1
Table with description of the traineeship
Company Promoter Department Tasks concerning Languages Traineeship period
SUEZ-TRACTEBEL NV/SA
Troonplein 1 1000 Brussels
02/510.71.11
Alessandra Di Lieto (Communication Officer – Internal Communication)
Communications & Financial
Communication Department
Internal Communication
External
Communication (GDF SUEZ Shareholders’
Club)
Event Management
Dutch French English
03.05.2010 – 30.07.2010
2
Acknowledgements
First of all, I would like to thank Bart Peeters, who put me in touch with Alessandra Di Lieto at
GDF SUEZ and through whom I obtained my internship with the Direction of Communication and
Financial Communication for the Belgian seat of GDF SUEZ.
I would also like to thank my colleagues at GDF SUEZ, for their help, motivation and confidence
in me. They gave me the opportunity to function in their team as a full member and the chance
to learn a great deal.
I also owe thanks to Ellen Van Praet, who always responded willingly to my questions and e-
mails and who provided valuable help for the outset of my Internal Communication case study.
3
Table of contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 2
TABLE OF CONTENTS 3
PREFACE 5
CHAPTER 1. GDF SUEZ 6
1. GDF SUEZ Group 6
1.1 History – General representation 6
1.2 Organization 9
1.3 Values 12
1.4 Strategy 13
1.5 Competitive position 13
2. GDF SUEZ in Belgium 15
2.1 Belgian subsidiaries 16
2.2 GDF SUEZ Corporate 17
2.2.1 Direction of Communication and Financial Communication 18
CHAPTER 2. IC: A CASE STUDY 20
2.1 Internal Communication 20
2.1.1 Definition 20
2.1.2 Purposes 21
2.1.3 Factors influencing the communication process 22
2.2 Case Study 23
2.2.1 Methodology 23
2.2.2 Survey results 24
2.2.3 Interview with the internal communication officers 29
2.2.4 Conclusion 32
CHAPTER 3. DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECTS 33
3.1 Internal Communication 33
4
3.1.1 Family Day 2010: the BioGeoSafari 33
3.1.2 Project Let’s go 36
3.2 External Communication 38
3.2.1 GDF SUEZ and SUEZ Environnement Shareholders’ Club visits 38
3.2.2 Shareholders’ Club program 39
3.2.3 The press voyage 40
3.3 Other assignments 41
3.3.1 Translations and re-readings 41
3.3.2 Managing the GDF SUEZ Shareholders’ Club mailbox and back office 41
CHAPTER 4. CONCLUSION 42
4.1 The traineeship 42
4.2 Multilingual Business Communication 44
BIBLIOGRAPHY 46
APPENDIXES 47
5
Preface
Throughout the course of the MTB year it became clear to me that for my traineeship I wanted
to find a large company with a department dealing with corporate and internal communications,
rather than a marketing or advertisement agency. A good friend of mine and also a former MTB
student, Bart Peeters, who works as Head of Marketing Communications at Fabricom GTI, put
me in contact with Alessandra Di Lieto at GDF SUEZ. After a first conversation with
Communication Assistant Natascha Massez and Head of the Communications Department Guy
Dellicour, it was obvious that I would be able to learn a lot in their Communications and
Financial Communications Department. Furthermore, it was a French company and therefore an
excellent base for me to practice my language skills. GDF SUEZ was also an enterprise that had
never had an MTB trainee and in this way they could be familiarized with the program.
During the interview we discussed the different options for me in the department. I would
specifically work on internal communication, corporate event communication and shareholder
relations. I was very glad that I could do my internship at the Belgian Headquarters of one of the
world’s largest utilities.
6
CHAPTER 1. GDF SUEZ
Describing GDF SUEZ can be seen as a quite difficult task, since it is an enormous company that
is active in every aspect of the energy chain, in electricity and natural gas, and in various
countries all over the world. Although it is one of the largest – if not the largest – utilities in the
world, the general public is usually not very familiar with the company name. Well-known in
Belgium, however, is energy provider Electrabel, which is part of the GDF SUEZ Group.
In order to properly understand the Belgian seat of GDF SUEZ it is necessary to first look into the
Group’s profile and activities. The information in this chapter is derived from the company
website and from the annual reports of the GDF SUEZ Group unless mentioned otherwise.
1. GDF SUEZ Group
1.1 History – General representation
On July 22, 2008 the French holding SUEZ and the state concern GDF (Gaz de France) were
brought together as GDF SUEZ. SUEZ was founded in 1997 through the fusion of Compagnie de
SUEZ, that had built the Suez Canal, and Lyonnaise des eaux. It became an international
industrial and service group centering on the essential needs of electricity, gas, services to the
energy and industry sector, water and waste control.1 SUEZ is the mother company of technical
service provider COFELY and waste processing company SITA amongst others. It has also owned
the Belgian energy company Electrabel since November 2005. GDF was created by the French
Government in 1946, together with its sister company EDF (Électricité de France). It produced,
transported and sold natural gas around the world, but was particularly active in France,
Belgium, Germany and the United Kingdom.2 GDF SUEZ is a global leader in energy. It is the
world’s second-largest utility with recorded revenues of €79.9 billion in 2009, an overall decline
of 3.8% in comparison with 2008 (€83.1 billion) but a growth of 8.7% versus fiscal 2007, which
1 ‘Referentiedocument 2009 – GDF SUEZ.’ – Group publication, 2009, p. 7.
2 ‘Dominique de Villepin a annoncé un projet de fusion entre Gaz de France et Suez.’ – Le Monde
25.02.2006. http://www.lemonde.fr/economie/article/2006/02/25/de-villepin-annonce-le-projet-de-fusion-gdf-suez_745348_3234.html (consulted on the world wide web, 03.07.2010).
7
employs around 200.650 people worldwide.3 Furthermore, thanks to the merger, GDF SUEZ
could position itself as worldwide market leader in the area of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and
as the first buyer of LNG in Europe.4 The geographical and industrial complementarity of SUEZ
and GDF also allowed the company to establish an eminent position in the European and
worldwide energy landscape. GDF SUEZ is present from the top to the bottom of the energy
chain, both upstream and downstream. They produce, purchase and sell electricity and natural
gas, are responsible for distribution, transport, storage and for the operation and development
of major natural gas and electricity infrastructures, as well as for the conception and marketing
of energy services and environment services (water, waste). In 2009, GDF SUEZ was classified as
the first stock market listed utility in the world in Forbes’ annual classification, which lists the
2000 largest enterprises worldwide. The company also covered the 6th position in Business
Week’s listing of the 40 best enterprises in the world. To better grasp the enormity of the GDF
SUEZ structure, it is advisable to take a look at some key figures, presented in the following
table.
Figure 1. Group essentials at a glance
This overview indicates the very flexible energy mix the company offers. Next to that, GDF SUEZ
possesses and develops a very powerful production park in all of its core markets such as
Europe, Latin-America and the Middle-East. The Benelux and Germany are responsible for 25%
of the Group’s electric capacity of 72.2 GW, while the rest of Europe covers 21% of the power.
3 The decline in commodity prices and the impact of the economic crisis led to a contraction in sales.
4 ‘Laten we samen wereldwijd de marktleider in de energiesector worden. Fusie SUEZ-Gaz de France.’ -
Internal publication for information and promotion, 2008.
8
The other 56% is more or less evenly divided between the Middle-East and Asia (17%), Latin-
America (15%), France (12%) and North-America (10%). Taking a look at GDF SUEZ’s electricity
production (295.6 TWh) per energy source, we see that half (53%) is produced by natural gas
plants, 16% by hydroelectricity, 16% is derived from nuclear power and 11% from coal. This
diversified structure gives the company a strong competitive position, in terms of profit as well
as in terms of flexibility and environmental impact, since the production park makes use of
efficient technologies and less polluting fuels. The Group tries to limit its local and worldwide
impact on the environment and has a light average CO²-emission of 327kg/MWh compared with
other utilities and with the European average.
Figure 2. CO² emissions by main utilities 2008
9
1.2 Organization
Taking a look at the operational organization, GDF SUEZ is divided into 5 Energy Business Lines
and 1 Environmental Business Line: Energy France, Energy Europe and International, Global Gas
and LNG, Infrastructures, Energy Services and Environment.
Figure 3. Operational business lines and their heads
The Energy France business line supplies natural gas and electricity to private customers,
professionals and businesses throughout France, through brands that are firmly established in
the French market. Energy France is the number one gas supplier and the number two producer
and seller of electricity in France. The company has its own electricity production capacities and
offers an energy mix which is for 64% composed of renewable energies (hydraulics and wind).
Energy Europe & International is responsible for the production and supply of electricity
and related services outside of France. The business line is involved in development and
management of electricity and gas projects, and in the provision of customized services to
support its clients throughout all the stages of their development. The activities of this business
line are parted into five divisions, covering different geographical areas: Energy Benelux &
Germany, Energy Europe, Energy North America, Energy Latin America, Energy Middle East, Asia
& Africa.
10
The Global Gas & LNG business line guarantees the Group’s natural gas supplies. The
business develops a portfolio of diversified and secured supplies based on medium-term and
long-term contracts with large natural gas producers, such as Gazprom. On- and offshore gas
production, intervention in energy markets through trading, and storage and transmission of
liquefied natural gas are the three core businesses.
The most important networks and capacities in Europe are managed by the Infrastructures
business line: LNG terminals, storage sites, transmission and distribution networks.
Infrastructures covers the activity of LNG terminals, that receive the liquefied natural gas
transported by ship to regasify it and inject it into the network. In Belgium, Fluxys (45% owned
by GDF SUEZ) operates and markets the LNG terminal in Zeebrugge. The second-largest gas-
storage in Europe is managed by Storengy, a wholly owned subsidiary of GDF SUEZ. The
Infrastructures business line is present in gas transmission networks in the whole of Europe: in
Belgium, through Fluxys (a nearly 45% owned subsidiary), in Germany through Megal (44%
owned subsidiary), and Austria through BOG (34% owned subsidiary). Finally, the Group also
owns GrDF, the number 1 in distribution in Europe that manages a network of 186,000 km.
The Energy Services business line offers multi technical services for the for the design and
construction of electrical, nuclear, gas and industrial facilities and implements solutions to
optimize the energy performance of industrial processes. In 2009, GDF SUEZ created a new
brand to unite its energy services business areas under: COFELY. It is the number one supplier of
energy efficiency and environmental services in Europe. The new brand will be gradually
adopted by the other energy service companies, for instance with Fabricom-COFELY and Axima
services in Belgium.
The environmental service activities are joined within the SUEZ
Environnement subsidiary, which is 35% owned by GDF SUEZ. Suez
Environnement is exclusively dedicated to the water and waste
business areas, and deal with vital issues such as demographic
pressure, increasing urbanization, global warming, increasing scarcity of resources… As a
consequence of the SUEZ – Gaz de France merger, SUEZ Environnement received its own
quotation on the stock exchange in Paris with its holding SUEZ Environnement Company. In
11
2009, SUEZ Environnement recorded revenues of €12.4 billion.5 Brands under which SUEZ
Environnement is active across the globe are SITA, Grupo Agbar, Ondeo and United Water
amongst others.6
In the following figures the relative importance of these six business lines for the total sales of
the GDF SUEZ Group are represented. As you can see, the various divisions have all remained
quite stable over the past two years, with Energy Europe & International as the prime business
area. Within this business line, Energy Benelux & Germany were responsible for more than half
of the turnover in 2008, indicating the great importance of the Benelux market, where the
Group also wants to further enhance its leader position.
