Management Center

The Wyss Academy for Nature’s Management Center drives the global institutional projects, supporting and coordinating operations that enable the Wyss Academy to work productively and positively, in an adaptive and entrepreneurial spirit. The unit includes the competence centers of People & Culture, Finance & Controlling, ICT & Digital Happiness, Internal Services & Support, Learning, Monitoring & Evaluation, as well as Communications. Their aim is to enable the Wyss Academy to be a lean organization that maximizes effectiveness and efficiency and is a role model for organizational, environmental and social sustainability. To achieve this, we have developed a solid organizational structure based on lean processes, governance, and centrally coordinated services that empower colleagues in the four regions of operations to implement the organization’s vision, mission, goals and values in a decentralized manner.

Main achievements in 2023

1. Onboarding new talent: 50% employee growth achieved

In the spirit of the project “Inspiring Organization” – aiming to become a fair and attractive employer and partner for employees – in 2023, the Wyss Academy grew from 60 to 90 employees and staff seconded by partners. Permanently identifying, interviewing and selecting the best talent, and onboarding them in regard to the Wyss Academy’s vision and mission meant a huge effort across all units and regions. While the employee life cycle was continuously developed under the lead of the People & Culture competence center, the Internal Services & Support team assured an attractive and functional workspace.

2. Teams, partners and stakeholders aligned for impact

Field trips and meetings with partners, the Advisory Committee, the Board and various operational units of the Wyss Academy were achieved in a joint institutional effort under the lead of the Management Center, as were the operational and financial reporting for the year 2022 and the annual institutional planning processes. In order to position the Wyss Academy with stakeholders and to strengthen its perception and visibility, a detailed communication strategy was developed by the Communications team and has been implemented since the beginning of 2024.

3. Further integration and anchoring of digital systems

Under the lead of the ICT & Digital Happiness and Finance & Controlling teams, the Wyss Academy’s system landscape continued to evolve with the aim of availing accurate, pertinent and timely information and key performance indicators. The further integration and application of tools such as Abacus, Asana, Peerdom or Microsoft Teams enhanced and will further boost our capacity to better oversee, steer and prioritize projects, resources and staff – and to evaluate and monitor results and outcomes rigorously.

4. Institutional governance frame completed

In the spirit of lean organizational management, the Wyss Academy, led by the Management Center, defined the institutional governance frame - thus completing the regulatory environment of the Wyss Academy by consulting with teams across countries, cultures and legal systems. The development of a risk management frame, the design of a “tell-us” system and the Management & Operation Regulations will enable the Wyss Academy to operate effectively, efficiently and in line with laws and regulations, while assuming its duty of care toward employees and partners.

5. Innovation development and failing forward

Private sector engagement, in combination with a start-up sourcing accelerator for incubator engagement in the Solutionscapes were explored and co-designed with our partner Brainforest. The resulting ideas were further developed together with the Hubs and various stakeholders. Ongoing efforts to develop research and innovation projects to attract third-party funds led to varying results. The co-design and establishment of a consistent innovation management system was postponed to 2024.