MINDSHAKE offers consultancy specialising in the promotion and management of creativity and creative thinking in organisations, focusing its services on the following areas:
Raising awareness of the advantages and benefits of creativity in organisations;
Promotion of a business culture which encourages collaborative and creative attitudes, and the generation of original ideas, relevant to innovation;
Conception of “made to measure” programmes and activities for the development of creativity in organisations;
Analysis of the existent creative processes in work groups, with proposals for improvement.
The methodology applied in our consultancy is participatory, and is centred on the real and present needs of each business.
As part of its consultancy, MINDSHAKE offers professional support for the creation of new concepts for products and services. To this end, we have a varied team of creative thinkers: designers, artists, physicists, engineers, sociologists etc., the composition of each team being dependent on the project and on the business.
The Mindshake team is regularly invited to speak at conferences on themes related to Creativity, Innovation, Design, Design Thinking and Entrepreneurship. Some of the themes already presented are:
Welcome to Creativity.
Important Factors in Creativity: the model M.O.T.I.V.A.Ç.Ã.O.
The Creative Process: Mechanism, stages, explanatory and operational models
Creative thinking abilities
Techniques of Creative Thinking
Collective Creativity
Introduction to Design Thinking
Design Thinking with the Evolution 6² model
Service Design Thinking.
Creative Confidence
For us, each training session is unique. Therefore the MINDSHAKE team develops specific workshops, each one adapted to a particular situation and need, whether institutional or business.
MINDSHAKE has produced different models of workshop which vary in length (between 1 day and 3 months), in intensity (from 3 to 8 hours per day), and according to the particular subject in the creative world under consideration.
Some themes already covered: Creative Processes, Mental Mapping, Design Thinking, Group Generation of Ideas, Techniques of Creative Thinking, Mental Gymnastics in Creative Thinking, Food Design Thinking, Idea Laboratory, Creative Writing, ...
All workshops use an active and participatory methodology, focusing on practical cases, to facilitate the assimilation of new learning. Each workshop usually starts with a theoretical introduction in which the basic concepts of training/action are introduced. In the practical part, the group is encouraged to participate actively in the suggested exercises, try out their skills in creative thinking, and to then apply the offered techniques flexibly. The workshops finish with a period of reflection, in which the new information is assimilated and shared.
Every Mindshake workshop is characterised by four key elements:
- Small groups with between 5 and 15 participants;
- Matching groups to ensure self-confidence within groups;
- Physically and aesthetically stimulating spaces;
- Spacious rooms with empty space on the walls, to enable the visualisation of ideas.
Since 2013, Mindshake trainers have presented workshops in Design Thinking at various points of the globe including: Laurea University in Helsinki, Humboldt University Berlin, Fatih University in Istanbul, British Higher School of Art and Design in Moscow, Széchenyi István University in Györ/Hungary, UTBM University of Belfort in France, and also closer to home, Porto University, Aveiro University, etc
Still under development is a course for Creativity Facilitators, which is aimed at professionals who wish to acquire theoretical and practical skills in encouraging creativity in their organisations, and to promote Creative Problem Solving processes.
We are seeking institutional partners for this project.
July 2011 MINDSHAKE 1st Edition, Palácio das Artes - Porto.
We create custom built events in response to the needs identified in each business. They are events which stimulate creative thinking in teams, and promote innovation.
Examples of InCompany events are::
The Roche Innovation Day, which took place in June 2014, was part of a programme of action in Creative Processes and Design Thinking. It arose in response to what the company identified as the necessity to promote more creative attitudes in all parts of the enterprise. To achieve this objective, various activities took place; one was directed at a wider group from Roche Portugal, and two more were restricted to a couple of selected groups, the first of 30 managers, and the second of 10 Innovation Agents. On one side, the activities carried out by the wider group were aimed at raising sensibility to a culture favourable to innovation and creativity. On the other side, the activities for the managers and the agents contributed to the development a structured process of innovation in ROCHE Portugal.
On Innovation Day, 7 workshops took place in parallel, namely; 1. Thinking fluidly, 2. Thinking flexibly, 3. Thinking in bissociation, 4 Thinking in images, 5. Narrative thinking, 6. Thinking in extremes, 7. Thinking in analogies. One of the participants wrote in his evaluation of Innovation Day, "I’d like to see regular mini-mindshakes at work, to keep the ‘innovation mindset’ idea alive."
The Deloitte Creativity Day took place in January 2013 at the CCB Lisbon, as part of the annual meeting of employees of Deloitte in Portugal. In an interactive introductory speech, in which the event was contextualised, various short creative thinking exercises took place. 5 parallel workshops were then repeated throughout the day, which meant that all the employees of Deloitte participated in all of the workshops. The workshops were based on the following creativity techniques: Brainstorming and its variants, Mental Mapping, Analogies, Storytelling and Storyboarding.
In the early evening the Deloitte Creative Talks were presented. Inspired by TED Talks, each of the three invited speakers (Leonel Moura, Cristina Sampaio, António Paraíso) were allocated 15 minutes for their talk, and at the end, the audience had their opportunity to put questions. The Creativity Day ended with live music.
Every year, SONAE dedicates one or two days to welcoming the new employees to the firm. In March 2015 the Mindshake team was invited to Onboarding Day, to present a workshop on Design Thinking for the 150 new recruits. As well as team building and having fun, the purpose of this event was to raise awareness of the importance of Design Thinking in the innovation processes of the business, and to the understanding of creative thinking applied to projects. Evolution 6², Mindshake’s own Design Thinking model, was introduced, and served as a guide during all the process of the application of DT techniques. Each of the work groups were oriented by two facilitators.
We host already established events, such as Creative Mornings or Service Design Drinks.
Our programme includes a Creative Writing Dinner Event for groups of up to 11 people.
Mindshake House is available for meetings;
- Facilitated by our team;
- With different dynamics;
- With creative food moments.