Figure 4. Revenues per business line 2008 and 2009
5 Annual Acitivities and Sustainable Development Report – SUEZ Environnement, 2009, p. 21.
6 ‘SUEZ Environnement. Wereldleider op het gebied van het milieu.’ Internal publication for information
and promotion, 2008, p. 2-4.
12
1.3 Values
As an energy company, GDF SUEZ is confronted with three major challenges: “meeting energy
needs, optimizing the use of resources and combating climate change.”7 They strive to do this by
upholding and living up to the four corporate values. These values are the same worldwide and
are used quite frequently. For example, on all the floors and in the large offices of the
company’s buildings in Brussels a poster was placed with the four values. The company values
were determined in March 2009 through the Values Forum, a worldwide event that was unique
in its scale and which united the entire Group and gave 200.000 employees the opportunity to
express their views on 4 themes:
How do we want to live together?
Who do we want to be?
What strengths do we bring to tackling the new challenges of energy and the
environment?
What common factors are there in our different working practices?
As part of the process of establishing a new corporate identity, there was a strong desire to
involve the employees in defining the values, since the Group’s aim was not to just combine
existing values. More than 70.000 contributions of employees were analyzed to define the core
values of GDF SUEZ: Drive, Commitment, Daring and Cohesion.
The Group wants to be recognized for its professionalism and expertise in the energy sector, for
its drive to continually improve the quality and reliability of their services. Next to that the
company seeks to reconcile its development with respect for the planet and people.
Commitment refers to the role the Group wants to keep on playing in regional development
through their long-term local activities. GDF SUEZ encourages a spirit of initiative and innovation
to constantly re-examine the ways to think and act, and to undertake ambitious projects. It
strives to be a company daring to look at energy and the environment in a novel way.
Furthermore, the company wants to develop synergies between its different activities and a
sense of community. By mobilizing all strengths in a joined spirit of teamwork progress,
development and success can be achieved. Cohesion makes stronger.8
7 ‘Values and Identity’. Interactive brochure, March 2010, p. 6.
8 ‘Values and Identity’. Interactive brochure, March 2010, p. 10-17.
13
1.4 Strategy
The GDF SUEZ company strategy is focused on a responsible growth policy and sustainable
development in a context of growing energy needs and decreased natural resources. Their
strategy can be summarized in the following major objectives:
Meeting energy needs
Ensuring a secure energy supply
Combating climate changes
Improving the use of resources
In order to meet these challenges, GDF SUEZ has set up an investment plan of €30 billion for the
period from 2008 to 2011.
The company considers its energy diversity to be its greatest asset. It concentrates its efforts on
two key forms of energy: nuclear energy and natural gas, and, at the same time, on the
development of new production capacities using the most effective solutions emitting the least
amount of CO2, through renewable energy (hydro-electricity, wind power, biomass, solar and
biogas). These assets are believed to meet the major challenges of the 21st century.
1.5 Competitive Position
The production and sale of electricity and the sale of natural gas are activity sectors that are to a
large extent open to competition in Europe and the United States. Activities forming a natural
monopoly, such as the transport and distribution of electricity and natural gas, on the other
hand, are strongly regulated.9 Elsewhere in the world, the markets are less open to competition:
The international market players are active in an environment that is liberalized to a lower
extent. GDF SUEZ’s market leader position in the fields of electricity and natural gas has already
been mentioned in the key numbers in Figure 1.1. So to be able to be called a real competitor of
GDF SUEZ, a company needs to have a global approach, and has to be active along the entire
value chain of gas, electricity and environment and energy services. Taking these criteria into
account, a limited number of companies can be regarded as important rivals.
9 ‘Referentiedocument 2009 – GDF SUEZ.’ – Group publication, 2009, p. 16.
14
The EDF Group (Électricité de France) is active in all areas of the
electricity value chain, from generation to trading and network
management, with expanding operations in the natural gas chain. It is
the leader in the French and British electricity markets and has solid positions in Germany and
Italy and numerous other European countries, as well as industrial operations in Asia and the
United States. Next to that it is the world’s leading nuclear energy company and the second
largest utility in Europe, outranking GDF SUEZ. The company has a worldwide workforce of
169.139 people and a nuclear-generated electric capacity of 74.6 GW, realizing an electricity
production of 618.5 TWh and a €66.3 billion turnover in 2009.10 EDF is GDF SUEZ’s most
important competitor and one of the few that can compete in terms of business areas,
employment and geographical spread.
E.ON is one of the world’s largest power and gas companies with
more than 88.000 employees, operating in more than thirty countries
and generating just under €82 billion in sales in 2009, the largest
turnover in the utilities sector that year. Its activities extend across Europe, Russia and even
North America, where E.ON operates an electric and gas utility business and renewable-source
generating assets.11 E.ON has a very strong position of power in the Netherlands, Scandinavia
and Russia, where it has a considerable share in the Russian energy giant Gazprom.
Enel is Italy's largest power company, and Europe's second listed utility
by installed capacity. It is an integrated player which produces,
distributes and sells electricity and gas.
After the acquisition of the Spanish utility Endesa, Enel is now present in 23 countries with a
generating capacity of approximately 95.000 MW, serving about 61 million power and gas
customers. In 2009, Enel posted revenues of more than €64 billion. The company has over
79.000 employees and operates a wide range of hydroelectric, thermoelectric, nuclear,
geothermal, wind-power, photovoltaic and other renewables’ plants.12
10
EDF. Activity and Sustainable Development Report 2009. http://www.edf.com/html/RA2009/uk/ (consulted on the world wide web, 26.07.2010). 11
E.ON. 2009 E.ON Annual Report. http://www.eon.com/en/corporate/19886.jsp (consulted on the world wide web, 28.07.2010). 12
Enel. About Us. http://www.enel.com/en-GB/group/about_us/index.aspx (consulted on the world wide web, 28.07.2010).
15
RWE is an original German company, taking the second position on the
home energy market as far as size goes. Next to that it is Europe’s fifth
leading electricity and gas company, with very strong positions in the
Netherlands and the UK. Revenues recorded in 2009 were around €48 billion.13 RWE is
particulary active in nuclear energy, coal and browncoal, and gas. Owing to the large share of
coal and browncoal in the total electricity production, RWE is the largest emissioner of
carbondioxide in Europe, with an emission of 138 million tons in 2009.
Next to these companies, that are able to rival with GDF SUEZ on all domains, there are also a
number of significant competitors in more specific fields. When it comes to the transport and
distribution of natural gas as well as the operation of LNG-terminals in Europe, and the import of
LNG in Europe and the United States, oil and gas enterprises such as ExxonMobil, Shell, BP,
Total and the BG Group are competitors worth mentioning. Taking a look at energy services, it is
safe to say that GDF SUEZ possesses a leader position on the European market in this activity
branch: competitors are smaller here. Rivals worth mentioning in this area are Vinci Energies,
ACS, Cegelec and Spie amongst others.
2. GDF SUEZ in Belgium
Describing the presence of GDF SUEZ in Belgium is a very difficult thing to do. Corporate
information that solely discusses the Belgian market is hardly existent and outdated. In addition
to this, there are other matters that make the company difficult to describe:
- the center of general management of GDF SUEZ is bilocated in Paris and Brussels,
- some of the subsidiaries in Belgium are part of the GDF SUEZ Group because of purely
juristical reasons, but are in fact wholly separate companies,
- some of the corporate services of GDF SUEZ as a whole are located within smaller Group
companies, for instance the GDF SUEZ Direction for Communication and Financial
Communication for Belgium is located within the SUEZ-TRACTEBEL company.
GDF SUEZ has about 20.000 employees in Belgium, divided among subsidiaries of the six various
business lines, for instance Electrabel which is part of the branch Energy Europe & International,
and among units of supporting corporate services, for instance Contassur Assistance Conseil
13
RWE. 2009 Key Figures at a glance. http://www.rwe.com/web/cms/en/10122/rwe/rwe-group/ (consulted on the world wide web, 28.07.2010).
16
which covers the company’s assurances. The figure 2.1 below gives a more transparent
overview. The Belgian market was responsible for a turnover of €11 billion in 2009, which is
about 14.5% of the Group’s total revenues.
Figure 5. Organigram
2.1 Belgian Subsidiaries
As mentioned above, GDF SUEZ presence in Belgium can be divided into two categories: Belgian
subsidiaries of the various business branches on the one hand, and companies covering
corporate functions of the general direction on the other. When it comes to the Group’s
different branches, there are subsidiaries of all six business lines present in Belgium. The most
important ones will be discussed briefly.
Electrabel is the largest establishment in Belgium of the Energy Europe &
International Benelux & Germany branch with 7447 employees and a
Belgian production park with a generating capacity of 11.821 MW, which
is more than a third of the branch’s total generating capacity (31.200 MW). It is the largest
producer and supplier of electricity in Belgium and number one on the Benelux market.
Electrabel has three core activities:
- Sales of electricity, natural gas and energy products and services
17
- Electricity generation
- Electricity and natural gas trading14
The majority (38.9%) of the company’s production capacity is covered by nuclear plants, making
the possible shutdown of the nuclear power plants in Belgium between 2015 and 2025 the
company’s biggest challenge for the future.
Fabricom is part of the Belgian Business Unit of GDF SUEZ Energy
Services and the Belgian reference in terms of technical installations and
services for the industry, energy, tertiary and infrastructure markets. Its
expertise covers a wide range of technical disciplines, including Electrical, Instrumentation,
Mechanical, Industrial Piping, Automation, and Maintenance, as well as specialist applications.
Fabricom and its affiliated companies in Belgium employ more than 5.000 people and achieved a
turnover of 720 million Euros in 2009.15
SITA Belgium is part of the Environment branch and the Belgian number
one in waste control with more than 50 establishments throughout the
country and 2.500 employees. SITA is present in the entire chain of waste
management, providing innovative solutions based on two criteria:
sustainability and ecology. SITA collects waste of more than 50.000 companies and 3.8 million
inhabitants in Belgium and made a turnover of 501 million Euros in 2009.16
2.2 GDF SUEZ Corporate
Next to the Belgian subsidiaries, there is the Belgian part of GDF SUEZ Corporate that is located
in the Brussels business unit ‘Troon’, where 642 people are employed. GDF SUEZ Corporate is
responsible for the general direction of GDF SUEZ (presented by the grey frames in figure 2.1),
and is bilocated in Paris and Brussels. GDF SUEZ Corporate is responsible for establishing and
adjusting the strategy and financial performance. Its task is firstly to define and adjust the six
14
Electrabel-GDF SUEZ. Ondernemingsprofiel. http://www.electrabel.be/whoarewe/companyprofile/companyprofile.aspx (consulted on the world wide web, 26.07.2010). 15
FABRICOM-GDF SUEZ. About Us. http://www.fabricom-gdfsuez.com/desktopdefault.aspx?tabid=+258 (consulted on the world wide web, 26.07.2010). 16
SITA België. Facts & Figures. http://www.sita.be/Facts_Figures_nl.html (consulted on the world wide web, 26.07.2010).
