A Serious Name for Serious Work

Our objective has always been to grow people, culture and organisations.

To realise full potential. Move past limitations. Take opportunities. And be better.

To truly value people and culture, and to realise that value!

As we’ve worked alongside over 350 organisations, we’ve always kept asking “how might you… and how can we help?”

We started life as mwah. Making Work Absolutely Human.

Actually, it was Making Work Human, and we added ‘absolutely’ to show our confidence.

Our objective was to change the whole conversation around the potential of people and culture to be truly valued as serious organisational strengths or even the most important ‘asset’ any leader, team or organisational has.

We shied away from cold ideas like ‘assets’ and ‘resources’ and stayed close to the real value of humans and humanity. For all our imperfections, fallibility, and even inconsistencies, every single person can change the game, the team, or the organisation, or even a whole industry. If we all looked at possibilities and what we could be or do, or how we might impact each other every day to lift not only ourselves but those next to us as well.

In 2018, we started to measure and understand culture as complex human system.

For too long (since 1994 seeing as you’re asking) we’d all been looking at culture as a score – ‘engagement’. It’s was a derivative of the conversations of that time – ‘measuring outputs’ – and after decades of scoring it and bar graphing it, organisational culture wasn’t changing, and employees, leaders, and business owners were looking for something much more powerful.

Against all the common views, we argued for a genuine complex system measurement.

It required multiple dimensions and perspectives, all connected – understanding individuals, teams, and at the aggregate to give a complete picture – the challenges and risks, opportunities and possibilities.

We added qualitative processes and consultations  – also to research standards – and started having different conversations.

And we grew. Without a stitch of marketing, we had more and more clients, via referral and recommendation. We started dealing with whole Federal Government Departments, across some of the biggest listed companies, and some of the most valuable private companies, and into some of everyone’s favourite charities.

And through it all, we had to spend the first five minutes with the Chair of the Board, or CEO, opening our presentations with questions around how to pronounce “mwah”

Then Dua Lipa released a song called ‘mwah. mwah. mwah.’. If we hadn’t laughed, we would have cried.

So a few weeks ago, the Chair of a client we’ve partnering with for three years opened the presentation of one of our biggest and most significant Culture Reviews to date. He wanted to talk about the value they now placed on culture and people.
Instead, he hesitated, looked our way, and asked about ‘how do I pronounce mwah.?’

Snickers and giggles all round.

‘Like a kiss’ was the answer from someone (not us).

More giggles.
Five minutes lost to uncomfortable discourse.

We came back to the office that same day, resolute on changing our name.

Our approach, and the conversations we’re opening, is more game-changing  and more important than ever.

And our work is being taken increasingly seriously.

However much we loved the ‘making work human’ intent, it was time to kiss ‘MWAH.’ goodbye. Now is not the time to be cute.

We did the usual million domain searches. Got opinions and ideas from everyone, and even from some of their dogs.

We kept coming back to the work:

‘Valuing people and culture’

‘Solving wicked problems’

‘Creating confidence and space to take the most important opportunities’

‘Stepping up to possibilities’

And we landed on Wickvale.

A place to say goodbye to wicked problems, take the most important opportunities, and to step up and rethink people, culture, and organisations.

Our commitment is always to grow people, culture, and organisations.

To appreciate and realise the value of people and culture at the heart of every organisation’s strategy.

We’ve decided that our clients should spend less time puzzling over how to pronounce our old name, and more time getting the most important people and culture work done.

Wickvale. A serious name for serious work.

Easier to say.
Easier to spell.

And comes with .com.

You’ll find us at www.wickvale.com