The key to meaningful relationships and collaborations.
When I attended the Adobe 99u Design Conference in 2019, I went to a Power & Practice of Collaboration Master Class hosted by Christina Amini. Christina is a pep talker and editor from Chronical Publishing. Christina emphasized that good collaboration requires purpose, trust, and time. For some reason, that really stuck with me. Purpose being the articulating and actualizing a shared purpose. Trust being trusting a peer’s intention. Time being that if it can’t take time, don’t collaborate. It is important to share one process, one dance, one story. Christina said it was crucial to listen actively and engage with a question. Some sample questions one could ask is "What's going on here?", "What do you see that makes you say that?", and "What more can you find?". Christina also said it was important to know what you uniquely bring to the team and how you can fuel yourself along with your team. Christina emphasized that cheer, even the smallest ways, promotes stability. Christina also suggested the book “General Theory of Love” by Thomas Lewis, Fari Amini and Richard Lannon (psychiatry professors) for those interested in a original and lucid account of the complexities of love and its essential role in human well-being.
Many people ignore these things and leap right into collaborating or just asking to get results fast. Over the years, I've found the most meaningful relationships and collaborations were ones that did adhere to those values. I see the way we work changing, the system changing, our acknowledgment for the environment changing…but I believe good collaboration is the root of good change. I think that is why Christina's workshop stuck to me so strongly. Christina Amini's "This Pep Talk is For You" is charming, heartfelt, and also vulnerable. Christina talks about how authentic relationships lead to awesome projects and how awesome projects can bring us deeper into our relationships.
Visual was made by Giuliana Cascardo, 2021. This post content was created by Giuliana Cascardo. All visuals are self taken or created, all writing is original aside from any statistical or historic information which is sourced by external links. Any photos that are not taken or created by Giuliana Cascardo are sourced in photo discription. Nothing in this post is affiliated with any sponsors or commercial work.