assign a score on a scale of 1 to 10. Several tens were awarded again this year to our employees Jeroen Geelhoed, Ellen van Lisdonk and Lonneke Nouwens. We celebrated this ‘tens’ in the Fish Bowl. Extraordinary performance If people are doing extraordinary things, deliver personal or business breakthroughs according to their Personal Contracts (see chapter 7), or are very much billable for a longer period of time, people can be thanked.

Last year we:

SENT A JUNIOR CONSULTANT TO ANTWERP FOR A COUPLE OF DAYS WITH HIS GIRLFRIEND DURING THE WEEK SINCE HE WORKED DAYS AND NIGHTS FOR A CUSTOMER. WE BOOKED HIS APARTMENT AND CALLED HIS GIRLFRIEND.

WE SENT A SENIOR CONSULTANT ON A BREAK TO TRAVEL FOR TWO MONTHS AFTER SHE WAS VERY BILLABLE FOR A LONGER PERIOD OF TIME. WE SENT A SENIOR CONSULTANT TO BRAZIL FOR HOLIDAYS FOR 6 WEEKS WITH HER FAMILY.

IN SEPTEMBER ALL JUNIOR CONSULTANTS WERE EXTREMELY BUSY. THEY GOT THANKED BY SALEM BY GIVING THEM ALL A PACKAGE OF BIOGRAPHIES OF 8 POWERFUL PEOPLE IN THE WORLD (MANDELA, MICHAEL JACKSON ETC).

WE SENT ALL ASSISTANTS TO &SAMHOUD PLACES FOR A LUNCH TOGETHER.

WE BOOK WELLNESS ARRANGEMENTS FOR PEOPLE WHO HAVE WORKED HARD.

“It is wonderful when you realise that your efforts are really noticed. I am pleased if Salem calls me after a seminar to let me know that he is very satisfied. The flowers and gifts are always a lovely surprise, but it means a great deal knowing that the partners, your coach and others around you take the time to give you genuine compliments.” Rutger

“It was such a surprise that my colleagues called my girlfriend and booked a few days in Antwerp during the week. I worked very hard but I felt rewarded and energized as well. I think it is great that they see private life is very important. Another thing: the hotel was so cozy! I often think of my colleagues: they know what a good atmosphere is!” Arthur

Developing

&SAMHOUD BELIEVES EMPLOYEES HAVE TO TAKE OWNERSHIP FOR THEIR OWN CAREER PATH EITHER WITHIN OR OUTSIDE &SAMHOUD. WE HAVE DEVELOPED TOOLS THAT HELP EMPLOYEES MANAGE THEIR CAREERS AND PERSONAL GROWTH BY FORMULATING GOALS, THAT HELP THEM TO DEVELOP SKILLS TO REALISE THESE GOALS AND TO MEASURE THEIR PERFORMANCE BY ASKING FOR FEEDBACK. IN SHORT, OUR STRUCTURE IS:

Personal Vision Development starts with directing your own life. A first step is having a clear view on who you are, what you are really good at, what you want to achieve in life and how you want to achieve this. A good personal vision helps you to determine the purpose of your existence, to direct your life and to make choices that are important to you. This is accomplished by clearly determining who you are, what you want and what you are good at. A personal vision consists of four elements: a higher goal, an audacious goal, core values and core qualities. Together, these four components form a ‘Gesamtkunstwerk’, a perfect combination of mutually reinforcing elements. After all, if you allow people to work on their personal passion, they will be more entrepreneurial, ill less often, more productive, and the likelihood of them

attaining their goals is 30 % higher. Moreover, people will become happier: a personal vision helps them to find their talents and passions. We ask every employee to formulate a personal vision. We organize several Personal Vision sessions during the year to help employees in creating this personal vision and strategy. Also, the people leader helps with personal coaching conversations to sharpen their vision. Many visions have been developed this year and &samhoud is actively looking to connect personal visions with its own vision and strategy. Within &samhoud, a personal vision serves as a guideline for staffing and development. See Appendix Personal Vision.

