Natalie Vandergraesen and Marnick Vandebroek, founders of Stand Up Company and partners in life and business. We have a true passion for storytelling, deep listening and speaking, because communication is the foundation of every good relationship. Being able to use our language to take action and inspire others to take action on our ideas, is what makes us stand out as humans.

Natalie has a +10 year background in marketing and fashion retail (JBC), traveling the world connecting clients, quality textiles with manufactures in Europe and Asia. Loves healthy food, fitness and making women shine on their wedding day through her make up. Natalie also has a degree in nonviolent communication.

Marnick has +10 year background in employer branding, FMCG marketing and digital transformation. Helping the Pepsico brands grow using social media and the right digital mindset and tools. In his spare time he likes fitness, comedy, reading and gaming. Marnick has a certification in neurolinguistic programming (NLP).

Together with Die Keure Publishing we released our first book in 2019: Stand Up to Stand Out – Expressing yourself in the most powerful way. A creative, entertaining and insightful book about our proven communication methods. The first edition sold out in just 3 months.

“Be a flamingo in a flock of pigeons.”

Innovation, remote working, digital transformation, office move… for many leaders the daily reality of the fast and disruptive market we are living in. You need to keep evolving in order to tackle the challenges of tomorrow. The only thing is…does the rest of your team or organization think in the same way?

New strategies, cultural change, tooling, ambassadorship,… are all powerful when everybody plays along, if not, you are just a motivated professional in a meeting room with a great idea.
So let us help you build TRUST in the workplace by turning your messages into engaging and clear stories that STAND OUT and inspire people to take action on your ideas, plans and projects.

“It’s not just about what you say, it’s about how you say it and how it makes people feel.”

In this digital world everybody is connected and there are more companies and people chasing their dreams, aspirations and goals than ever before. How do you stand out as a person or organization in this overload of content, opinions and information? Well, by standing up! Standing up doesn’t only mean you have a love for stand up comedy or you just got out of your lazy chair. Being stand up also means you are genuine, authentic and trustworthy towards yourself, your team, customers and audiences.
The internet opened up opportunities for everybody. The opportunity to choose, to ignore, to speak up, to share,… In this world only the companies and the people that bring the best, most entertaining and authentic content and version of themselves, will stand up and make a difference.

So next time you walk into a strategy meeting, pitch to the board, give feedback or publish content on your brand’s Instagram page,… Ask yourself: Am I rocking the hell out of this?

#standuptostandout

No matter if you are an HR professional setting up an ambassadorship program, a marketeer trying to clear budget for a new campaign, an IT manager trying to nudge people into using better paswords or a senior leader wanting to get employees pumped for the new company strategy, you are always communicating with people. Goals, messages and mediums will differ, but the person on the receiving end of your message, until AI goes completely Terminator on us, will be a human being.

That’s the reason why, when we help, train or coach people, we will always start by looking at the values and beliefs that are driving certain behavior within their professional environment. Enhancing or changing behavior and skills needed to show that behavior, are only possible when the message and call to action are inline with a person’s values and beliefs. Start with WHO is in front of you, what drives them, how do they currently look at the world and what are they looking for and your message will become inspiring and convincing and people (team, employees, board members,…) will take action on your ideas.

Once we know what your goal is, who you are talking to, what currently drives them and their world view (values & beliefs), we can start crafting your communication and turn your message into an engaging story. We will use our 5 element model that we use for any form of communication or storytelling (blogs, videos, presentations,…) and that will significantly increase the impact, no matter what message your are sharing with your organization, peers or team.

Want to know more about this model, our way of working and how it will change the way you communicate and build trust in the workplace? – Get in touch with us and we will happily share more information with you or get a copy of our Stand Up book and read through the 5 chapters that each represent an element of the communication model.