CORPORATE GEOFICTION
Corporate processes visualized in workshops
Geofiction can be used for a number of purposes within the corporate world
It is a fun and subtle instrument for:
- Communication
- Marketing
- Orientation and Navigation
- Teambuilding
- Support at Meetings and Symposia
- Support of Culture Change
- Coaching
- Development of Vision
- Reflection
- Visualization of Milestones (e.g. Takeovers and IPO’s)
- Creating a Platform for Changes within the Organisation
It also is a fantastic and highly personal:
- Gift for a Relation
- Piece of Art
Watch a movie of a workshop
References: a.o. Shell, Endemol, Rabo, Starbucks, Ericsson, Lehmann Brothers, Menarini, Dura Vermeer, Yarden, Robeco, Zenner, Price Waterhouse Coopers, DSM, several ministeries and Councils, Heineken, VPRO, ABN Amro, Ordina, VBI, Peek Traffic, UPC, KPN, Reed Elsevier, Acision, Jacobs Engineering, Fokker-Stork, Schuitema, Ernst&Young, Johnson&Johnson, Oyens en van Eeghen and BAM.
Company Workshops
Throughout the years, Geofiction has proven to be a great medium for analysis and development of vision within organizations. The concept of the company-workshops is authentic, tried and flexible. The sessions focus on collectively creating a company map wherein all sorts of emotions and processes are made visible in an informal manner. Making a company map together is a very creative instrument for teambuilding and company coaching.
Sandra Vintges, Ernst&Young:
"A very special, useful and pleasant workshop on wonderful location (The Olmenhorst Estate). Together we charted the company. A very good result! Truly recommendable!"
A special moment during the workshop is the presentation of a rough sketch of the company in which the participants can recognize their company in all its facets. This sketch will be complemented, optimized and completed by the participants.
At your request the final result is made into a monumental map of which copies can be made for all the participants.
A geofiction workshop: both creative and reflective
Raymond van der Laan, Acision:
"We had a terrific geofiction-workshop with our R&D team. Martijn’s contagious enthusiasm brought about exactly what we envisioned: a shared image of our team and its position in the organization, now and in the future. An ideal teambuilding event with a beautiful end result, which hangs proudly on the wall of our office."
The first step in the process is taken in preliminary talks between Martijn Kessler and the client. Here the shape of the company landscape for the workshop is formed and the specific mode is decided. The mode can differ a great deal depending on the company, the number of participants in the workshop and the client`s wishes.
The participants are divided into teams of 5 to 6 people and go to work on a sketch of the company landscape made by Martijn Kessler. In the image you see how one of the groups put the ‘ins and outs’ of the company relevant to them on the map.
The approach of the workshopos can be mainly recreational, but as they are a great tool for teambuilding and corporate analysis, we advise to work with an efficient schedule, a seating arrangement and possibly with a participant analysis. The workshops are extremely suitable to create consensus for sensitive changes within the corporate world in an open manner. A special quality is the combination of an informative horizontal process, a creative setting filled with humor and an approach where the result comes out in a playful way. This amounts to new insights, more transparency , a navigational tool and a reflective, unique piece of art.
An important part of the workshop is the story behind the maps. Here a spokesperson for the team tells about the map they made. The amused participants of the workshop listen to an explanation of a map. The entire process is rich in image-language and humor.
Bart-Jan Vreeman, DHV:
"An informal, pleasant, and active workshop with enthusiastic guidance! And the result ‘Put yourself on the map’ is just that. This workshop is the ideal way to get to know each other better whilst having a drink and a bite to eat. "
The number of participants can vary from a small group to large numbers. Here you see a spokesman of a group (of 7 people) with their vision on “The Union of Yarden”, 2009.
Is the Marketing department drifting from the parent company? Give them an island in an endless sea. Your secretary is a beaken/can-do for your staff? Connect her name to lighthouse! In closing the workshop ends with an evaluation, you will be surprised what comes up!
Detail of the final result of a workshop for Elsevier Operations. Sketches filled with the participants´ ideas was made into one map by Martijn Kessler.
Your company put on the map, literally.
GHOR Detail The client can focus on an upcoming reorganization or a bottleneck in the company process. Detailed map for the GHOR( disaster management) 2008.
Martijn Kessler can manipulate the sketched company landscape to such an extent that the participants focus their mind particularly on a certain part of the company process.
Another choice can be made between charting the everyday processes with all their ups and downs or to focus on the individual aspect. In that case all the participants will be put on the map personally. The emphasis is than placed on the mutual connection between different employees and their units. In that case the sketch that is made after the preliminary talk will related to so called company configuration techniques.
Detail of map made in a workshop for Rabobank, 2002.
Afterwards the client can choose to have the sketches from the workshop made into one map. All the ins and outs of the different sketches will be processed into one map. Before the map is definitely finished the client is sent an example to correct possible mistakes and add last-minute inspiration. Copies can be made of the final result for the entire organization. Martijn Kessler’s company maps are high in quality and serve as an important tool for reference and orientation.
Discussions and brainstorm-sessions about a new direction or a reorganization can be visualized by Studio Martijn Kessler prior to the workshop, these visualizations are a perfect stepping stone to a geofiction workshop.
Final result of workshop for Elsevier Operations. Sketches made by the participants were compressed into one map and all of were offered a copy. (Click on image for a higher resolution)
After the workshop is over there can be an evaluation and a possible follow-up.
For companies with a specific style we can deliver a map image that connects to the layout already in existence. Above you see maps developed for Ordina and By Objectives as orientation and navigation tools for internal en external communication. A workshop and several brainstorm sessions were used to realize the maps.