Personal Contract A personal contract is based on a Personal Vision. A Personal Vision determines plans for the upcoming 3 – 5 years; a personal contract focuses on development goals for 1 year. A personal contract consists of breakthrough goals regarding: • &samhoud Strategy: factorability, contribution to our knowledge development, giving connection lessons • Business breakthroughs: formulate 3 business breakthroughs • Personal breakthroughs: formulate 3 personal breakthroughs The personal contract is evaluated every quarter by the employee him-/herself, is discussed with their people leader and the progress is measured by Open Questions in the 365 feedback tool. See Appendix Personal Contract 365 feedback tool and 360 degrees feedback The 365 feedback tool is a tool that measures how an employee is developing and performing regarding &samhoud’s core values, core qualities, role specific questions and some open questions (questions that measure breakthroughs in the Personal Contract). The questionnaire can be send to clients as well as to colleagues. There are long (20 minutes) and short (5 minutes) versions of the questionnaire. By using the tool, employees not only manage their own performances, they also actively give feedback to others. In doing so, we stimulate a culture of growth and transparence.

Our employees make a performing portfolio at the end of the year, which exists of the Personal Contract, including the quarterly reviews and reflections, and the 365 feedback report with a minimum of 10 reviewers. Eventually the people leader decides if somebody has reached his or her development goals, meets the values of &samhoud and, hence, whether somebody is getting a bonus/promotion. See Appendix 365 Tool.

Learning program The learning program of &samhoud is sharpened every year. The content of the learning program is developed through: • 365 tool: The scores of the feedback of our people by colleagues. What do we need to improve? Example from this year: discipline, giving feedback, better proposals, English for business. • The client evaluations: what qualities should we focus on? Example from this year: project management • Input of colleagues: we actively ask what employees want to learn and what they suggest to other peer groups to focus on. Example from this year: mediors wanted juniors to expand our change models further. • &samhoud strategy: what do we have to learn to become the expert in the product market combinations regarding our strategy? (PMC’s?)

â&#x20AC;&#x153;&samhoud Asia is actually a result of my personal vision. I wrote in my audacious goal: I want to work in a Muslim country. &samhoud supported this dream and after months of research we started &samhoud Asia in Kuala Lumpur in 2012. By making profit, having a great team, building an exciting office and helping so many customers in 19 countries in Asia, I feel we are actually building a brighter future and we are becoming a global top brand. It is exciting to contribute to these goals out of my own entrepreneurial thoughts and beliefs.â&#x20AC;? Nur

A lot of skills and knowledge will be learned in doing the job so we only organize learning days for those things that add value to one’s development.

4. KNOWLEDGE: TO ADVANCE OUR PROPOSITIONS AND MARKETS

The developing program of &samhoud consists of several pillars: 1) personal development 2) philosophy and vision 3) skills trainings 4) knowledge 5) personal education plans.

Four times a year, we organize learning days which specifically focus on our propositions and markets. As a consultant, you need to know the last insights, models, trends and facts. Last year we not only focused on horizontal peer groups (juniors, mediors, seniors) during learning days but we actively steered towards vertical learning groups to dive deeper into knowledge and sales. &samhoud believes generations can learn from each other. We believe having discussions or brainstorm sessions with people from all layers of the organization supports a culture of equality and transparency.

1. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT: TO HELP EMPLOYEES FORMULATE WHO THEY ARE, WHAT THEY WANT IN LIFE, TO HELP THEM GROW NOT ONLY IN THEIR PROFESSIONAL BUT ALSO IN THEIR PRIVATE LIFE AND TO HELP THEM FIND THEIR UNIQUE TALENTS.

Personal Vision, MBTI and Management Drives We organize several MBTI, Management Drives and Personal Vision sessions (see beginning of this chapter) for individuals and teams to get to know themselves better. It is useful to gain insight in what preferences you have, what gives people energy, what talents you have or when energy is flowing away. MBTI (Myers Briggs Type Indicator) provides an insight into the natural preferences of people, promotes introspection and understanding for others, and makes teams more effective. Coaching and Intervision Twice a quarter, people have a meeting with their coach (who is also the people leader) to talk about personal development. Also, once every two months peer groups have an intervision session to discuss personal cases in a group and to give each other tips.

