Role: project planner, horizontal idea-spreader.
Working here since: september 2017.
Favorite acupuncture point: Du Mai 20, on the top of the head.
What do you like about your job at B&S?
‘As a project planner it is great fun to keep a close eye on other organizations. The conversation with clients feels like a kind of lecture, I learn so much from it. But what gives me a lot of energy at the moment is spreading our knowledge about horizontal organization. I really think we can make the world a bit more beautiful this way. When I see what it has done for us, I wish that for everyone.
Tell me, what has it done for us?
“There is a lot of freedom to do what you believe in. Employees are not locked into a position, but can try and learn many different things. Both substantively in terms of the videos, but also commercially. For example, I have done marketing for a long time, but now I focus more on giving workshops about horizontal organization. That way we keep it interesting for ourselves. Do you have a great idea? Go develop it! Because it really comes from within yourself, the involvement and motivation is very high.
We are looking for the essence in the story of others, but also constantly for our own. As a company, as a team, as an employee. We are constantly learning, what we have to offer, how things work best. I don’t believe in static functions and goals, in something boxed in little beauty arises. You have to look at what is needed, where the energy is, how you can move with that flow. This has resulted in all kinds of new initiatives and products. That also applies to our videos.’
Can you explain that to me?
‘When someone calls who is interested in a video, we always ask what someone wants to communicate and to whom. We then honestly check whether a whiteboard video is the best form for this. It has to be fitting. Even when we start a collaboration we check what fits best. A hand-drawn video or digital? Or maybe an infographic?
We sometimes experiment with new forms. We recently made a video for an inauguration. To convey the message she wanted to tell, we tried something new: we made up a fable together, set it in rhyme and had an illustrator make watercolor-style drawings. It has become a unique video. In order to try something new like this, you have to be able to work together with the client in freedom and confidence. Then such beautiful things can arise.’
But doesn’t ‘stick to what you know’ apply a little here? Recently you also organized an Away day that has nothing to do with whiteboard videos, does it?
‘That’s right! And surprisingly, there are similarities. Our job is to capture a complex story in a short film. As a result, we have become very good at guiding people to the core of their message. What is it really about? That is very nice and useful to be able to do, even if you don’t want to make a whiteboard video. In addition, thanks to our horizontal organization, we are good at involving everyone in a process.
The employees of the organization who asked us to help with the Away day hadn’t seen each other for a long time because of corona. The Away day was online. How do you ensure that it is a valuable and productive day? We think you do that by looking for the essence. Where do we want to go? And by involving people sincerely and actively. What’s going on with them? What excites them? What do they feel tension about? And actually do something with it. Do not impose a goal on them, but actively involve them in it. This way people stay hooked much longer and the energy starts flowing.’
Speaking of flowing energy, that’s something you also deal with outside your work at Bord&Stift, isn’t it?
‘Definitely. I have been training in acupuncture for some time now. This is a traditional Chinese treatment method in which you insert needles at specific points of the body, to remove blockages and let the energy flow again. So it always comes back, it’s a way of life for me.”
Read also the interview with Mieske:
‘I see where there is room for a chuckle’
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