How aware are you of what is going on around you? What is the impact of everything you do – or don’t do? How do you respond to social change? And how do you prevent ingrained habits from hampering the flexibility of your organisation? In short: Is your performance in line with the standards imposed on and expected of your organisation, or are you lagging behind? MonkeyBlue helps organisations to be more aware of what is going on in the world around them and to act accordingly, with a stronger Reputation and a higher License to Operate as the result.
The core of MonkeyBlue’s offering of services is TheContextIndicator®. This study provides insight into the field of forces within which an organisation operates, and how skilful it is in responding to this. It helps you identify an organisation’s cultural bottlenecks and capacity for change at a single glance, with a view to restoring and strengthening its connection to the world around it.
Using TheContextIndicator®, an organisation will be able to draw up a plan for improvement with surgical precision. Flexibly. Because the world is constantly changing. Faster than ever. In hardly any time at all we can get to the crux of the matter. We do not pour our recommendations in concrete but in rubber, constantly keeping our finger on the pulse. This approach enables an organisation to constantly and easily keep up with new developments.
Let it be clear: organisations willing to reinvent themselves have the right tools at their disposal for a strong future. As a flywheel for this, MonkeyBlue developed The Context Indicator®. This research indicates how adroitly and capably you can respond to your surrounding environment and whether the importance you attach to your values as an organisation and management team is shared by your employees, customers and stakeholders. You will then be able to set to work with surgical precision towards building a more relevant organisation with greater impact.
Our survey tool, TheContextIndicator®, is based on validated scientific research.
Via a personalised link, we invite your employees or in your team or organisation to anonymously fill out TheContextIndicator® survey. This way, we can be absolutely sure that we are making use of all the available information. In the next step, we check to see if your employees’ perception mirrors that of your customers and stakeholders.
This approach enables us to quickly compile a clear and practical report, based on which we can jointly set to work on an improvement plan. After all: if you want to be versatile, you have to be able to take action quickly!
Holding a mirror to someone else is easy. However, to get the full picture, you have to look at everything happening in the background as well. This will help you understand how people respond to your organisation’s actions. On which aspects do you act strongly and what can be improved to enable you, as an organisation, to act and continue to act in an interactive and high-impact manner?
TheContextFactor® is built up out of 3 main categories: Commitment, Field of Influence and Competencies, and 17 subcategories derived from these. We also attach a rating in terms of your License to Operate: a definition of your organisation’s right to exist, and it will become clear to which extent your organisation thinks and works in an Agile manner.
TheContextFactor® will reveal, per category, whether your rating is Fragmented, Structured, Integrated or Optimised. This will give you a clear picture of your organisation’s strengths and its cultural limitations and capacities for change. Based on this, your organisation will be able to determine a clear change process, without any need for tedious, lengthy procedures.
You will be able to make a lot more progress if you understand what is going on around you. We will use the results of The Context Indicator® to open up the discussion. With all parties involved. Not only with the yes-men and the stakeholders, but also with people who are hesitant or critical, and with the builders and the born innovators. This way, we can get the ball rolling and put our energy into attaining solutions. Our vehicle for this is what we call ContextSessions.
TheContextFactor® is the guideline for our approach to achieving improvement. During a series of Context Sessions we will set to work together with your team or organisation.
Our expertise in this lies in breaking destructive habits, harmonising your corporate culture and achieving behavioural changes, learning new skills through team-based and personal development and translating these to your organisation’s policy and operations.
The results: your purpose will become clear, your strategy better defined and your contact with the surrounding environment improved. While you are working, The Context Factor® will take your organisation to a higher level.
Although we sometimes make active use of interventions and methods, we can also choose to apply them at a more subconscious level. After all, the results we achieve for your organisation are what is important, and not the method used.
Thanks to our experience and background, we know how important it is that the perceptions held by customers and stakeholders reflect the identity of your organisation and the goals you have set. Being transparent in your policy and operations proves that you are trustworthy.