2. PHILOSOPHY & VISION: SEE CHAPTER 3

3. SKILLS TRAININGS: TO DEVELOP SKILLS TO DO THE JOB WELL

For every peer group several skills trainings are organized throughout the year. We organize advisory skills such as: ‘pyramidal presenting’, ‘to have clear conversations’ and ‘giving feedback’. In 2015 we will focus mostly on ‘writing winning proposals’, ‘English for business’ and ‘project management’, since our employees need to improve these skills in order to achieve our audacious goals and reach our target.

Some learning days we organized: Lean mini-classes To learn more about Lean and how to implement this way of working in our change projects. These four mini-classes gave employees all tools & information to further implement lean within organizations. Trip to The Nederlandsche Bank This tour and learning day elaborated on the market of financial service firms. We discussed knowledge about ‘toezicht’ with regards to cultural change in this sector. Insurances day This day was organized to broaden our knowledge about the business models of insurance companies because we work for several insurances companies. In addition to these learning days: • Jeroen Geelhoed is sharing a blockbuster topic every week in the Fish Bowl (a brilliant business model, the latest article or a new model). • People share best practices in the Fish Bowl. • Our employees receive a subscription to the Financieel Dagblad app and the Harvard business review app. • We possess a large library, share plenty of articles with our employees and we buy books for people in need of extra literature on a specific topic. • We carefully look at the staffing of our people. We change junior and medior consultants on our projects after they have worked on the project for a longer period of time to stimulate their development.

5. PERSONAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS: TO BECOME AN EXPERT IN A SPECIFIC FIELD

Personal Education Programs have also been drawn up for various medior or senior consultants. This occurs primarily at the request of employees themselves. The study both has to fit within the goals of one’s personal vision and it has to match the strategy of &samhoud. If an employee wants to do an expensive program or MBA, he or she has to write an educational plan and pay 25 % of the costs. The study becomes an entrepreneurial investment in becoming a specialist. Learning evenings are organised for employees as well as customers in order to share the knowledge acquired from these programmes with others.

Kuala Lumpur come to Holland, our Dutch colleagues go to Switzerland, Germany or &samhoud Asia for three months. These months of working abroad are very valuable for our junior and medior consultants, because: • They become more self-consciousness • They develop a deeper understanding of our vision and mission • They experience a broader perspective of our brand • They receive an one-firm feeling • They learn to work with people with a different background • They learn to write and speak English on a daily basis

International exchanges All junior and medior consultants work internationally for three months during their first years of employment at &samhoud. Employees from the office in

8 Caring THE

CARE

CONCEPT

FOR

&SAMHOUD

EMPLOYEES COMPRISES THREE PILLARS: HEALTH, TIME AND MONEY.

Health &samhoud manages its employees’ health in a proactive manner. We use the quarterly employee satisfaction survey, the week start in which people evaluate their energy level with a mark and the biyearly performance meetings to measure the employee’s energy balance and the support required in this regard. Assistance is provided by the people leader, our wellness specialist or a coach. Lunch and drinks We provide a healthy lunch with various salads, warm dishes and fruits on a daily basis (and even dinners when required). Also, we make healthy juices with a slow juicer, we serve no sugar candies and we prepare healthy recipes from our own employees (see Appendix). Last June, for example, we had the month of the ‘Tomaand’. We cooked plenty of dishes with tomato and ended the month with the Tomeato burger of two Michelin star chef Moshik Roth. See Appendix Tomaand. This chef also advises us about healthy food. Sometimes colleagues give suggestions for improving the food and drinks we serve at the office. We try to adopt them as quickly as possible. For example: • We currently serve soymilk in addition to regular milk. • We bought a new coffee machine. Employees could test which machine they preferred and we organized a coffee tasting for the beans. Last November, many employees were having a cold. We then provided vitamins, special supplements, special tea and lots of fruit to prevent our employees from becoming ill to help them regain strength.