18
aforementioned organizations. A second task is to draw up the company’s policy lines within the
larger functional domains (such as finances, strategy, audit, internal inspection, human
resources, legal, communication, research and innovation, …), and to control the
implementation of these policy rules and internal procedures. Thirdly, it is this branch’s task to
lead the organization of the functional segments, of broader processes, of the development of
mutual synergies between the activity branches or business lines in particular, and to manage
the assignments that can be divided among several activity braches, within the shared service
and expertise centers.17 Furthermore, the corporate services in Belgium continuously try to
facilitate the interchange between subsidiaries of the six activity branches and to develop and
implement a shared business culture.
2.2.1 Direction of Communication and Financial Communication
The Direction of Communication and Financial Communication (CFC) in Belgium, which was my
trainee post, is part of the GDF SUEZ Corporate organization. I will now take the time to present
this department and its team very briefly.
The communication department is mainly responsible for transcribing the Group’s strategy in
terms of communication, which is managed by the communication direction in Paris, to the
Belgian territory. Concretely, this contains communication towards all establishments of the
Belgian seat of GDF SUEZ Corporate, which consists of sixteen sites mainly located in Brussels.
Next to that, the team also focuses on internal communication towards the some 400 employers
of its own Brussels office which is commonly called the unit ‘Troon’.
The CFC team consists of five people, sometimes supplemented with a temporary employee.
The department is lead by Guy Dellicour, who forms the direct link with the communication
headquarters in Paris, where he operates half of the week. Alessandra Di Lieto is responsible for
internal communication and sponsoring/patronage. She is assisted by Natascha Massez, who
also manages external and event communication for the SUEZ Environnement Shareholders’
Club. Kristof Scheldeman manages press relations, external financial communication,
shareholder relations, and external and event communication for the GDF SUEZ Shareholders’
Club. Finally, Romuald De Brabandère is responsible for “MeetingPoints”: the internal and
external communication towards the executive management.
The following gives an overview of the areas dealt with by the CFC department:
- Corporate communication strategy, annual report, crisis communication,
17
‘Referentiedocument 2009 – GDF SUEZ.’ – Group publication, 2009, p. 8.
19
change management, presentation support, …
- Sponsoring/Corporate patronage strategy, partnership activities, CSR, corporate
citizenship, …
- Internal communication printed and digital newsletters, mailings, ...
- External Communication printed and digital newsletters, Shareholders’ Club
programmes, ...
- Press relations monitoring, press releases, …
- Event management corporate event organization, Shareholders’ Club
event management, …
- Intranet and internet back office management, support and consultancy,
extranet management, ...
- Translation and copywriting
20
CHAPTER 2. IC: A Case Study
In this chapter I will first discuss the concept of internal communication and give an overview of
its important purposes and functions. I will try to connect these relevant insights to the
examination of internal communication which I conducted during my traineeship at GDF SUEZ.
As you will read in Chapter 3, my main project during the traineeship was the internal
communication and organization of the family day 2010: the BioGeoSafari. The BioGeoSafari is a
pedestrian rally through Brussels set around the theme of biodiversity in the city. For further
information on the concept and the program of the family day, see appendix 1.c. Unfortunately,
since only seventeen employees subscribed for the family day, the event was annulled. Further
information on this decision can be found in subchapter 3.1.
I thought that it would be interesting for my thesis to investigate the reasons for the failing of
this year’s family day, seeing as how the event was very successful last year with no less than
455 employees who had subscribed. I will briefly discuss my methodology in subchapter 2.2.
Then I will discuss the results which my research on the internal communication of the family
day rendered. These results I will connect to relevant insights pulled from the theoretical
reading I did on the subject of corporate and internal communication. I will also add an overview
of recommendations that could be helpful in the future communication of an internal event
such as the family day.
2.1 Internal Communication
2.1.1 Definition
When reading about internal communication, it becomes clear that the concept can be defined
in very different ways. Some definitions describe internal communication as a transferring
process between sender and receiver, while others consider internal communication as a
management tool or as every communication within the company:
Interne communicatie is de offerte van boodschappen van interne zenders aan interne ontvangers. Interne communicatie is een managementinstrument, dat langs formele en informele kanalen met daarop toegesneden middelen in een tweerichtingsverkeer
21
communicatiedoelstellingen verwezenlijkt bij interne doelgroepen in een slechts gedeeltelijk stuurbaar proces.18
Organizational communication occurs in large cooperative and includes virtually all aspects of both interpersonal and group communications and includes topics such as the structure and function of organizations, human relations, communication and the process of organizing and organizational culture.19
Koeleman describes it as the communication process within an organization:
Interne communicatie is het aanbieden van boodschappen van zenders aan ontvangers die deel uitmaken van dezelfde organisatie, met het oogmerk organisatorische doelen en/of individuele te verwezelijken.20
I would like to point out the difference between messages with an organizational goal and those
that have an individual goal. In the first category internal communication can be seen as a policy
tool, while the second category includes communication towards people and their own personal
agenda, and is not purely aimed at the assistance of the organization and its policy. The difficulty
of combining these two purposes is something that will be brought forward in the description of
the case study I did.
In addition, internal communication is also closely connected to corporate communication and
can be considered as part of it. Van Riel describes it as follows:
Corporate Communication: Het managementinstrument waarmee alle bewust gehanteede vormen van in- en externe communicatie zodanig op elkaar worden afgestemd dat de organisatie de beoogde communicatieve precondities verkrijgt en behoudt bij haar belangrijkste doelgroepen, waardoor een positieve uitgangspositie ontstaat met de doelgroepen waar men een afhankelijkheidsrelatie mee heeft.21
2.1.2 Purposes
As made visible in the previous chapter, IC is a very broad subject that obviously serves various
purposes. In general, it can be stated that IC has three large objectives, namely to inform, to
motivate and to learn. Koeleman makes a more detailed distinction between communication
purposes on corporate level, concerned with fulfilling the company mission, and communication
18
Valin, Pollen, Thomas & Kleyn (1989), qtd. in Koeleman, H., Interne communicatie als managementinstrument: Strategieën, middelen en achtergronden. Houten/Zaventem (Bohn Stafleu Van Loghum) 1992, p. 2. 19
Van Putte, M., Interne communicatie: van theorie naar praktijk. Bussum (Coutinho) 1998, p. 65. 20
Koeleman, H., Interne communicatie als managementinstrument: Strategieën, middelen en achtergronden. Houten/Zaventem (Bohn Stafleu Van Loghum) 1992, p. 3. 21
Van Riel (1992), qtd. In Koeleman, H., Interne communicatie als managementinstrument: Strategieën, middelen en achtergronden. Houten/Zaventem (Bohn Stafleu Van Loghum) 1992, p. 3.
22
purposes that serve the policies of the various departments. On this level, he mentions seven
objectives:
- To inform
- To motivate
- To persuade
- To set an agenda
- To create a basis for decision making
- To make services available
- To create employee participation
It is also necessary to determine in what degree these purposes need to be pursued. For
instance, to what extent can internal communication be used to influence the conduct and
attitude of employees? This also depends on what phase a company and its management is in.22
Van Putte makes another interesting distinction between the use of internal communication as a
direct directive instrument and as an indirect directive instrument. IC as a direct directive
instrument can be compared to IC on corporate level: it is concerned with the acceptance of the
organization’s policy, employee involvement and engagement, and employees’ willingness to
change. IC as an indirect directive instrument has as its purpose to achieve a consistent company
culture through the mutual establishment of relationships between the company and its
employees.23 It is important to keep in mind that all these effects are connected to one another.
An internal communication that stimulates engagement will create willingness to change and a
uniform company culture. This important aspect of IC proved to be a challenge at GDF SUEZ, as
will be discussed in the case study.
2.1.3 Factors influencing the communication process
Internal communication does not stand on itself. There are important conditions that play a
deciding role within the organisation and can influence the communication process, such as the
company structure, the culture and the policy of the organization. Koeleman has drawn up these
conditions of IC in the following figure.
22
Koeleman, H., Interne communicatie als managementinstrument: Strategieën, middelen en achtergronden. Houten/Zaventem (Bohn Stafleu Van Loghum) 1992, p. 82-85. 23
Van Putte, M., Interne communicatie: van theorie naar praktijk. Bussum (Coutinho) 1998, p. 83-90.
23
Figure 7. Conditions of internal communication (Koeleman 1992, p. 54)
The ways in which a company is organized and the ways in which the communication is run are
closely linked together. The structure of the organization should be such that the
communication runs as efficiently as possible. Functions that are closely connected with each
other should be part of the same organizational unit. Every type of organization is known to
have its own characteristics and problems. Henry Mintzberg made a distinction between five
organizational structures that tend to occur a lot: the simple structure, the machine
bureaucracy, the professional bureaucracy, the division organization and the adhocracy or
innovative organization.24
2.2 Case Study
2.2.1 Methodology
I will now briefly explain how I did my case study on the communication of the family day and on
IC in general. First of all, I created a small survey, with which I could gather information on
employees’ opinions and views on the family day and the communication on the event they
each received. I was not allowed to distribute a questionnaire amongst the employees per e-
mail because of various reasons, so with the consent of my mentor Alessandra Di Lieto I decided
24
12MANAGE: The executive fast track. Organizational Configurations (Mintzberg). http://www.12manage.com/methods_mintzberg_configurations.html (consulted on the world wide web, 12.08.2010).
24
to interview a number of people by telephone. Five people were appointed to me by my
mentor, another ten I chose at random by picking them out of the Outlook address book. I tried
to contact people from various layers of the company, executive members (8) as well as people
from higher management (3) and clerks (4). I am aware of the fact that the number of people
interviewed is rather low; however, it was difficult to reach people who were willing to give up
some time for the interview. Furthermore, it was also difficult to find time between the other
tasks and projects I had running. Nonetheless, I am convinced that this small survey I conducted
gave way to some interesting insights on people’s expectations of a family day and ideas about
internal communication. Some difficulties of the communication at GDF SUEZ were laid bare and
these in turn gave me the opportunity to think about recommendations and possible
improvements. This is also why I decided to do an interview with my mentor, who is responsible
for the internal communication at GDF SUEZ, and her assistant Natascha Massez. This interview
gave me the opportunity to look at the issues of IC from both directions. I was given some
insight on the issues and difficulties with which they have to deal on their part.
2.2.2 Survey results
In the small survey I conducted by telephone, I tried to ask people for their opinion on the
communication of the family day 2010, on the concept, on the event itself and on the timing of
the event and the communication. The checklist which I used can be found below. I will discuss
the results of each point in turn.
1. Did the respondent receive all communication on the family day 2010?
2. Did the respondent take part in the family day 2009?
3. What does the respondent think about the concept of the BioGeoSafari?
4. What is the respondent’s view on the theme of biodiversity? Did he/she come
across information on this theme in the internal communication (Horizon intranet,
‘save the date’)?