We hold a mirror to this and develop strategies to bring your organisation’s performance and communication in line with the demands and expectations of the outside world.
A rapidly changing environment demands a high level of adaptability from organisations. This, in turn, requires a corporate culture that embraces these changes, taking its connection with its surrounding environment as a point of departure. We assist organisations in this by providing insight into the impact of its current corporate culture on the way it is perceived by the outside world.
Or, briefly put: an organisation that is more relevant, contributes more added value, gives meaning to its employees and achieves a better position in its field of operations.
MonkeyBlue works for organisations with ambitions; organisations that want to contribute.
ABNAMRO, Achmea, Ahold, Alliander, De Nederlandsche Bank (the Dutch Central Bank), Dienst Landelijk Gebied, EBN Oil & Gas, FMO (the entrepreneurial development bank of the Netherlands), the Municipality of The Hague, the Municipality of Bloemendaal, ING Bank, the KNHG Professional Association for Historians, the Dutch Banking Association, Nuon, the Dutch Railways, PostNL, Rabobank, the Royal Bank of Scotland, Robeco, SNS Bank, Vermilion Energy Netherlands, the Free University of Amsterdam, Zorg en Zekerheid.
Our work is confidential. We only provide references in consultation with our clients.
A recent study conducted by Harvard revealed that 61% of organisations do not or do not work sufficiently towards a higher purpose (the significance behind your goal). This is even more important because almost 90% of CEOs indicate that a clearly formulated goal has a positive impact on the performance of an organisation. Working on the ‘purpose’ of an organisation is a powerful and underestimated instrument.
Therefore, make sure that you formulate your goal clearly, check it for relevance and sharpen it if this is demanded by your surrounding environment. According to MonkeyBlue, an organisation will become more successful if your social responsibility, your role in society and your contribution to society are included in your purpose. We will be happy to help you achieve this.
Research: The business case for purpose – Harvard Financial Times – 24 January 2016, ‘Companies with a purpose beyond profit tend to make more money’
The moment a mandrill ape becomes the leader of his group, his colour changes. Blue and red. Beautiful.
As an organisation, you can also be a leader or want to become – and remain – one. If this is your ambition, it is crucial that you act in the right way, gaining respect in a natural way among your peers. Being valued. So that you are important. And can continue to show yourself to the outside world in your most beautiful colours. That is the basic principle behind MonkeyBlue. And that is what we are dedicated to achieving.
‘I am a manager through and through: I always place things in their context. Doing this helps you see the bigger picture and understand how the system of a particular organisation or branch of industry works. It helps you to identify non-functional habits that are worth breaking. It lets you stand in the other party’s shoes and to better understand what is demanded of you. Plus, you can examine your own context and identify opportunities.’
Interim manager, head of communication, strategic advisor and coach for the corporate world (Rabobank, Nuon, PostNL) and for public sector organisations (EBN, Alliander, the Municipality of The Hague). Specialised in issues at the interface of mission, strategy, change management and reputation. In my work, I am regularly faced with sensitive issues. I have an eye for developing talent and focus on results and relationships. I can remain steadfast and serene in times of crisis and have a passion for strengthening the power of organisations.
‘My vision is that if organisations focus on achieving a clear goal and make a contribution to society based on a vision and a sincere motive, their performance will improve naturally. I enter into the dialogue in a facilitating manner on how this can be achieved. I challenge my clients, hold a mirror to them and inspire. With the goal of setting new steps toward a better result. If you serve multiple interests, you will gain more, in the broadest sense of the word. Dare to step out of your own world and take a close look at how your organisation is functioning, from the outside looking in. Are you living up to others’ expectations?
My career started in communications. First at international advertising agencies, and later on as an interim manager. My specialist area in these jobs is to formulate the positioning of organisation and translating this into innovative concepts. In 2001 I established Conformation: an agency for the recruitment of interim communication professionals. I instil confidence in people and teams and put them in an environment where they can and want to make a genuine contribution. I love people who dare to look at themselves with a critical eye and take up the proverbial gauntlet.
