In the ever-evolving world of business, the ability to communicate effectively across cultures and languages is essential. Communication needs to resonate in the right way with your people to get great business results. Open Communications Group (Open) was recently presented with a unique challenge to design an inspiring year-long internal communications strategy for NOS to engage them with their new corporate strategy. NOS is a Portuguese telecommunication and entertainment service provider, covering everything from internet service provision to television broadcasting and movie theatres.

The main objectives were to bring in key leadership and employee engagement initiatives to align with their new corporate strategy, engage with a diverse workforce, and help them imbibe the company's values and behaviors at work while making it enjoyable. One challenge here was to create concepts in English that would work seamlessly in Portuguese.

NOS's 8th Anniversary: A Timeless Celebration

Drawing inspiration from ancient marketplaces, which stand at the heart of culture and serve as important locales for social interaction, Open conceptualized an anniversary celebration for NOS.

Open transformed their main offices into market stalls representing NOS's culture and values. This event was designed to help employees experience the magic of the NOS culture, focus on their values, and enhance their understanding of how to act on them. Open assisted with the visual and content creative process, from developing a core narrative to providing stall ideas and creative concepts.

Head of Culture and Internal Communication, NOS, Isabel Carla Silva reflected that “In a smart, playful, and interactive way, we got people to verbalize (and internalize) the values.”

Crafting the Blueprint

But, as we all know, an employee engagement event is just one component of the bigger picture. Open worked with key employee and leadership engagement activities for NOS, throughout 2022. These activities were linked to their new strategy and supported new ways of working, values, and the adoption of desired behaviors. Each initiative was meticulously planned, keeping in mind the cultural and linguistic nuances.

The project's first phase was anchored by the Anniversary Celebration and included a Values Quiz and ongoing communication advisory. The Values Quiz, promoted on their internal collaboration platforms, was designed to reinforce key information about their values and identify knowledge gaps.

During the project's second phase, Open continued supporting NOS with ongoing advisory services and selected leadership initiatives. This included a workshop where ADKAR (change management model) was used to map the yearly leadership initiatives. To help anchor ‘Risk and Courage’, two important leadership principles at NOS, a mobile quiz was created. A year-end recap video summarized all the work done for the leader initiatives in 2022.

Success comes calling

The 8th Anniversary Celebration, Values Quiz, Leadership Initiatives Workshop, Risk and Courage Quiz, and Year-end Recap Video were all well-received by the employees and leaders. These efforts supported NOS with their ambitious employee engagement goals.

“Great internal communication is what helps bring corporate strategy to life so that our people are engaged and aligned with what we want to achieve, and this has a positive impact on the bottom line,” Isabel said.

Open's collaboration was based on mutual understanding, cultural alignment, and a shared vision. Agility, creativity and strategic thinking were at the core of the collaboration. Open's global mindset and experience provided a unique perspective.  The focus was on ensuring that the communication was universal yet felt uniquely NOS.

The task was not just about translation. It was about understanding a culture, its nuances, and ensuring that the essence of the message was not lost in translation. NOS needed a program that would resonate with its Portuguese-speaking employees, fostering unity and engagement.

Mariana Contreras Kristensen, Executive Communication Advisor at Open, who was a sponsor of the project shared “One of our standout features is our diverse team. With a multicultural and international mix of talents, the team was well-equipped to handle the intricacies of the project. This diversity was not just about language proficiency but also about understanding cultural nuances, traditions, and sentiments.”

In today's globalized world, understanding and respecting linguistic and cultural differences is crucial. Open Communications' successful alliance with NOS stands as a testament to the power of diversity, understanding, and collaboration.

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