SPP’s Customer Charter

Our commitment to our clients, stakeholders, and the community

Since we began 19 years ago, SPP has worked with clients in many and varied industries, across a range of strategic challenges. One thing we have held constant over that time is how we go about supporting these clients.

Fiercely independent, committed to sustainable change, we hold ourselves to the highest level of professional and personal standards.

With the recent focus on the consulting industry and how firms engage with their clients and the wider community, we seek to share how we have committed to work with our clients.

This includes communicating our own values and purpose, as well as being transparent about what you can expect from us.

Our formally documented Customer Charter will be used by us internally, to check in on how we’re tracking against our commitments – which we will do at the end of each project. It also allows our clients and the community to hold us to account.

We are comfortable that we’re setting a standard of excellence for independence, professional standards and behaviours. We also expect our employees, clients and the community to identify and share with us if we ever fall behind that high standard.

We are happy to be held to account if we do not meet the expectations set by this Charter.

Our purpose and values drive the way we operate

Our Purpose – to enable sustainable, positive change in our community through creativity and connection.

Our Values – to be curious, caring, rigorous, and team players.

Our What – we analyse, synthesises, communicate and partner with clients to enable change.

Our How – we are creative, energetic problem solvers, bringing navigational foresight and demonstrable impact.

Our charter

We will bring our purpose and values to life in working with you

We place our clients needs at the highest level of priority in our firm.

We will adhere to our own values of Rigour, Caring, Curiosity and Team play while working with our clients.

We will stay true to our purpose of enabling sustainable, positive change in our community, through creativity and connection, and we will work with clients to ensure these outcomes are achieved. We will seek a discussion if we feel these outcomes are challenged.

We have the highest respect for confidentiality, objectivity, and the management of conflict-of-interest

We will treat all client information that is not public knowledge with confidentiality, take reasonable steps to prevent its access by unauthorised parties, and will not take advantage of proprietary or privileged information.

We will proactively highlight potential perceived or actual conflicts of interest and immediately disclose to our clients any circumstances that may influence our judgment or objectivity.

We will seek to have a discussion, and based on that discussion, offer to withdraw from a project when it appears that our objectivity or integrity may be impaired.

We will maintain our independence as a trusted advisor, and will always flag any relationships, business models, or approaches that may be perceived to, or which may impact that independence.

We will partner with you to agree objectives, scope and expectations

We will establish a mutual and transparent understanding with our clients about the objectives, scope of work, and work plan as well as realistic expectations about the results of the services to be rendered before accepting any assignment. If changes in the scope of work arise during the assignment, we will negotiate variations in good faith.

We will flag immediately if the scope and budget are significantly mis-aligned – i.e., where a client budget is significantly below, or above, the work that is required to achieve an agreed outcome.

We seek to uphold the integrity of our profession

We will serve our clients with integrity, honesty, competence, independence, objectivity, and professionalism.

We will not invite an employee of an active client to consider alternative employment without prior discussion with the client.

We will respect the intellectual rights of professional peers and not use their copyrighted information, materials, or methodology without permission. We will refrain from misrepresenting or denigrating professional peers.

We will charge fees that are reasonable and commensurate with the quality and value of our work, and the type of services to be delivered.

We place client needs at the highest level of priority in our daily investment of time.

Please provide us with feedback

If you’d like to discuss our customer charter with us, or anything related to our professional and personal standards, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.