It's all about flexibility

Recently, we resumed at Wealize the physical meetings that we had before the COVID-19 pandemic. In our company, we all work remotely and host face-to-face events regularly. In this way, we have the opportunity to exchange views, ¡and even to get to know our colleagues in person! 

Though no industry is untouched by the challenges of our current landscape, impacted by the coronavirus, the truth is that we did not need to implement changes in our organization. Wealize was born with a remote working model. But it is certain too that we really missed those physical reunions, and meeting in person again brought us one more signal of restoring normalcy. 

We did a brainstorming session about the values and attributes of Wealize during one of these post-pandemic team building meetings. That day we set apart the Collaborative Miro Whiteboard. Instead, we took our Post-its and pens to bring our vision on a white wall. It would not be white anymore, as we covered it with colorful notes. 

One of the most repeated terms was flexibility. “Let´s reel off the meanings of flexibility”,
we told ourselves. This exercise was very funny. Unconsciously, we shifted from listing the defining characteristics of flexible companies to describing flexible people. And it is impressive to see the amount of positive features linked to flexible individuals. 

Flexibility is related to highly desired abilities and attributes... Who wouldn't want to be flexible and shout it from the rooftops?

Flexible people have great skills to adapt, change, transform, innovate, stand and interact. They are open to the world. They are curious and love exploring and learning. They joyfully embrace different points of view. They use the dialog and avoid judging. These individuals also are very dynamic and agile. They respond rapidly to unexpected situations. They tolerate frustration. Thanks to their resilient personality, they face adversity and become even stronger in that process. And they engender sympathy. 

People like flexible individuals. The flexible way of being is related to kindness, compromise, cooperation... With this collection of virtues, who would not want to be flexible and shout it from the rooftops?

The fact is that flexibility is a human being's ability. Our nature allows us to be physically and mentally flexible, ‘elastic’. But we are not all flexible to the same degree. So we have no choice but to exercise our muscles and minds if we want to adapt to new environments and evolve. It is a question of staying alive. This does not only depend on us: we need a proper environment to boost our flexibility.

¿What is a flexible company?

How do we bring this human being´s skill to business?, we asked ourselves. We observed that there is a lot of bibliography from Human Resources experts. They agree that the concept of flexible organisation is all about the ability of a business to adapt to changes that impact its internal and external contexts. Many of them emphasize that flexibility is key to business survival. There is also a big consensus about the types of flexibility. Let's say that we can look at flexibility in four fields:  Strategy, Organization, Production, and Workplace. They are all interlinked and complementary. 

Is Wealize actually flexible? Do we have the ability to bend? Could we really shout it from the rooftops? We questioned. “We believe so”. The intention of flexibility has been present since the inception of our firm. Since its origin, Wealize created a framework that allows us to exercise and develop our flexibility daily, internally and with our customers. Here, we explain our conclusions according to the experts' basics.  

Wealize, bending like a reed in the wind

Regarding the strategy, for instance, we proactively seek out market opportunities for introducing technological innovations. And we do this with a global vision. Discovering these opportunities in local as well as international markets is in our strategy. That is why we have clients in Andalusia or in Hawaii. We adapt our digital products and expertise in technologies like Blockchain or Artificial Intelligence to the market requirements. 

When it comes to organization, the lack of rigidness is one of our main values. Our functions are not fully centralized so that we can adapt to each situation. This does not mean lack of order or chaos. This means that we can exchange tasks according to the needs, though these tasks do not correspond to our regular functions. We have also established diverse, versatile and fast communication channels to interact internally and externally. And we are always open to tailor our processes to provide the customers with a suitable service. The team is made up of full time employees and freelancers, suppliers and partners that can vary according to each project requirements.  

This leads us to the productivity field. Being flexible, we try to avoid high costs while maximizing customer satisfaction. At Wealize we use the Agile methodology. With the focus on crafting innovative and quality digital products, we employ the Agile iterative process model because it fosters rapidness and flexibility, assigning the resources dynamically. We split each project into smaller parts that we develop and deliver in sprints -usually periods of two weeks-. Communication and collaboration with the clients is continuous, from Sprint Zero. As a result, we minimize risks and can readjust the project to specific needs. By this way, we deliver the digital product that the client is really asking for.

Remote work, a consequence of being flexible

Finally, we arrive to the flexible workplace description. Many companies have lived the urge to implement flexible working policies. It is not our case. We were born flexible. Teleworking, therefore, is a result of our approach. This benefited us during the COVID-19 pandemic: We were already used to working remotely and had the adequate tools and processes in place to do so, while other businesses had to be transformed swiftly. We had created from the beginning a remote work model without a rigid fixed schedule. We all work from different locations with the idea of a global market. 

Flexible workplace is not a plan, it is part of our mentality, it is the result of an attitude. For us, it is the consequence of our way of being. We understand that flexible working schedules and telecommuting can generate different expectations for each person: training daily at your favourite times, being able to dress casual at work, enjoying self cooked healthy lunches at home, taking the children to the school or doing homework with them, or having time to care for your parents.

For us it is not a surprise to read in a colleague's Google Calendar: “Take the kids to basketball classes” or “Go with my parents to monthly health check”. We understand that, and we respect that, because we are flexible. 

Flexible working is a two-way street

Certainly, at Wealize we have created a flexible working model that enables and encourages work-life balance. This is more than an incentive for the personnel. It contributes to improve at strategic, organizational and productivity levels. It also increases satisfaction in all spheres, internally and externally. Flexible working does not mean working less. We are aware that this flexible mentality starts from trust and responsibility. Trust is gained from the first second. Correspondingly, the responsibility is conferred at the same time. 

Trust and responsibility. These are for us the keys to a flexible working model that should be contemplated as a two-way street. Returning to the previous example, if you have no time tomorrow to cook at home and you need to eat outside or order food delivery to fulfill your responsibilities, we trust you to be able to willingly adapt to the situation. In the same way, the company willingly celebrates that you regularly have time for preparing your own lunches -with logic exceptions-. C'est la vie. We are permanently adapting to the circumstances. 

It's all about flexibility!