Losing weight program Our wellness specialist, Joeke, created a losing weight program for those who were interested. She composed a book with all kind of tips and recipes for 10 weeks. She provided us with several healthy supplements. See Appendix Losing Weight. Wellness programs Our people can book an anti-stress arrangement. We also give our customers the opportunity to experience a moment of relaxation. See Appendix Wellness Programs. Whenever you desire, you can relax for half an hour in our special floating cabin while the hydro-massage system massages your entire body with two powerful warm-water jets. This works actively and preventively against aching muscles, tired muscles, back complaints, neck complaints and RSI. The floating cabin enables you to float in a vacuum in pitch-darkness and complete silence. You see nothing, you hear nothing and you weigh nothing. You are alone with your thoughts. Floating is a performance-oriented means of relaxation. The elimination of external stimuli is very relaxing for your body and mind. Half an hour spent floating weightlessly in salt water feels like four hours of sleep. It allows you to block out everyday stress momentarily. Studies also endorse the positive effects of the floating cabin and reveal that it significantly decreases blood pressure and stress hormone levels.

Sports &samhoud organizes several sportive initiatives to support a healthy lifestyle of our employees. 1. Boot camps: twice a month people can do a boot camp in the park under the guidance of an instructor. 2. Yoga: every week we organize yoga classes 3. &samhoud soccer team: 12 employees play together in an &samhoud soccer team. This year they won the trophy. 4. Dam to Dam Run: 10 employees participated in the ‘Dam to Dam Loop’ this year. 5. Sports license: some of our senior colleagues with small kids at home received a sport license to go to the gym during the day. 6. Bike: instead of providing our employees with a box filled with Christmas presents and sweets, we gave all employees a brand new blue bike to stimulate to cycle instead of driving the car. Collective health Insurance &samhoud pays 5% of the health Insurance of our employees if they want to have an insurance with Zilveren Kruis Achmea. We also receive a referral sale of 5%. For the additional insurance, &samhoud pays 10% of the costs. Workplaces Workplaces have been improved this year. Several new LED lamps were bought to stimulate the right level of light during the day. We bought new laptops that weigh less so people have to carry less. People can change the height of our desks, which makes them both very ergonomically as well as it stimulates employees to work while standing up. Changing positions helps reducing the burden on one’s back after all. Caring and illness If an employee, or someone in their close family, is ill for a longer period of time (physically or mentally), we figure out what the person needs to recover. We also always send flowers or a present to the person. Moreover, we change working schemes or arrange other benefits. For example: one of our employees is having a child who is very ill. We increased his salary and he is working from home more often to be with his child. Another person was recovering from cancer. We gave her all the time and space she needed to recover:

“During my illness I received a lot of attention and support from my colleagues. I have benefitted greatly from this attention and support on the one hand, and the space to rest and take the time to get better on the other.

During radiation therapy, I figured I was ready to get back to work, but my people leader encouraged me to just stay at home to get better and process everything at my own pace. In hindsight that time was something I really needed. It is a really great feeling that, at such a moment, there is an employer that really has the best intentions with you and stands up for your interests.

I really got all the time I needed to regain all my strength and to really get better and I am now – after a year – really back at work, filled with energy.” Else

Time &samhoud strives for a healthy balance between the work and private life of its employees. We believe that even a slight imbalance can cause tension. From the employer’s perspective, an improved balance can offer numerous benefits, including a better position in the battle for qualified personnel and higher productivity per employee. From an individual’s perspective, the employee will go to work with greater pleasure and this will have a positive effect on the situation at home. Balance entails something different for everyone. We carefully look at someone’s role: parents need other things to flourish than a junior consultant that has just started working does. Each person must also know and monitor his or her limits. The ability to switch off is also important: working intensively and also doing private things in an intensive manner. The causes of imbalance can often be found in employees’ loyalty and sense of responsibility. Working hard is also part of the culture within &samhoud (intensity). People leaders often restrain employees from working and performing too hard. Working intensively is good, but intensive relaxation is equally important. &samhoud pays close attention to this and we try to support &samhoud employees in this regard as follows: Holidays and paid leaves Holiday bonus We gave all our employees a holiday bonus of 250 euros if they did not use their phones during holidays. They have to trust other colleagues to take over and let go of their work responsibilities. See Appendix Article Holiday Bonus. Vacation days We do not administrate the days that our employees take off. They can take as many vacation days as they need. This is quite unique in the consultancy sector where 25 days per year off is often the standard. Our employees have to arrange free days with their team members. All children holidays can be taken off for employees with children. Paternity leave &samhoud is the only company in the Netherlands and one of the few within and far beyond European borders that gives fathers two months of paid leave following the birth of their child. We believe that you can make effective agreements if you are clear about your priorities, carry out your work properly and schedule it correctly. And two weeks are not enough in that case. Two months are far more realistic for establishing a close bond with your child. Furthermore, the employee can establish a solid home base during this time and return to work with renewed vigour. This also benefits the employer in the long term. Finally, this