5. What is the respondents view on the family day? Does he/she think it is a good
initiative and why?
6. What does the respondent think about the timing of the event and the timing of the
communication of the event amongst employees?
7. What does the respondent consider to be the main reason for the success of the
family day last year? What could be the main reason for this year’s failure?
25
1. All fifteen respondents received the communication on the family day 2010. This included the
‘save the date’ e-mail, the invitational e-mail with the letter on practical details, and the
subscription form and the reminder.
2. Of the fifteen respondents, nine participated in the family day of 2009, which was an exclusive
visit to the wholly renovated Musée Magritte on May 17th, with which GDF SUEZ has a cultural
partnership.25 The six respondents who did not participate in 2009, gave ‘other plans that day’
as their main reason. Three people also mentioned that they didn’t like having to come to
Brussels again during the weekend since they live quite far away. Another reason for not
subscribing to the family day that was mentioned a couple of times, was the fact that the
respondents children were ‘too old to participate in such an event’.
3. When asking about the concept of the BioGeoSafari, it appeared that a lot of the respondents
had some objections to the concept. The reaction that a pedestrian rally through the city is not
ideal for families with small children because of all the walking came back four times:
Voor families met kinderen is twee uur door de stad lopen geen evidentie. Zo een
evenement gaat beter gewoon op eenzelfde plek door.26
By three of the respondents, the game was also considered as ‘complicated’ and ‘difficult to
understand’:
Ik begreep het opzet niet helemaal, ook van het sms-systeem om de vragen te
beantwoorden was ik geen fan. Het was moeilijk om je iets bij voor te stellen.
On the other hand, however, two respondents considered the fact that there were two routes (a
short one, recommended to families with small children, and a longer one) positive and well
thought out.
4. On the theme of biodiversity, opinions were very much divided. Four respondents found it
very interesting and instructive, especially for the children. It was also mentioned that as an
energy company GDF SUEZ has the obvious responsibility to make an effort in this area and to
25
The Musée Magritte was scheduled to open on June 2nd
2009 and is the result of the commitment of several GDF SUEZ subsidiaries. It was one of the earliest instances of a private company volunteering its skills to the service of a public museum. GDF SUEZ is the patron and founding member of this cultural project, that houses the largest collection of Magritte paintings in the world. The subsidiaries in the Energy Services business line completed all of the construction work and Electrabel provided the museum with 100% renewable energy. (GDF SUEZ. Corporate patronage and partnerships. http://www.gdfsuez.com/en/group/corporate-patronage-and-partnerships/culture/for-the-preservation-of-cultural-heritage/ (consulted on the world wide web, 14.08.2010)). 26
Citations in italic are literal reactions of respondents on the questions.
26
invest in employees’ awareness of the problems of biodiversity. However, five people were
more or less negative about biodiversity as a theme for a family day. Reasons mentioned were
the fact that it is too intellectual and scientific, not accessible enough, and too en vogue:
Niet iedereen weet wat biodiversiteit juist is. Het is iets te intellectueel als thema en niet
iedereen is daarmee bezig. Het thema voor een family day moet dagelijks aanwezig zijn
in wat het bedrijf doet en niet van buitenaf opgedrongen worden.
Le thème n’est pas accessible pour tout le monde, c’est un peu bourgeois-bohème. Dans
ce temps, il y a un marketing trop lourd de la green-thématique : on a la bio-semaine,
l’année de la biodiversité et tout ça. Á mon avis, c’est un peu trop pressé.
The internal communication on the theme was evaluated in a rather negative way. Almost all of
the respondents thought that it wasn’t visible enough in the communication of the organization
and in what the company does from day to day. There was a section on biodiversity on the
intranet, but none of the respondents had noticed this. The reason for this is that the GDF SUEZ
intranet, Horizon, is a global system for GDF SUEZ around the world, which is managed from
Paris. There isn’t a separate platform available for employees of GDF SUEZ Corporate in Belgium,
where they can find interesting information on their organization and activities in particular. This
is why the intranet doesn’t attract many visitors. The question on communication of the event
gave way to some very interesting opinions of employees on the internal communication:
Horizon is niet echt interessant voor ons. Je vindt er niets terug over wat wij hier doen. Ik
zou durven stellen dat er een gebrek aan communicatie is: Je weet dat je deel uitmaakt
van GDF SUEZ, maar je weet niet meer wie of wat dat precies is, want er is geen
organigram, geen intranet, behalve dat van Electrabel maar daar zijn we ook niet veel
mee.
Ik neem de tijd niet om het intranet af te speuren. Ik heb het ook niet nodig voor mijn
werk en het check het dus nooit.
Het thema voor een family day moet tastbaar zijn binnen het bedrijf en sterke schakel
zijn tussen medewerkers en hun familie. Je krijgt op zo een moment eens de kans om aan
je familie te tonen waar jij en je bedrijf mee bezig zijn.
We can connect these reactions to what Van Putte says on IC as a direct directive instrument. It
can be said that the theme of biodiversity is not visible to the employees as one of the company
policy’s engagements. The communication, which is mainly considered as insufficient, fails to
create employee involvement with this theme. They do not see it as part of the company
27
culture. This was very different with the theme of the previous year, as will become apparent
later.
5. When taking a look at the respondents’ view on the family day as a company initiative, the
reactions were nuanced. All of the respondents found it a good initiative in general, but a lot of
them said that it didn’t appeal to them personally. The reasons for this were very diverse:
De family day is een goed concept, maar toch vooral voor jonge families met kinderen.
Mijn kinderen zijn al volwassen en dan alleen naar Brussel komen zie ik niet echt zitten.
C’est chouette pour les enfants de 0 à 12 ans, au delà les enfants ont leur propres
activités pour le week-end et ça ne marche plus.
Het concept van de family day komt voort uit een goed gevoel binnen het bedrijf, maar
het is moeilijk om de mensen warm te krijgen als ze zich niet echt verbonden voelen. Het
zou beter aanslaan mocht er eerst tijd worden in een beter organigram, betere
communicatie en een betere interne binding tussen werknemers.
Sinds de fusie is iedereen een beetje verspreid geraakt, waardoor je niet goed meer weet
wie waar zit en wie waarvoor uitgenodigd wordt. Je weet niet goed wie je precies zal
ontmoeten op zo een evenement. Ik zou het interessanter vinden om deel te nemen aan
een activiteit waar je eerst andere mensen leert kennen buiten je afdeling, zodat je weet
wie je kan verwachten op de family day.
It becomes clear that the respondents’ objections range from practical to more emotional
reasons that can once again be connected to communication within the company and company
identity. An internal communication that stimulates engagement and that establishes a
relationship between the company and its employees seems to be something the respondents
miss. An interesting theory which can be mentioned here is Herzberg’s distinction between
satisfiers and dissatisfiers. Koeleman describes it as follows:
Men moet [bij deze factoren] denken aan de directe werkomgeving en arbeidsomstandigheden van medewerkers. Als deze zaken bevredigend zijn heeft dat tot een bepaald niveau een motiverende werking.27
When the communication within a company is considered as insufficient, this can be seen as a
factor that causes dissatisfaction. The respondents’ reactions seem to imply that they do not
feel informed and motivated enough, two important objectives of internal communication as
Koeleman states.
27
Koeleman, H., Interne communicatie als managementinstrument: Strategieën, middelen en achtergronden. Houten/Zaventem (Bohn Stafleu Van Loghum) 1992, p. 19.
28
Furthermore, the internal communication does not seem to manage to stimulate a uniform
company identity, which also explains the difficulty of motivating people for an event such as
the family day:
Het is belangrijk voor een bedrijf en zijn medewerkers om niet van elkaar geisoleerd te
raken, geen eiland te zijn en daarvoor is een family day een goed concept. Maar er moet
ingespeeld worden op een groepsgevoel binnen een bedrijf en dat ontbreekt hier een
beetje.
Er moet eerst een identiteitsgevoel en meer coherentie gecreëerd worden.
6. The timing of the event and of the communication of the event seemed to be another
problem. Nine respondents said that the event should have been announced earlier and that the
message should have been repeated a couple of times. The argument that families tend to plan
their weekends weeks and sometimes months in advance came back a couple of times. The date
was also mentioned as a bad choice seven times. Reasons for this are the fact that the end of
June is a busy period for families with the upcoming summer holidays, children’s end of year
exams and family gatherings such as communion celebrations.
7. The respondents’ opinion on last year’s family day made for some constructive points on what
a family day should revolve around. It was mentioned ten times that the Magritte museum was
something really special for the company. The main reason was that the employees felt
connected to this because it was visible in the company’s daily activities. They felt it suited the
GDF SUEZ identity and culture: the whole company and a lot of its subsidiaries worked on this
project.
Er was al een zekere ‘awareness’. Het project leefde binnen het bedrijf en dat is
belangrijk voor een family day. Het idee moet uit de vraag en de activiteiten van het
bedrijf komen en in het bedrijf geïmplementeerd worden.
Le Musée Magritte était ainsi un symbol belge qu’un symbol pour l’entreprise. Tous les
métiers et employées étaient affectées dans la restauration du musée.
Cette thématique correspondait à la culture de l’entreprise.
On the basis of these results the following recommendations can be made concerning the
organisation of a family day in the future.
- The concept should be accessible to all families and should appeal to people with young
children as well as to an older audience.
29
- The theme around which the event revolves should be made visible within the company
and implemented in the internal communication. Interesting suggestions could be
informative posters that create awareness on coffee and printing corners or informative
e-mails that keep people up to date on the company’s commitment to certain matters
such as biodiversity in this case.
- The theme should also correspond to the identity and culture of the company. It should
be something that employees come in contact with during their daily activities.
- The communication on the event should happen well in advance and on a regular basis.
A good idea could be the distribution of a brochure with the program of company
activities, for instance every six months so that people can already incorporate this in
their agendas.
- The timing of the event should perhaps be reconsidered. It could be a good idea to let
the event take place at an earlier time in the year.
2.2.3 Interview with the internal communication officers
The results of the small survey I did provided me with a better understanding of the problems
and issues some of the employees at GDF SUEZ seem to have with the corporate and internal
communication. It was interesting to compare this with the issues and difficulties the persons
responsible for the internal communication, Alessandra Di Lieto and Natascha Massez, have on
their part. In the following subchapter I will discuss this interview and try to connect the matter
discussed with theoretical views on internal communication.
The difficulties which the people responsible for internal communications have to face can be
derived in large part from the fact that they are working together with the seat in Paris, which
actually manages and controls the communication for GDF SUEZ. In this way, GDF SUEZ
Corporate in Belgium functions as a subsidiary of the seat in Paris:
Als GDF SUEZ in Parijs een communicatieplan lanceert, moeten wij het kopiëren naar
België, maar we hebben ook onze eigen Belgische identiteit en kunnen vanuit die optiek
zaken zelf organiseren zoals een family day of een eigen personeelsfeest.
The difficulty lies in the duality of their assignment. On one hand they need to position GDF
SUEZ Corporate in Belgium as a whole, create an individual identity and group feeling in their
internal communication towards the Brussels seat. On the other hand, they also need to
communicate the image of the Group on a national level towards all the Group subsidiaries in
Belgium and try to create unity on that level.
