Success from Within | A Reflection on 2022 with Wisetail President, Ali Knapp
Ali Knapp | 5 min read
Reflecting on 2022, the words embrace and thrive both describe the year at Wisetail. This past year, we experienced one of the sharpest turns since 2009; the first quarter of 2022 was about understanding these changes and their impacts. With that, we quickly adapted. Wisetail faced retention and recruiting hurdles, paralleling the industry’s struggles of scaled onboarding and heavy upskilling. Doing more with less seemed to become this year’s version of the new normal. Workforce challenges hit most industries, along with supply chain disruptions. Many were faced with post-covid era challenge of scaling remote and hybrid cultures, along with retaining employees within those cultures. All to say – 2022 was about being nimble and quick on our toes, dancing through the rapidly changing world around us. For Wisetail, that meant attracting and retaining talent, and subsequently the technology to efficiently and substantially run a hybrid workforce – to support not only ourselves, but our client community.
Together, we dug our heels in. We clung to our foundational value of the employee experience. From coaching and developing talent, to being vision and mission driven, to diversity in performance and skill sets, we lead open-mindedly to the new way of doing things. We continually reminded ourselves that so much in life – and how we operate – is out of our control. We focused on what we could control and that allowed us to embrace the pivot and thrive when we showed up, persevered, and did-the-work.
I am most proud of the culture Wisetail has created, which is heavily influenced by our people. We are living out our own mission – to turn companies into communities. Throughout Wisetail’s history, nurturing our culture wasn’t always the focus, and with that there were times of struggle. Our story is about people and creating thriving communities by empowering people to be better humans every day. As I write this today, I am proud that our work, our product, and our client support reflects how our team collectively works toward being better than we were yesterday.
One of my favorite examples of Wisetail culture was at our in-person all-company event this summer: Wisefest. We came together in Bozeman, Montana for team building and collaboration. What began as an effort to increase team bonding in our hybrid/remote environment quickly became a week of unforgettable unity. The energy of our gathering was unparalleled – almost, electric – particularly at the Awards Night which drew all kinds of emotion from on the floor laughing to tears.
While continuing to work toward being better than yesterday, we revamped our own internal instance of our software – Apex. We focused on how we immerse new hires into who we are and how we operate. But, arguably equally or more importantly, we also revamped the recognition that is given to each other. These moments are a true reflection of our culture, the respect our team has for one another, and the appreciation that flows through the work we do. We work hard and share together.
Toward the end of this year, we brought drastic change to our business performance review meetings. This change ignited new pathways of thinking and a level of openness we haven’t experienced in the company’s history. Without the culture we have today, this would have not been possible. With respect, admiration, and passion for Wisetail’s success as a whole, the change within these meetings have brought more challenges organizationally – but only in the best of ways. We have renewed perspectives and are seeing disagreements through a productive lens.
As we close our laptops for the last time in 2022, may we carry the enthusiasm and energy to embrace inevitable change, thrive and pivot to meet new challenges, and continue empowering people to find success from within. Cheers to 2023!