investment by the employer in the employee’s situation at home forges a stronger bond between both parties. Maternity leave maternity can be longer than regular 3 or 4 months. We always discuss with our employee when they feel it is time to go on leave and when to come back to work again. Relative passing away if a beloved person of one of our employees passes away, we carefully search for a way to support him or her (mostly time, care and rest). Energy management Steer on performance The leadership team strives for output, not attendance. Employees are therefore free to organise and perform their work as they see fit. Flexible working hours Employees can personally decide where and when they want to work. If they wish to exercise in the morning and continue working in the evening, for example, this is always possible. They can also choose to work at another location if desired. Coaching the focus is not only on work, but also on the person (balance between work and private life), including the personal vision. We help people to learn how to balance their lives. We also assist people in realizing their personal vision: we offer our people time, money or help. Time to practice Meditation space &samhoud has a designated space to meditate. Two of our colleagues like to practice meditation skills. We give them time and space to practice in our offices. Mindfulness practice Together with yoga we do mindfulness practices. Mindfulness helps our employees to focus their thoughts, feelings and breath. This reduces stress. We give our employees time to practice mindfulness.

Money &samhoud does not want its employees to have any unnecessary financial concerns. The company also wants them to have a clear insight into their financial situation. Financial Advice All medior consultants, senior consultants and employees over the age of 30 are advised by an independent financial planner. A financial plan also forms part of the employeeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s personal strategy. An independent adviser affiliated with &samhoud helps employees to gain a clear understanding of their current and future financial situation. This service is also available to anyone experiencing a fundamental change in their financial situation, such as the purchase of a house. Pensioning scheme &samhoud has a defined contribution pension scheme for its employees. This means that a certain percentage of the pensionable salary is saved as pension. 80% of the maximum amount that could be saved per month is paid by &samhoud. Employees need to save the other 20%. They can decide autonomously how this will be done, depending on their personal wishes. &samhoud hires a financial consultant on a regular basis to give financial advice. The pension has a guaranteed turnover of 3% and will be indexed. Every employee receives a certificate each year with the pension he or she has built up that year. These certificates can be cashed in as a pension at the age of 67.

In addition to retirement pension &samhoud pays also the dependantsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; pension for all employees with a partner and / or children. Care fund We have a care fund that allows us to assist &samhoud employees that encounter personal or financial problems or crisis. This is used, for example, by employees who end a relationship and therefore need to find alternative accommodation. Also, we save money for presents during important moments in peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lives. People get very personal gifts during important celebrations in life: See Appendix of our policy regarding celebrations: Celebration Document. Wedding When someone marries, he or she receives receives a big present and a week off in the days before the wedding to prepare everything well. For example, one of our colleagues received a piece of art that she really wanted to have when she got married. Giving birth Both male and female employees receive three gifts when they have a new baby. 1: a little chair painted by the wife of one of our employees with the birth announcement card painted on it. 2: a special stuffed animal to cuddle with. 3: flowers.