30
Le problème ici est qu’on est un peu schizophrène. On doit mettre notre casquette
‘Corporate’ et fonctionner comme un filiale particulier, mais on doit aussi mettre notre
casquette ‘Communication Pays’ et diffuser l’image du Groupe entre les filiales.
The problem that is mentioned here can be connected to Koelemans distinction between
internal communication as a policy tool, with the aim to create an identity and image of the GDF
SUEZ Group in Belgium, and internal communication with an individual goal: to create a
particular identity for the Brussels seat of GDF SUEZ Corporate and generate a feeling of unity on
this level. Taking a look at Mintzberg’s organization structures, we can say that GDF SUEZ has
the structure of a division organization: an organization with a central unit (in this case Paris)
and different divisions that are divided on the basis of various areas of expertise. The
decentralization of tasks and responsibilities can have consequences on the ‘we-feeling’, as is
mentioned by Koeleman.28
Onder het wij-gevoel wordt meestal verstaan de mate waarin men zich thuisvoelt bij de organisatie en zichzelf met de organisatie identificeert. In feite is het wij-gevoel één van de uitingen van een eigen cultuur, met eigen waarden en normen.29
Internal media at GDF SUEZ Corporate seem to be applied to create a we-feeling as a holding, as
well as a we-feeling as a subdivision of that holding. According to me, this is where the problem
lies and the reason why they do not seem to succeed in either of the two objectives. A choice
should be made between internal media focusing on creating an organizational image, and
internal media used to establish an individual image connected to the local we-feeling of GDF
SUEZ Corporate. For instance, when the intranet is a global platform as with GDF SUEZ, fit to
distribute the holding-feeling, it could be advisable to distribute something like the staff
magazine for instance on division level and to use this to create a we-feeling as a subdivision.
Unfortunately, this is not the case.
Another problem that came up is the fact that they don’t have their own intranet platform. The
Horizon intranet to which the employees of GDF SUEZ Corporate have access is the intranet
system for the entire Group and is managed by the communication department in Paris.
Employees are not able to post internal messages on the Horizon platform. Another factor that
complicates matters is the fact that employees are divided across different buildings in Brussels:
28
Koeleman, H., Interne communicatie als managementinstrument: Strategieën, middelen en achtergronden. Houten/Zaventem (Bohn Stafleu Van Loghum) 1992, p. 69. 29
Koeleman, H., Interne communicatie als managementinstrument: Strategieën, middelen en achtergronden. Houten/Zaventem (Bohn Stafleu Van Loghum) 1992, p. 69.
31
La difficulté c’est les différents bâtiments, on a pas d’intranet, on doit mettre en place un
‘who is who’. Les gens se ne connaissent pas et on doit mettre quelque chose en place
pour stimuler le ‘networking’.
Furthermore, the building in which the communication department itself resides seems to pose
problems:
Het gebouw hier maakt de zaken er ook niet makkelijker op. Het zijn allemaal kleine
bureautjes, mensen sluiten hun deuren, er is geen transparantie, er zijn geen
onthaalhoekjes of ‘social corners’ waar je met elkaar kan praten. Praktisch gezien is het
ook een slechte locatie voor ons als communicatiedienst: we zitten hier op het bovenste
verdiep, afgesloten, we komen niemand tegen en kunnen zo ook moeilijker onze
communicatie face to face verspreiden.
Van den Brink emphasizes the importance of “de wandelgangen”:
Het begrip ‘wandelgangen’ kan het best worden omschreven als de informatie-uitwisseling die tussen bekenden plaatsvindt op (al dan niet bewust opgezochte) toevallige ontmoetingsplaatsen. Bijvoorbeeld voor of na vergaderingen, tijdens pauzes of bij een gezamelijke opleiding.30
Koeleman in turn also mentions how informal networks play an important role in internal
communication and in the diffusion of information. These informal networks arise when
employees meet each other regularly. However, when this isn’t the case and when employees
are isolated and divided across different buildings there can be a negative influence on the
communication within and between departments.
Hoe verder mensen fysiek van elkaar af liggen, hoe groter de kans dat er sprake is van aparte netwerken waartussen weinig communicatie plaats zal vinden. *…+ Als bij het bepalen van den organisatiestructuur ervan uit wordt gegaan dat de mensen die veel met elkaar te maken zullen hebben in dezelfde organisatie-eenheid zullen zitten, dan dient dit ook tot uiting te komen in de lokatiekeuze.31
At GDF SUEZ this is not the case. People who are part of the same organizational unit often
operate from different locations: for instance, some people who work for Paris operate from
Belgium and the other way around. This inconsistency was also mentioned as a difficulty during
the interview:
Il y a des gens qui se demandent « pourquoi moi je suis ici ? Pourquoi on n’est pas tous là
ou là ? »
30
Van den Brink, K., Communicatiemanagement. Schoonhoven (Academic Service) 2003, p. 92. 31
Koeleman, H., Interne communicatie als managementinstrument: Strategieën, middelen en achtergronden. Houten/Zaventem (Bohn Stafleu Van Loghum) 1992, p. 71.
32
2.2.4 Conclusion
It is obvious that the internal communication at GDF SUEZ faces a lot of challenges. They are
looking for coherence within their own division, with the Group as a whole and on a national
level with the different subsidiaries in Belgium. They are working hard to achieve this. The
observations my survey on the family day rendered will be taken into account for the future
organization of events for GDF SUEZ Corporate in Belgium. At this moment, they are organizing a
networking event called “Challenge Troon” in order to create a feeling of unity within the
corporate division. Also, the department is brainstorming on corporate events and activities
with which they can create a dynamic between the different subsidiaries. For instance, they are
working together with the internal communication department at Electrabel to set up activities.
Furthermore, plans are being made for a new version of Horizon which the Belgian department
can also manage and use to spread communication towards employees of the Brussels seat.
This case study thought me the enormous complexity and the difficulty of handling internal
communication for a company that is part of an international group. There are so many factors
that cause problems and that have to be taken into account. It was also interesting to lay the
information I gathered next to theories on internal communications and to find connections
there. I am very glad that I was given the chance to talk to employees on their views and that
the people responsible for the internal communication were willing to discuss the difficulties
they experience and the imperfections of the communication at GDF SUEZ.
33
CHAPTER 3. Description of the Projects
I started my traineeship at GDF SUEZ on May 3rd at the Direction of Communication and
Financial Communication (CFC), and worked there until July 30th. As already mentioned in
subchapter 2.2.1, the CFC department is part of GDF SUEZ Corporate and responsible for the
communication towards the Belgian seat of the company.
On my first day, Natascha Massez and Alessandra Di Lieto, my mentor, introduced me to the
functions and workings of the communication department and gave me an overview of the tasks
they would appoint to me for the duration of the traineeship. The organization of the Family Day
2010, the BioGeoSafari, would be my main project, which I was expected to manage from the
conceptual phase up to the actual realization of the event. Apart from this task, I would also
have to assist Alessandra with the communication on the moving house project Let’s go. These
tasks included translating short communications for the website, and re-reading publications
such as newsletters and internal mailings.
It was also decided that I would assist Kristof Scheldeman and Natascha Massez on the daily
tasks of external communication towards the GDF SUEZ Shareholders’ Club and the SUEZ
Environnement Shareholders’ Club. These tasks mainly included database management, re-
reading publications, making presentations and the organization of events.
In this chapter, I will first discuss my most important projects on internal and external
communication in detail. Afterwards, I will give a more concise overview of my other daily
assignments.
3.1 Internal Communication
3.1.1 Family Day 2010: the BioGeoSafari During the traineeship, I managed the organization of the Family Day 2010: the BioGeoSafari,
which was to take place on June 20th, but which was unfortunately annulled. It was the second
year the CFC department organized a family day for the employees of the Belgian seat. During a
first sit-together, my mentor filled me in on what was expected of me. I was to manage the
internal communication of the event and the communication with DDMC, the event agency
handling the realization of the family day. Next to this it was also my responsibility to make sure
34
that the right look & feel, matching the company, was applied to all communication, but also
implemented in all the aspects of the event (goodies, reception desk, tent,...).
First of all, I set up a retro planning in order to have a clear overview of everything that needed
to be coordinated (see Appendix 1.a). This retro planning was my guideline during the project,
pointing out the different steps I had to take.
During the first week, I made the invitational e-mail, registration form and practical details
letter, which were to be sent out by e-mail at the end of that week (see Appendixes 1.b and 1.c).
For this, I based myself on the invitational letter of the Family Day 2009. Before this, I sent a
‘Save the Date’ to all employees per e-mail, containing the day, time and place of the Family Day
and a short presentation of “2010 Year of the Biodiverisity” and GDF SUEZ’ activities on
biodiversity. For this, I had to get in touch with Sévérine Watteblé in Paris, who handled the
communication on GDF SUEZ’ partner- and sponsorships concerning “2010 Year of the
Biodiversity”.32 Alessandra carefully corrected my versions and gave me useful feedback on how
to construct a text that needs to be dispersed in a company: you have to be concise, clear and
use a lot of bullet points so that people can deduce the core message in a glace. I was very
pleased that I could determine the layout myself and was given carte blanche in this field. After
finishing the final version, I sent the texts to translation services for the French version of which
Alessandra did the re-read. When people’s subscriptions began coming in, I made an Excel list of
subscriptions, for this I once again used the list of the previous year as an example (see
Appendix 1.d).
For the organisation of the event, I also had to work closely together with Patsy Leemans of the
event agency DDMC. During a first meeting, we ran over DDMC’s first budget version together,
chipping out expenses here and there. This was something completely new for me as I had no
idea what such an event should cost and where you could look for expenses that can be cut.
However, Alessandra always reminded me that this was my own personal project and that I
could suggest more budget friendly alternatives. This is really where I had the chance to suggest
new things concerning content. During the meeting, I suggested another idea for the first and
second prize of the rally. DDMC had a balloon trip in mind, but I suggested something more
32
The BioGeoSafari was one of the various initiatives concerning “2010 Year of the Biodiversity” of the Brussels Museum for Natural Sciences, with whom GDF SUEZ has a partnership. In order to obtain concrete information on the actual terms of the partnership and on other GDF SUEZ projects on biodiversity, which was to be mentioned in the practical details letter, I had to make a couple of phone calls to Sévérine.
35
tangible such as a year’s subscription for a bio-basket. Also, a barbeque didn’t seem to
correspond to the idea of an ecological event and to GDF SUEZ’ dedication to sustainable
development, so Alessandra and I proposed the idea of a bio-buffet with healthy snacks. It was
also my task to write and distribute the meeting report afterwards, so that all persons
concerned had an overview of the changes made and the tasks appointed to them (see
Appendix 1.e). Guy Dellicour, head of the CFC department, who had the final word on the
budget and organization of the event, approved the changes I had suggested. My cooperation
with DDMC also contained the supervision and follow up of the goodies and other logistics. This
usually happened by telephone or e-mail, with me contacting Patsy daily asking for an update,
adding new orders, cancelling or changing old ones and proposing new cuts in the budget. I had
to make sure that everything from lanyards to blankets, beach flags and city maps was ordered
and delivered in time for the event and that the personality of the company was represented in
the look and feel of the gadgets: this meant deciding on logo design, colours, etc. I also had to
provide the company templates for the external signage and verify the use of the corporate
identity by DDMC.
