One day, in a conversation with Miguel Marecos, a Portuguese photographer*, we ended up talking about the same questions and we decided to create a project to show it through images.
Unfamiliar with THINKING-BIG's routine, Miguel decided to document it through his lenses and using his unique perspective about it. So for one month, Miguel met me in different situations, places and contexts, merging in those situations in such a way that I almost forgot about him.
The result is the following sequence of photographs, that shed some light (literally!) to THINKING-BIG's work process, from the first contact of a client, to the end of the project itself.
* Miguel doesn't believe he is a photographer. But he is.
1. Around places, books and people
Chances are that the first contact of a client finds Edite drifting around, focused among books...
... Or listening to someone's life story.
2. A client gets in touch
At a certain moment a client contacts her. It can be the HR director, the manager of a team, the CEO of a small company or the director of a School... Anyone who finds interest in the themes developed by THINKING-BIG.
Most clients find THINKING-BIG's work on the internet (in a video on Youtube, on her website or from a suggestion of someone who has previously worked with her).
So the first contact is usually by e-mail or by the form on THINKING-BIG's website.
Edite receives them wherever she is.
3. A conference call
Once the first contact defines the needs of the client, or his/her wishes or ideas (a conference or a training, which areas or themes), a phone call or a conference call happens, so they can hear each other, feel the tone and know each other a little bit better.
4. Taking notes
During this phone call, the most important notes are taken.
"What are your needs, as a team or company?"
"What are the basic details about the target of the training or the conference? How many people are there? What are their areas and level of education? What is the age range? What is their profile (easy-going, creative, formal,...?)"
"At the end of the project, you, as client, would be happy if....?"
5. Post-its time - Organizing ideas
With all the information about the company, the team and the project, Edite starts organizing the contents that will be developed in the project and systematizing the main themes.
6. Tailor-made process - gathering information about the company
Since all the projects are tailor-made, there is a time to also study the company and the specific team: What are the values and mission behind them? What is the team's profile? What is the most adequate experience for that team?
Keeping in mind their expectations all this information is continuously adapted to the project while it is being designed.
7. Inspiration
In the preparation process, reading or reviewing some books gets major importance. Reviewing specific content about Positive Leadership, systematizing the latest research on a specific theme within Positive Psychology or just getting inspiration to focus on an usual theme from a different point of view.
Books, articles or other conferences: time to get inspired.
8. Incubation - time out
In the incubation phase (a time to just stop, relax and not think at all about the project or anything related), is time for the small things and pleasures. Time to have a coffee in a nice place and allow the mind to fly around. The time when things make sense, with no pressure.
9. Preparation
It is only when all the contents, details and ideas are clearly defined that the project will be designed in the computer: A PowerPoint full of images is created and the planning table of the activities is settled. In this phase, theory and practice come together.
10. Traveling
When everything is ready, is time to move to the city where the project will take place. Most of the time that means catching a plane to some other country.
Barcelona, Moscow, Dublin, Madrid, Galway, São Paulo, Philadelphia, A Coruña,.... No matter what the starting point is (in this case, Porto was the base), the destination varies a lot. Basically, THINKING-BIG's clients can be anywhere. So Edite gathers her basics (and post-its) and flies.
11. Meeting personally - arranging the last details
Before the project, one or two last meetings with the client take place. This is the time when they finally meet in person and also the opportunity to discuss the last details and make sure everything is aligned for the conference or the training.
12. Last details
After this meeting, if there was something that had to be corrected or added, there's always time.
In an absolutely continuously work-in-progress mindset, and in a co-construction way, corrections are done and everything gets absolutely ready to start.
13. The project happens!
And then the project happens. It may be a training on Positive leadership, a session for team work, a workshop on creativity,... All of that composes THINKING-BIG's portfolio of possible training areas.
Or it can also be a conference about the importance of opening perspectives, about the role of the others on daily life, or about Positive Psychology's concepts explained through life stories, among so many other possible themes.
14. Evaluation and Follow-up
After the training or conference and before leaving the city, there's usually still time for a last meeting, where the process's evaluation takes place. The results are presented and discussed: the participants' feedback, the atmosphere in the room, whether the expectations were met.
Some projects have a questionnaire before and after the training, so the impact can be evaluated. tThe results are discussed in this meeting.
And sometimes this is also the time when the follow-up process is defined: what can we do next? How does this continue? What can we do to keep enhancing what has been worked on the training/conference?
Ideas flow again... And sometimes a new project emerges! So everything is a continuous work-in-progress.
15. Traveling back, inner balance and inspiration
Once that specific project is over, and still under its energy, there's always time to see the city, to feel the different atmospheres, to get inspiration and to get ready to fly again.
Ready for new adventures and challenges, new projects and new ways of thinking big. Always feeling more.
This is the Creative process inside THINKING-BIG!
THANK YOU so much, Miguel Marecos, for your time and fabulous art-work! Been seen by artistic points of view helps us get a powerful external image of the process.