People working in complex environments are generally highly intelligent and are doing their best.
If your organization isn’t performing, it’s likely a systems issue, not a people issue.
Change initiatives to improve product delivery, employee retention, and sustainability must go beyond department restructuring or other tactical approaches to be effective. Generally, how we behave is not a conscious decision, so telling people to act differently, even if they agree, often fails.
Just ask anyone who decides to go on a diet.
The structures in place in our organizations unconsciously promote all kinds of positive and negative behaviours. Uncovering those dynamics to alter them allows us to realize the transformation we want to see. Even small changes can make a difference.
At Prosilience, we combine behavioral economics and neuropsychology insights with lean and agile principles to restructure systems and promote lasting positive change.
Achieving genuine organizational change is challenging, with no easy solutions. Organizations are dynamic, and what worked before might not work now or in the future. Empiricism is the only way forward, adapting to new information as it emerges.
We are committed to candid consulting that builds organizational adaptability and self-sufficiency. We’re not here to promote long-term dependent relationships.
So, if you’re looking for a new beginning or a way to rebuild after a failed attempt or false start, we’re here to help you create lasting change that thrives in complex and uncertain environments.
We work with senior leaders in mid-to-large organizations in various sectors, such as technology, finance, insurance, health, and marketing. The leaders that seek us out want real answers to their organization’s performance issues. Often through experience, they’ve come to realize that there are no out-of-the-box solutions to complicated problems.
Many have been involved in (or even led) agile change efforts that fell short of their promise—even when everyone was on board. They are ready to face uncomfortable realities and put in the work that makes lasting change possible, guided by candid evidence-based direction.
At Prosilience, we know the only way to build a sustainable business is by starting with a foundation of ethical behavior and prosocial values.
We are committed to being honest, forthright, and trustworthy. Our priority is creating relationships based on respect and care.
We base our advice solely on the merit of each situation, free from external influences. We will always base our recommendations on what our clients need, not what they want to hear, even if that means losing the contract.
Staying on top of industry trends, research, technologies, and best practices ensures we meet client needs to the best of our abilities. We also commit to evaluating our work and innovating based on what we learn. We will let our clients know if new research indicates that our previous recommendations were incorrect or not as effective as presumed.
We respect the physical and mental health and personal autonomy of everyone impacted by our advice and recommendations. While we might guide behavior as part of organizational design, we will not remove the ability to choose or force people to change through coercion, deception, or exploitation.
We use behavioural economics and nudge theory in organizational design to achieve positive outcomes for individuals and organizations. Our overriding goals include improving well-being, productivity, and overall satisfaction.
We maintain clear communication with our clients regarding our objectives, methods, and potential impacts of our recommendations, enabling them to make informed decisions.
On the rare occasion that a client’s actions, requests, or objectives conflict with our values and principles, we will take steps to preserve the integrity of our consultancy. While we will try to resolve our differences through respectful communication, we will cancel our engagement and part ways if we cannot reach an agreement.
Will started Prosilience as a result of happenstance.
In 2019, a large consulting firm recruited him to help clients with lean/agile transformations. But soon, Will recognized that a business model based on selling clients what they wanted instead of what they needed went against his principles. After voicing his concern and refusing to yield, he was let go.
As Will pondered his next move, he was invited to consult on projects, and without focused intention, a practice evolved.
With independence from an employer, Will found the freedom to shape an approach to the kind of problems his clients faced that went beyond agile consulting to combine organizational design and evidence-based management.
Seeing many organizations fail at the transformational change involved in adopting a lean/agile approach, Will realized that the missing piece is that people’s behavior is influenced by the “invisible” organizational systems at play more than their stated or intentional willingness to change. Further, only by identifying and tweaking those systemic influences will organizations be able to make the wholesale changes required for real transformation.
Will applies a behavioral economics approach to client business challenges based on principles advanced by the likes of Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein (nudge theory), Dan Ariely (Predictably Irrational author), Daniel Kahneman (Thinking Fast and Slow author), and others.
Will holds a Bachelor of Science in Information Science and a Master of Science in Business Informatics. He is a professional Kanban.org and Scrum Trainer and co-authored the book Flow Metrics for Scrum Teams with Daniel Vacanti. Will runs Prosilience from his home base in the Netherlands. Apart from rare, high-impact in-person events, Will engages successfully using a remote-first approach. (Rumors that he can’t stand being away from his cats for too long are unsubstantiated.)
The name Prosilience reflects Will’s view that organizations need to go beyond resiliency in the face of change and uncertainty to succeed; they need to find ways to thrive in that kind of complex environment with a proactive mindset (proactive + resilience = prosilience).
Find Will on LinkedIn
“Wilbert adds value in three main ways from my experience working with him and seeing him work with teams:
He challenges your understanding of how much value you can add.He helps you measure the value you deliver more accurately and craft better objectives and incentives. He has the skills to coach teams and senior leaders and is a fantastic trainer.
Hire him only if you are ready for disruption, though—he's not the right person for slow change or status quo!”