When, after two weeks, the number of subscriptions was still very low, I suggested to
Alessandra to create a bit of publicity for the event and to make flyers and posters, which we
could distribute across the building. We feared that the concept of the BioGeoSafari for a family
day was rather complicated and difficult for people to understand, so I designed a poster that
more or less showed what the idea of a pedestrian rally actually contained (see Appendix 1..
Alessandra and Guy particularly liked the posted I had made and after their final corrections and
approval I sent the document to printing services. That same afternoon Alessandra and I went
by all the mail partitions in the building, where we laid the flyers, and hung posters at all the
print and coffee corners. Unfortunately, this did not render much result and the number of
subscriptions remained at a meagre 64. Organizing the event for this number of participants
would come down to almost 1000€ per head which was impossible to do, so Guy, Alessandra
and myself decided that it would be best to annul the event. Consequently, it was my
responsibility to debrief the decision to those people who had already subscribed for the family
day, so I sent out an annulment letter that same day (see Appendix 1.g).
Even though it was a pity that it could not go through, the organization of this event was the
assignment which gave me the most satisfaction. I really enjoyed having the lead over an event,
taking decisions and doing things that required thinking. Furthermore, it was very interesting to
36
work closely together with an event agency and to see how they put things together. The
organisation of the Family Day 2010: BioGeoSafari gave me the possibility to bring up and work
out ideas of my own and to show my capabilities.
3.1.2 Project Let’s go
Let’s go is GDF SUEZ’ moving house project, of which the communication (extranet, newsletters,
brochures, ...) is also handled by my mentor, Alessandra Di Lieto. The entire Belgian seat of GDF
SUEZ, which is spread over more than sixteen sites, is being relocated in one brand new building
with a capacity of 3000 employees in the northern district of Brussels. The moving house starts
in 2011 with the relocation of eight Brussels GDF SUEZ teams, employees at the other Group’s
sites will not move until 2013. Handling the communication of a project of this magnitude to all
parties concerned is very difficult. The fact that all Electrabel employees and employees of sites
with which the Brussels CFC department usually doesn’t have contact are also included, causes a
lot of complications.
During my traineeship I contributed to this project in two ways. First of all, I collected
information for the Let’s go extranet (http://letsgo.gdfsuez.com), which is managed by Hélène
Renauld at Absolut, the agency which designed the website. Seeing as how the people at GDF
SUEZ are concerned by the northern quarter’s negative reputation, it was my task to search for
fun and useful links that could be added to the practical tools page on the extranet. I searched
the internet for interesting websites on tourism, sightseeing, shopping in the district and for
other useful information on mobility. I classified everything I found under the categories
mobility, useful links, shopping, the north station and entertainment, which were mentioned as
such on the website as you can see in the screen image on the next page.
37
Figure 8. Let’s go website – Practical page
Next to this, I did a lot of translations for the website and other publications such as the Let’s go
newsletters, but these tasks are more part of the daily activities at the trainee post that will be
discussed in subchapter 3.3 (cf. Infra).
Secondly, it was my task to organize the employees’ visits to the construction site of the new
building. In order to generate some interest and positive feelings towards the relocation,
Alessandra suggested organizing visits to the construction site. I had the follow up on this
project and the responsibility to call together a meeting with Katrien Depoorter, responsible for
the logistical organization of the relocation, for which I also had to prepare the agenda. During
this meeting we thought out a system so that all 1000 employees who would be moving in 2011
could get the chance to visit the new site. We decided to organize four visits per afternoon (two
in French and Dutch) every Tuesday and Thursday of October. In that way, almost a hundred
people per day could make the visit. I also received the task of making on online subscription
form and an alert e-mail in both languages, reminding people that they had subscribed to a visit.
I did this using the survey platform www.areyounet.com. Since my traineeship ended at the end
of July, I was not able to further follow up this project and to handle the subscriptions.
38
Communication on the Let’s go project was very interesting to follow up on because it
concerned so many people and was quite complex. What interested me most was that I was
able to gain some knowledge and experience on the difficulty of communicating something to a
dispersed audience. Also, although the communication was in hands of Alessandra, she
continuously needed information and feedback from other departments such as the IC
department at Electrabel or at BEEI (Energy Europe International in Belgium). This complicated
and delayed matters very often and sometimes risked the progress of events. It was a good
thing that I got to experience these difficulties and help look for solutions.
3.2 External Communication
My most important tasks concerning external communication included the organization of
events for the GDF SUEZ Shareholders’ Club and the SUEZ Environnement Shareholders’ Club. In
this, I assisted Kristof Scheldeman end Natascha Massez. The work I did on the GDF SUEZ Press
voyage, which was also handled by Kristof Scheldeman, will be discussed here as well.
3.2.1 GDF SUEZ and SUEZ Environnement Shareholders’ Club visits The concept of a Shareholders’ Club is unique in Europe and typical for a French company,
according to my colleague Kristof Scheldeman. Shareholders who have at least twenty-five GDF
SUEZ shares can become a club member. As a member you automatically receive the monthly
letter to the shareholders, you can take part in the various activities that are organized by the
club such as visits to industrial plants, and you can subscribe to the courses of the Shareholders’
Business School. This service is completely free of charge. More or less the same holds true for
the SUEZ Environnement Shareholders’ Club, the only difference being that potential members
only need to own one SUEZ Environnement share to become part of the club.
During my traineeship I had the opportunity to organize two events for the GDF SUEZ
Shareholders’ Club: a cultural visit to the battlefield of Waterloo and a visit to the industrial
plant DK6, and one event for the SUEZ Environnement Shareholders’ Club (a visit to a water
purification centre) that has yet to take place.
For all three events it was my task to handle the subscriptions, write and send the confirmation
letters and handle the communication with the contact person at the sites we were going to
39
visit. I consulted these people to verify the program of the visit before writing the conformation
letters (see Appendixes 2.a, 2.b and 2.c). I also called them when I needed logistical questions
answered, such as where we could put down a tent, how large this tent could be, if we could
bring a hostess and so on. The confirmation letters I sent out using a mail merger in Excel. For
the visit of DK6, I had the chance to compose the program myself together with Muriel
Kleinpeter, communication officer of GDF SUEZ in France. For each of these visits it was also my
responsibility to manage the logistics part: this meant ordering catering, reserving
transportation, providing an interpreter or headsets when necessary and handling the order and
delivery of goodies. For the Waterloo visit for instance, I had customized GDF SUEZ umbrellas,
USB-sticks and badges made.
The organization and follow up of these projects was a rather administrative and practical task
that did not require a lot of creative input. However, I really enjoyed the feeling of handling a
task from beginning to end, of having control over all the aspects and not acting as a simple aid.
More often than not, it was me who kept Kristof and Natascha up to speed on the course of
things and not the other way around. I also had the chance to participate in the DK6 visit myself.
To see that everything went smoothly and to have the people who participated in the visit
thanking me for the great organization was immensely satisfying.
3.2.2 Shareholders’ Club program Another one of my assignments was to reflect on a GDF SUEZ Shareholders’ Club program for
the second semester, October – December 2010 (see Appendix 3.a). Kristof thought that my
fresh perspective on things could maybe bring some new ideas to the table. First of all, I went
looking for visits we could arrange concerning the activities of the Group. For this, I searched
company magazines such as Electrabel’s ‘Energiek Ondernemen’ and ‘What’s Up’ (the internal
magazine of Fabricom and Cofely) for interesting industrial installations or other institutions
connected to the Group, which the club could visit. I contacted Mathieu Vandenbroecke for
information on the possibilities of visiting a wind turbine park and a pumping power station.
Next to this I suggested a couple of cultural activities and, seeing as how the Shareholders’
Business School celebrates its tenth birthday at the end of the year, I suggested to organize a
special event and to do something special with the 10.000th member. Unfortunately, my
traineeship ended around this time so I was unable to further work on the program for the
second semester.
40
3.2.3 The press voyage
The press voyage 2010 was another external communication project to which I had the chance
to contribute. It took place on June the 23th and 24th, and this year’s theme was GDF SUEZ’
knowhow in the field of air traffic. The trip started in Zaventem, with an introduction to the
activities of energy services Cofely and Fabricom, and continued towards Toulouse and Tarmac
Aerosave in Tarbes.
I wrote and sent out the invitation to the journalists (see Appendix 4.a), but my assignment
mainly consisted of thinking out a travel plan, managing the transport in France and booking the
flights from city to city. For this, I had to work closely together with the people at American
Express, who often manage the company’s travels. Although it doesn’t sound like very exciting
or challenging work, this task was not easy and required a lot of thinking. The schedule of the
trip was constantly altered; journalists cancelled while others decided to join at the last minute,
and the last day before the trip we got the news that there would be a civil strike in the airport
of Tarbes, which brought our final flight back to Brussels at risk. It took a lot of internet research,
puzzle work and phone calls to book the flights, cancel them, rebook other flights and so on.
Also, I had to constantly keep the budget in mind and try to keep the costs as low as possible.
When I realized that a combination of plain flights, busses and trains would turn out to be quite
expensive, I contacted a number of private jet companies, who could manage the entire track, to
compare the costs. In the end, it didn’t seem necessary to book a private jet, but I was told that
it was smart of me to come up with alternatives.
This task really taught me to work independently and to be assertive and hands-on. I often had
to chase the people at American Express to inform about travel costs and to get the bookings
done in time. Also, I had to rely on creativity to find new travelling possibilities and alternative
means when it turned out a previous travel plan was no longer possible.
41
3.3 Other assignments
In this subchapter I will briefly describe the smaller tasks I fulfilled on a daily basis during my
traineeship at GDF SUEZ.
3.3.1 Translations and re-readings One of my daily tasks was translating shorts texts from French to Dutch and English. This went
from texts for the Let’s go extranet to corporate mailings and internal e-mails for MeetingPoints
for instance. It was also my task to re-read the CFC departments publications in English and
Dutch. These included the Let’s go newsletters and brochures, the GDF SUEZ and SUEZ
Environnement Shareholders’ Club’s monthly letters to the Shareholders and brochures on
other internal initiatives such as Cleaning and Archiving Month.
3.3.2 Managing the GDF SUEZ Shareholders’ Club mailbox and back office Once a week I checked the club’s mailbox and adjusted information in the back office. This
concretely meant adding new members to the database, deleting members who had cancelled
their subscription to the club or who were deceased, subscribing people to certain activities or
business school courses, adjusting people’s personal information such as address or telephone
number and so on. I also answered members’ questions per e-mail concerning upcoming club
activities or courses. It was also my task to collect the proofs of shares that people who had just
subscribed sent per e-mail or fax, and afterwards I filled in this information in the back office.
42
CHAPTER 4. Conclusion
In this chapter I will evaluate my traineeship and the Multilingual Business Communication
program from a more personal point of view. First of all, I will discuss the experience I gathered,
the things I learned and the skills I was able to develop during my traineeship at GDF SUEZ.
