Written by Olivier De Moor
An open, collaborative, and supportive work environment significantly increases individual performance
Despite its very rapid development, BrightWolves continuously strives to maintain its DNA. The company's success is based on the highest level of customer satisfaction. Its impact is the combination of a proven alchemy, but what is it?
The skills and knowledge acquired by each Wolf, whether a Director or a Business Analyst, are leveraged by everyone. BrightWolves continuously sharpens a common pool of knowledge through training, access to the QuantIM network of independent experts, and internal knowledge creation. The Brightwolves consultant at the client premises can be considered as the tip of the iceberg while the quality of his or her work relies on the solid (invisible) base of the iceberg that consists of knowledge, outside expertise, and senior guidance. Alone, a senior Wolf would not be able to impact his or her client at the same extent as he or she would like to. Likewise, a junior Wolf, with strong theoretical skills, high adaptability, and a lively inquisitive mind, would only reach his or her full potential in close collaboration with a senior Wolf. The word “collaboration” is essential here. At BrightWolves, collaboration and team spirit are fostered through an open culture. The culture stimulates individual initiative, entrepreneurship, and knowledge creation at the service of the client, the company, and the society as a whole. The success of each Wolf is the success of the pack and vice versa.
This collaboration model is key to Brightwolves’ success and client impact today and is commonly referred to as the Iceberg Principle.
5 examples of how the iceberg principle delivered significant value to BWs clients
Now that we explained what the Iceberg Principle is, let us take a look at some examples of how the Iceberg Principle was materialised in the past.
1. Leveraging BW expertise
At Brightwolves, certain Wolves are references for a specific area of expertise. There is for example an Excel guru, a commercial due diligence expert, an expert in public speaking, etc.
When the Covid-19 crisis hit our society at the beginning of March, a switch to teleworking was inevitable. As such, working habits had to be changed at remarkable speed. For Brightwolves, however, the transition was smooth and without any significant obstacles. The one person who made this possible was our digitization expert. His knowledge and expertise acquired at countless IT fairs and boot camps worked out perfectly as he was already familiar with various teleworking tools and did not shy away to introduce them when the crisis hit. One Wolf’s expertise made the entire pack smarter.
2. Leveraging QuantIM network
In a go-to-market project, a client, active in the steel industry, asked Brightwolves to get a better view of the market potential for one of their new products. As no information was publicly available on the subject, Brightwolves proceeded to interview industry experts.
Those experts in the steel industry were readily available in the QuantIM network. After contacting them, the QuantIM experts brought Brightwolves into contact with other industry experts in their network, which got the ball rolling.
3. Coaching in difficult situations
In rare situations, misunderstandings between the consultant and client manager can arise. In these delicate situations, a listening ear and senior coaching and guidance can make the difference.
In a difficult project, a Wolf was working side by side with the client for a long period of time. In the middle of the project misunderstandings on the project vision arose. The Wolf got in touch with his or her career advisor and together they devised a strategy on how to dismantle the situation. The strategy quickly bore its fruits and the client turned out to be very happy at the end of the project, even requesting the Wolf for a follow-up project.
4. Creating, distributing, and leveraging a survey in 2 weeks
A large and leading services company asked Brightwolves to facilitate their annual strategic offsite. The client, however, lacked crucial insights on a main discussion topic for which no information was publicly available.
To quickly assemble knowledge, as time was not on BrightWolves' side, Brightwolves created a survey and distributed it through the Quanteus network. In a matter of days, the survey got more than 100 respondents and was leveraged to a great extent during the strategic offsite.
5. Writing an article
Finally, writing an article at Brightwolves is the perfect example of the Iceberg Principle in practice. First, a Wolf comes up with an idea for a business article. He or she discusses the idea with other Wolves to get some first feedback, extra insights, and motivation. When the subject is set, he or she will start writing. During the writing process, the Wolf might be inspired by the Brightwolves internal pool of knowledge or use the Quanteus network to gain some additional insights and expertise. After a first draft is completed, it will be shared with the fellow Wolves for a content check and with a copywriter for a language check. At the end of the process at least 3 to 4 people will have contributed to one single article to ensure the quality of the final product.