Celebrating

Organisational successes According to our ‘fun and performance’ model that delivers employee satisfaction, ‘Celebration moments’ is one of the fun pillars. &samhoud employees rate this pillar with a score of 8.5. A new customer, a new assignment, a customer satisfaction score of 10, a successful event, etc. are all celebrated. This can occur during lunch with something sweet, during the fish bowl with applause or during a special moment for which we all gather together. Also on Yammer, we share organizational successes, on which often many people reply to congratulate. &samhoud celebrated its ‘Profit Day’ this year by giving a bouquet of flowers to every employee. The road towards this profit day is carefully monitored and everybody received a status update every week in the ‘Fish Bowl’. Also the employee satisfaction scores were celebrated in the Fish Bowl since they were higher than last year. The annual feast of ‘Sinterklaas’ is a huge celebration at &samhoud to which all partners and children of employees are invited. ‘Sinterklaas’ (played by the chauffeur of our director) and his helpers, de Pieten (there is always a group of enthusiastic employees to play these roles every year), pop in to surprise the children and their parents during a two-hour party. Presents are being arranged for the children every year. Christmas is also celebrated with a dinner and gala evening in our buildingDuring this Christmas celebration, the managing partner and director both gave a speech in which everyone was thanked, but also in which organizational successes were highlighted. Besides our annual Christmas party, we held several pub parties this year. See Appendix Christmas Speech.

Personal successes Personal celebration moments such as birthdays, moving to a new home, births and receiving a permanent contract are also paid attention to. We all congregate in the large kitchen or in another room on someone’s birthday to sing to him or her. An immediate colleague delivers a personal birthday speech and a gift is then presented on behalf of all employees. An employee’s anniversary (5, 10 or 15 years with the company) is also celebrated with great enthusiasm. Although the employee in question receives a wonderful gift, this celebration together with all colleagues and the personal speech are considered the most important. The celebration is often ‘usual unusual’: we give a wonderful gift but also always a creative present made by colleagues. This can be a movie, a collage, a song, a game or something else that is in any case a very personal and well thoughtthrough gift.

We kick off the year with a New Year’s gathering. We reflect on the past year and discuss our plans for the year ahead during a sumptuous breakfast or a festive get-together.

The speech recounts the experiences (successes and possibly difficult periods as well) and work of the colleague in question, and offers everyone a good insight into what this person has done within the company. This is also really fun for new colleagues as they get to hear tales from the past.

On a team-level, we celebrate successes during the week start or during team learnings with self-made cake, a gift or a lunch together.

An employee moving to a new home receives a lovely bouquet with a congratulations card at his or her new address.

CALL FOR LEADERS

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The first step of my research is taken. My hy“Sincepotheses I sell aarelot clear ofand clothes the conversations of my kids about these remain challenging and inspiring with reon gardMarktplaats, to content. However, I received for the next‘Mo’s step I need you! Are you a leader and do you want to Marktplaats’ help me?when In June I2013 worked I will start forthe5 research years into leadership and performance. If you particiat &samhoud. pate I will, nextAll to my employees sincere appreciation, wrote send a you a free feedback report on your leadership nice style. wish Do you on want a Marktplaats to know more or enroll? Advert Send an e-mail to research@samhoud.com. You can also follow the progress of myreally studies great!” on twitter: format. Funny and @tjvlaskamp.

10 Sharing The Value Profit Chain reveals how employee satisfaction and loyalty lead to better quality and higher value of all results. This has a positive effect on customer satisfaction and loyalty, and ultimately translates into the growth of financial performance indicators, including turnover and profits. Some of these are used as norms for learning programmes, bonuses and salary increases for employees.

Round Tables

Salary structure

&samhoud employees are assessed and remunerated for 50% according to their 365 feedback portfolio and for 50% according to their Personal Contract. The goals in their Personal Contract are related to the KPI’s of &samhoud and are SMART. The people leader helps the employee to achieve these goals.

&samhoud has developed a salary structure in which performance (the final score of Personal Contract and feedback portfolio) and job difficulty jointly determine an employee’s salary level. This is a highly transparent system. If people develop faster than usual, they also proceed through the salary structure faster. For example, if someone who has spent two years as a medior consultant can fill the position of a senior consultant, he or she will immediately receive the starting salary of a senior consultant. This salary structure remains in balance because the consultancy fee also increases in that case. The balance exists because a consultant must also have the feeling that he or she can justify this higher daily fee. And the customer must experience this value.