Afterwards I will reflect upon the past MTB year and in which ways this has prepared me for a
function in a professional business environment.
4.1 The Traineeship
During my traineeship at GDF SUEZ, I was able to learn a lot of things that will be invaluable in
my future career. This varies from basic skills, such as working with Outlook, to important
business insights that will help me function in any kind of company.
First of all, I developed IT skills that are perhaps rather basic, but indispensable in a company. As
mentioned above, I learned to work with Outlook. This application includes an e-mail, address
book, agenda and task manager, and is the most important business tool at GDF SUEZ, used by
all the employees. During the traineeship I worked with Outlook every day, to send e-mails,
consult colleagues’ agenda, and to arrange meetings or appointments. Next to that, my Excel
and Word skills have also benefited. My colleague Kristof Scheldeman, who is a very helpful
person, continuously gave me tips and taught me useful things about operating these
applications in a fast and efficient way. I also learned how to write a good meeting report;
working with bullet points and clearly defining what has to be done by whom. Another useful
skill I picked up is learning how to make what they call a ‘retroplanning’ at GDF SUEZ. A
retroplanning, for an upcoming corporate event for instance, is a calendar filled in with all the
tasks that need to be done in the course of time from day one up to the day of the event. This
contains everything, going from the communication of the event to managing the budget and
the logistics such as catering and security.
Secondly, the way in which my French improved during the traineeship is remarkable. Since GDF
SUEZ is a French company and since the majority of the employees at the Troon establishment
where I worked are French-speaking, I was constantly forced to speak and write in French.
43
Although it was often hard at the beginning, especially when attending to people on the
telephone, I am very grateful for the practice and experience I acquired in French. The most
valuable thing I learned was to let go of my fear of making mistakes when speaking a language
that I don’t entirely control. It became obvious to me that it does not matter that much to
people if you make mistakes, as long as you are able to get your message across in a clear way.
As part of the communication team at GDF SUEZ, you are in close contact with all the other
departments and functions within the company. Due to this, I was able to gather a lot of
information, knowledge and insight concerning the operation and structure of a global
company. Also, my colleagues were always ready to explain things to me and wanted me to
understand all the different layers of the company. I was also given the time to read a lot about
the energy sector and the corporation and to work up a clear understanding of the business
topics. By doing so, I really got to know GDF SUEZ and its way of operating. Working at a large
enterprise helped me to understand certain important things. For instance, that it takes a lot of
time to actually finish a task, because you are dependent on other people for all kinds of things:
missing information, feedback, translations, ... You need to bear in mind that when you’ve
finished an e-mail for internal communication for instance, it isn’t ready to be sent, but needs to
pass by different people first. This is an aspect of professional life that I was not really conscious
of. However, it did teach me to be more assertive and hands-on to get things done and to call up
people again and again, to set them time limits and to not be fobbed off. Also, seeing as how
people are always busy with their work and don’t have much time, I learned to be a better
communicator: concise and to the point, something that does not come natural to someone
who studied literature and is used to elaborating on things, dwelling on details and writing long
sentences.
Finally, when I look back on the experience, I can safely say that I have evolved in different ways
through my traineeship. I learned to cope with stress, deadlines, responsibility and managing
various tasks at a time. I learned to better evaluate and judge situations, to distinguish primary
matters from matters of minor importance. I had to impose deadlines on myself and others,
supervise the progress of projects, and in that way I really gained self-assurance and confidence.
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4.2 Multilingual Business Communication
When I reflect back on my traineeship, a lot of the basic skills I needed were already present in
the MTB program. It was a good preparation in different ways: not only did I improve my
language skills during the year, I also learned to communicate in a whole new way. Subjects such
as “Business Communication in English”, guest lectures from business people and the various
business projects and presentations we had to realize really taught me to communicate in a
professional and business oriented way. Thanks to MTB, a business register of sorts was
imparted on me, and my mentor Alessandra also mentioned that she never had the feeling
during the traineeship that she was interacting with a student or someone with no experience.
Next to the communicative aspect of the training, the economy and marketing courses were
helpful to better understand the workings of the energy sector. They helped me acquire some
business insight.
Thanks to the many group projects, I learned how to efficiently work in a team and this
experience has proven to be very valuable. Functioning as part of a team not only helped me to
develop my organizational skills, but also taught me to be more outspoken and how to give
people feedback in an honest and constructive way, without coming across as offensive. I also
discovered that I especially like working in a team, bringing together different talents, ideas and
visions. The different projects that ran throughout the year also taught me to cope with stress
and deadlines, and helped develop my sense for planning: we were forced to make
appointments weeks in advance, lay together our agendas and search for openings in between
numerous tasks and appointments for other group projects. In that way, I really got to know the
feeling of responsibility and learned how to deal with this. As a team member, you cannot just
bail out on your group and this is a great preparation for a professional environment, where a
lot of people, whether they are your clients or colleagues, count on you.
For my case study on internal communications (see Chapter 2), the internal audit we did for our
business project on SPE-Luminus was very useful. Thanks to the project, I had already gained
some experience in interviewing people, had learned how to build up a survey in a good way
and how to pose questions in a way that isn’t biased. Since I had already done an analysis and
audit of internal communication, I more or less knew what to look for and how to go about my
study.
45
Overall, I can say that the past year undeniably was a good preparation for future professional
life. I constantly gained useful experience and was really formed to easily adapt to business life.
I believe that this is the strongest asset that MTB has to offer potential students: a perfect
bridge from student to professional life.
46
Bibliography Koeleman, H., Interne communicatie als managementinstrument: Strategieën, middelen en achtergronden. Houten/Zaventem (Bohn Stafleu Van Loghum) 1992. Van den Brink, K., Communicatiemanagement. Schoonhoven (Academic Service) 2003. Van Putte, M., Interne communicatie: van theorie naar praktijk. Bussum (Coutinho) 1998. Vloeberghs, D., Interne communicatie: een kijk op de functies van communicatie in organisatieverband. Leuven (KUL centrum voor communicatiewetenschappen) 1981.
Websites http://www.12manage.com http://www.gdfsuez.com http://www.edf.com http://www.eon.com http://www.enel.com http://www.rwe.com http://www.electrabel.be http://www.fabricom-gdfsuez.com http://www.sita.be
GDF SUEZ publications
2008 Business and Sustainable Development Report.
2009 Business and Sustainable Development Report.
Referentiedocument 2008 – GDF SUEZ.
Referentieducoment 2009 – GDF SUEZ.
SUEZ: Op reis door België, 2007.
‘Laten we samen wereldwijd de marktleider in de energiesector worden. Fusie SUEZ-Gaz de France.’ Internal publication for information and promotion, 2008. ‘Values and Identity’. Interactive brochure, March 2010.
‘SUEZ Environnement. Wereldleider op het gebied van het milieu.’ Internal publication for information and promotion, 2008.
47
Appendixes
1.a Retroplanning BioGeoSafari
48
1.b Invitation e-mail Family Day
Ter attentie van de medewerkers van de zetel GDF SUEZ
UITNODIGING
Beste collega’s,
In het kader van 2010 Internationaal Jaar van de biodiversiteit en in partnerschap met het
Koninklijk Belgisch Instituut voor Natuurwetenschappen, nodigen wij u uit om deel te nemen
aan de Family Day 2010 met als thema biodiversiteit in de stad.
Op zondag 20 juni
van 09u30 tot 15u
Troonplein 1, 1000 Brussel
Deze uitnodiging is geldig voor iedereen die de mooiste plekjes van onze hoofdstad wil
ontdekken met een groene bril.
Na de wandeling heten we je welkom op een Garden Party in de tuinen van het Museum voor
Natuurwetenschappen waar een biologische picknick en kinderanimaties voorzien zijn.
Geïnteresseerd? Schrijf je dan voor 7 juni in voor de BioGeoSafari in Brussel.
Je vindt in bijlage praktische details over de dag zelf en het inschrijvingsformulier.
We hopen u talrijk te mogen verwelkomen
De Directie Communicatie & Financiële Communicatie
49
1.c Subscription form and practical details letter
50
51
52
1.d Subscription list Family Day 2010.
53
1.e Meeting Report: Meeting DDMC – 12.05.2010
BIOGEOSAFARI (20.06.2010)
VERSLAG MEETING 12.05.2010
AANWEZIG : Alessandra Di Lieto – Patsy Leemans – Nathalie Rasschaert – Karen Van den
Borre
Communicatie en Uitnodigingen
- Gepersonaliseerde visual voor communicatie rond het event
(ex. Mails, badges, signalisatie,…)
Tweede versie: logo GDF SUEZ naar rechts, zonder kader, in kleur DDMC
Bredere banner met hetzelfde design wordt voorzien voor mails
- Uitnodigingen
Korte mail
In bijlage: uitleg BioGeoSafari, inschrijvingsformulier
(groepsnaam moet hier meteen ingevuld worden), vragen of ze kort (+/- 1u30) of lang (+/- 3u) parcours willen afleggen KVDB & ADL
Bevestiging met reglement, en verder praktische details
opgeladen GSM meenemen (nodig voor registratie antwoorden via SMS)
Verzending uitnodiging: 21 mei
Logistiek
- SECURITY:
Nachtwaker (vanaf vrijdag), brandblusapparaten, post Rode Kruis,
OCB moeten voorzien worden - Parketvloer voor onder de tent (ongeveer 500 m²; het gehele DDMC
terrein is ongeveer 1500 m² groot) - Helpdesk en hotline zijn noodzakelijk!
- Goede muziek (geen kermismuziek)
54
Programma
Vanaf 09.30-11.00
Onthaal door GDF SUEZ 1 pochette/gezin (met badge, reglement, vragen, plannetje, tickets BBQ, tickets drinks)
1 bracelet/persoon (papier, met GSM ouders op voor de kinderen) bracelet is tevens
toegangskaart voor museum
Vanaf 11.00
Stand-by door DDMC met drinks voor de eerste groepen
12.00 tot 15h00
BBQ
13.30 à 14.00
Prijsuitreiking
Groepen
- Er wordt ingeschreven per familie (dwz per gezin). Het staat de deelnemers vrij om samen af te spreken en het parcours samen af te leggen, maar prijzen worden per familie uitgereikt en niet per groep.
- Moeten het reglement goed lezen! Bijvoegen bij uitnodiging. De dag zelf: panelen met richtlijnen in bullet points, hostessen, bij onthaal mensen aanmanen om het reglement te lezen voor vertrek.
Prijzen
- DDMC dacht aan ballonvaart
- Andere mogelijkheden: Misschien iets meer tastbaars ex. Biomand DDMC doet abonnement, Colruyt Bioplanet cadeaucheque,… voorstel
Verdere opmerkingen :
- Budget BBQ (52€/volwassene) : vrij duur, wat houdt dit precies allemaal in ? Alternatief: “Bio Magic Box” bezoekers gaan met een “biozakje” langs een soort van buffet waar verschillende soorten biologisch voedsel (ook fruit, desserts, biotaartjes …) uitgestald liggen en vullen hun zakje naar eigen smaak
- Hostessen: 16 voor onthaal en registratie, 12 voor permanente aanwezigheid lijkt wat veel te zijn
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1.f Poster and flyer BioGeoSafari
56
1.g Annulment letter Family Day
Ter attentie van de medewerkers van de zetel GDF SUEZ in België
ANNULATIE FAMILY DAY
Beste collega’s,
Het spijt ons te moeten aankondigen dat de BioGeoSafari Family Day op zondag 20 juni niet zal
doorgaan.
Wegens een te beperkt aantal inschrijvingen zagen wij ons genoopt om het evenement te
annuleren. Wij verontschuldigen ons voor het eventuele ongemak dat u hierdoor ondervindt.
Wij willen u alleszins bedanken voor uw interesse voor het evenement en hopen u volgend jaar
met plezier te mogen verwelkomen op een nieuwe GDF SUEZ Family Day.
Met vriendelijke groeten,
De Directie Communicatie en financiële Communicatie
***
57
2.a Confirmation letter Waterloo visit
Bezoek aan het slagveld van Waterloo
Geachte aandeelhouder, Met plezier bevestigen we u deelname voor 2 personen aan het geleid bezoek aan het slagveld van Waterloo op zaterdag 19 juni 2010 om 14u. Bij deze brief zijn er twee rode armbanden, twee tickets voor de bivak van Napoleon en een plan van de site gevoegd.
Het Slagveld wordt beheerd door Culturespaces, een filiaal van GDF SUEZ. In het weekend van 19-20 juni wordt de slag herdacht met historische reconstructies. We zullen met een officiële gids de interessantste plaatsen van het slagveld bezoeken met onder meer het panoramaschilderij en de bivak van de Geallieerden.
U wordt zaterdag 19 juni om 14u stipt verwacht op het volgende adres:
Champ de Bataille de Waterloo - Belgique Route du Lion 315 - B-1410 Waterloo – Belgique
U moet zich begeven naar het bezoekerscentrum (net onder punt 5 op het bijgevoegd plan). Daar gaat u binnen en met uw rode armband kunt u langs de toegangscontrole. De stand van GDF SUEZ vindt u in de tuin achter het bezoekerscentrum, naast de trap van de heuvel met de leeuw. U zult daar een badge ontvangen en in groep rondgeleid worden door een van onze gidsen. Het bezoek zal tot maximum 17u duren. Er zal ongeveer 4 km gewandeld worden, gelieve u daarop te voorzien.
Wij hebben geen parkeerplaats noch vervoer voorzien. Enkele wegen zoals de Route du Lion zullen afgesloten zijn voor het verkeer. U kunt beter uw gps instellen op een punt in de nabijheid. In de buurt van het slagveld is er bewegwijzering om u naar de grote parkings te leiden, onder meer langs de steenweg Brussel-Charleroi. Door het mogelijke vele verkeer die dag, rekent u best op een marge om tijdig ter plaatse te geraken.
Mocht u een kaart overhebben of niet aanwezig kunnen zijn, kunt u gerust uw kaart doorgeven aan een derde. U kunt ze ook terugsturen naar ons zodat we iemand anders een plezier kunnen doen. We hebben erg ons best gedaan om deze dag voor u mogelijk te maken en rekenen dus op uw aanwezigheid.
Met vriendelijke groeten,
Guy Dellicour, Directeur Communicatie België
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2.b Confirmation letter DK6 visit
Bezoek aan de centrale DK6 in Duinkerken
Geachte aandeelhouder, Met plezier bevestigen we u deelname voor 1 persoon aan het bezoek van de STEG-centrale
DK6 in Duinkerken op dinsdag 27 juli om 12u. De centrale DK6 is een aardgascentrale van GDF
SUEZ met gecombineerde cyclus.
U wordt dinsdag 27 juli om 11u45 stipt verwacht op het volgende adres:
Dienstingang Electrabel Hoofdgebouw
Regentlaan 8 - 1000 Brussel
Busvervoer wordt door ons georganiseerd. Er is ook een lunchpakket voorzien voor tijdens de
busrit.
Programma
12u: vertrek in Brussel 14u: onthaal met koffie in Duinkerken 14u30: Presentatie en bezoek site 17u: vertrek in Duinkerken 19u: aankomst in Brussel
Mocht u om een of andere reden toch niet kunnen deelnemen aan het bezoek, gelieve ons dan
tijdig te contacteren zodat we iemand anders kunnen uitnodigen. We hebben veel inspanningen
gedaan om dit bezoek mogelijk te maken en rekenen dan ook op uw aanwezigheid.
Met vriendelijke groeten,
Guy Dellicour, Directeur Communicatie België
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2.c Confirmation letter Eupen visit
AANDEELHOUDERSCLUB C/O SUEZ-TRACTEBEL SA TROONPLEIN 1 1000 BRUSSELS
FAX +32 (0)2 510 75 46
WWW.SUEZ-ENVIRONNEMENT.COM
Mr . Jean-Paul Timmermans
Sint-Genovevaplein 22
3300 Tienen
België
Brussel, 28 juli 2010
Meneer/Mevrouw,
We hebben het genoegen uw inschrijving te bevestigen (= geldig voor 2 personen)
voor het bezoek aan het waterzuiveringsstation van Eupen.
Praktische details:
Datum: donderdag 9 september 2010
Programma: 14u00 – onthaal met koffie
14u15 – presentatie
14u40 – bezoek aan het station
15u40 – Q&A
16u00 – einde
Adres: SWDE
complexe de la Vesdre
Langestahl, 162 B-4700 EUPEN
(Plan in bijlage)
Parking: U kunt parkeren op het terrein van het complex.
Het bezoek wordt afgeraden voor personen met een beperkte mobiliteit. Voorzie
zeker een pull want binnen in het complex is het koud. Voor de dames: geen hakken
aub.
Gelieve ons vooraf te verwittigen op het gratis nummer 0800/120 35 als u niet kunt
komen.
We wensen u alvast een fijn bezoek toe!
De aandeelhoudersclub SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT
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3.a Program suggestion Shareholders’ Club second semester 2010
PROGRAMMA AANDEELHOUDERSCLUB: 2E SEMESTER
INFORMATIE OVER DE GROEP
- Bezoek windmolenpark (Hoogstraten, Schelle, Rodenhuize, Lanaken, Awirs)
Informeren bij Mathieu Vandenbroecke (onmogelijk: capaciteit van
windturbine is 1 persoon)
- spaarbekken/pompcentrale van Coo (optie 20 en 21 oktober)
Spaarbekkencentrale kan bezocht worden door ongeveer 40 mensen tegelijk,
we moeten wel zelf busvervoer naar bovenste spaarbekkens voorzien.
Busje ter plaatse voorzien
Eventueel aperitief in Coo
Gekoppeld bezoek aan een van de diensten
- Shipping yards Hoboken, bouw van modules voor boorplatformen
- Marinebasis Zeebrugge
- Militair Hospitaal Nederovereenbeek
Fabricom-COFELY
- Bezoek Het Huis voor hernieuwbare Energie (misschien iets te veel à la living
tomorrow? Wel enkel op aanvraag.). Info: www.erec.org
CULTURELE ACTIVITEITEN
- Wandeltocht Bailleul, Frankrijk (3 oktober?)
- Les Jardins de Paris:
MUSEUM VOOR NATUURGESCHIEDENIS VAN PARIJS
Via haar stichting is GDF SUEZ mecenas van het Museum voor Natuurgeschiedenis van Parijs. Ons bedrijf ondersteunde in dit kader de restauratie van de grote serres van de plantentuin van Parijs, die op 2 juni opnieuw geopend werden voor het grote publiek.
In het hart van de plantentuin bieden de serres bezoekers de mogelijkheid om zich onder te dompelen in de natuur en zo een botanische wereld te betreden waar ze niet alleen planten beter leren kennen en beschermen, maar zich ook bewust worden van de kwetsbaarheid van het milieu en het belang van het voortbestaan van onze rijkdom aan planten overal ter wereld. Een wandeling door de serres is de gelegenheid bij uitstek om het plantenrijk in al haar prachtige diversiteit te ontdekken! Er zijn vier serres toegankelijk voor het publiek:
- Serre voor tropische regenwouden - Serre voor woestijnen en droge gebieden - Serre voor Nieuw-Calédonië - Serre voor natuurgeschiedenis
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Je bevindt je er in een fantastische omgeving waar planten van over de vier hoeken van de wereld samen groeien en bloeien. De planten komen er bovendien tot wasdom in volle aarde en laten zich van dichtbij bewonderen. Deze ontmoeting met de plantenwereld is tegelijkertijd poëtisch en wetenschappelijk.
Je ontdekt er tevens de botanische biodiversiteit in al haar overvloed en de verrassende adaptatiemogelijkheden van de verscheidene planten, die in zeer verschillende omgevingen en soorten ondergrond kunnen aarden en tot ontwikkeling kunnen komen. PRAKTISCHE INFO
Adres: Muséum national d’Histoire Naturelle Jardin des Plantes - 57, rue Cuvier, Paris Ve
Open: alle dagen, behalve op dinsdag en op 1 mei Openingsuren: van 10h tot 17h in de winter
Van 10h tot 18h30 in de zomer Tarief: 5€ voor volwassenen
3€ voor kinderen (van 4 tot 14 jaar) Gratis voor kinderen onder 4 jaar
Informatie voor het publiek : Tél. : 01 40 79 56 01 / 54 79 Site: www.mnhn.fr
Hoe kan ik de plantentuin bereiken?
Bus: Lijn 24, 57, 61, 63, 67, 89 en 91 - Batobus : halte Jardin des Plantes Metro, RER: M5: Austerlitz – M7: Censier Daubenton – M10: Jussieu of Austerlitz – RER C SNFC Railway Stations: Station Austerlitz en Station Lyon
SHAREHOLDERS’ BUSINESS SCHOOL
- 10 jaar SBS
- Lid 10 000?
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4.a Invitation press voyage
Uitnodiging persreis GDF SUEZ en de luchtvaart 23-24 juni
Goeiedag,
We hebben het genoegen u uit te nodigen voor een persreis op woensdag 23 en donderdag 24
juni 2010 met als thema de knowhow van GDF SUEZ in de luchtvaart: ‘van de constructie en
exploitatie tot valorisatie van buiten dienst gestelde vliegtuigen’.
Woensdag 23 juni:
Bezoek achter de schermen van de luchthaven van Zaventem, kennismaking met de activiteiten van Cofely, Fabricom en Logan Teleflex (HVAC, elektriciteit, brandveiligheid, bagagesystemen en boardingbeheer)
Bezoek aan de Ecole Nationale de l’Aviation Civile in Toulouse met een voorstelling van de luchtvaartactiviteiten van INEO, gevolgd door een bezoek aan controletorensimulator, ontworpen en ontwikkeld door INEO, voor de vorming van luchtverkeersleiders.
Donderdag 24 juni:
Bezoek aan het technische centrum van Cofely dat nutsvoorzieningen levert aan het assemblagebedrijf van de Airbus A380 in Toulouse-Blagnac
Bezoek aan de assemblagehal van de Airbus 380 op de site Aéroconstellation
In de namiddag ontdekken we Tarmac Aerosave in Tarbes, die de delen van buiten dienst gestelde vliegtuigen een nieuw leven geeft.