The assessment and remuneration of employees is an exhaustive and intensive process within &samhoud. All assessments are prepared by the people leader. With the help of the 360degree evaluation in the 365 feedback tool, feedback of at least 10 colleagues and clients is obtained and bundled together in a scorecard, along with the facts relating to Personal Contract. The ‘Round Table committee’, made up of the Leadership team of 7 people and the head of HRM, examine all the assessments twice a year in Round Table meetings. Key questions that arise include: Is the feedback recognizable and complete? What are the major points for improvement during the year ahead? What motivates this person, and what role do we envision for him or her during the coming year? Who is similar to whom (peer groups)? Does this person deserve a bonus for achieving certain results and perhaps one for exceptional performance? The Round Table committee plays a pivotal role in the process for fair assessments and remuneration, precisely because it has an overall view of all employees and can therefore make a good comparison between them. Since the meeting is held twice a year, employees constantly know how they are performing and what they have to improve in the second half year.

The growth steps of consultants within the salary structure are expressed in absolute euros. We regularly check to see whether the salaries we pay are still in line with the market. We have good benchmark data at our disposal since we ask new colleagues about their current salaries when we hire them. We can then make a comparison on the basis of the number of years of work experience and the position that the person holds. We adjust the salary structure where required. Personnel receive a fixed salary increase percentage depending on the final assessment score. For profit sharing, 5% of the company’s profits are made available but only f the annual profit target is reached. A bonus can be achieved if personal and business breakthroughs are achieved according to the Personal Contract

Alzheimer Lab We work for several non-profit organizations to help them in becoming a better workplace. Alzheimer Lab is one of these organizations. We do not donate money but instead we help them to become a stronger organization with fun and performance. See Appendix Vergeten Geld. Teaming Every month &samhoud employees pay 1 euro of their salary to a charity according to the Teaming Principle: (https://www.teaming.net/?lang=en_UK). Last year we’ve donated 3600 euros to two projects: Stichting Leergeld (education money) Utrecht introduced by Ellen van Lisdonk (one of our employees): With our donation, twenty bikes have been bought and given to young people who live in socially excluded families to help them in being able to cycle to work or sport clubs. and if the Round Table agreed. This fosters a feeling of equality and supports our value ‘friendship’ within the company. In theory, everybody who performs very well and who, according to his or her Personal Vision, wants to become a partner or leader is eventually able to become one.

Society &samhoud Foundation Realising breakthroughs in society is just as essential to us as the breakthroughs we achieve with our clients. In our experience business and society are closely connected. It’s simply about people. Because people make the difference, people take initiative, people champion ideals, people care for each other and the world around them. The &samhoud foundation was founded based on that premonition with the aim of increasing connection in the world and to inspire and connect people. We deliberately choose to invest our time, energy and expertise in the &samhoud foundation and to take our responsibility for society very seriously, together with our clients, suppliers and friends. See chapter 3 for our programs for children and young people.

Stichting Spieren voor Spieren (Muscles for Muscles): our contribution is donated to the SMA expertise centre since one of our employees is having a child who is suffering of SMA. Our employees are currently voting on projects on which the Teaming budget of 2015 will be spend. Sustainability As of 2014, one of our colleagues explicitly focuses on sustainability. As a company we: • Changed all lamps into LED lamps • We separate all waste • We bring all paper and plastic to waste containers ourselves • We print two-sided if we print (default setting on all printers). We’re trying to reduce our paperwork. • We bring away our leftover food to homeless people • We bought electric cars • We order more organic food and fair trade coffee beans

THE BLUE BALL OF CONNECTION &samhoud uses a blue ball to inspire people to connect. A ball symbolises action and reaction. When a ball is thrown into a group of people, they will start playing with it. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the most simple beginning of connection, in a very positive way. The colour blue refers to a holistic worldview in which everything is included and connected.

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Together we build a brighter future We achieve breakthroughs by inspiring and connecting people