Being a digital agency, our world didn’t change dramatically when the world shut. Though we were no longer sitting in the same room, our actual office never moved: The Internet. It still posed a challenge to all of us to learn to work together differently, but we had the finest mentor at hand.
As the pandemic hit, we’d been working closely with Paula Kelley, the global marketing director of Potential Project, to renew their identity, define a strategic foundation, and design their online presence. And to Paula Kelley, remote work was nothing new. Potential Project is organised with people working separately across the globe with the Internet as their common ground.
Still, Potential Project found themselves at a crossroad: However familiar they were with working virtually as a company, a large part of their client service work was in person. All of which came to an abrupt halt in the Spring of 2020.
"It lit a fire under us. Within a week, we had to change everything we were doing. The crisis got us off our seats and got us going" Paula Kelley
“The pandemic forced us to really overhaul our business. It lit a fire under us. Within a week, we had to change everything we were doing. The crisis got us off our seats and got us going,” Paula Kelley tells us one afternoon over Zoom that has become our familiar meeting point, connecting our Copenhagen reality with her home office in Boston.
Though for a second, it felt like the rug had been pulled out from under them, rethinking their business by turning everything into something digital actually helped them define their purpose. What is it that gets Potential Project out of bed in the morning?
Potential Project is a global consulting and professional services firm that, during the past 10 years, has helped more than 350,000 people and over 500 organizations adopt new ways of working and leading. By changing the way we work via being present, mindful, and compassionate, they aim to create a kinder world in which all of us feel better.
When we first met them, everyone knew what they were doing, though it didn’t come easy to put it into words, Paula says:
“We knew we weren’t telling our story the right way. It wasn’t clear because we felt shy about talking about kindness and humanity in a corporate setting.”
Though the immediate crisis at hand changed everything. Not only were they forced to change – they also experienced a global demand for help with how to deal with the anxiety and new stress that came with working from home. So, Potential Project took advantage of the time. As Paula says, they realized that they were not going to have another time like this.
“We felt like we needed to tell who we are all about as a business. We survived as a business because what we offer is resilience – we help businesses go through uncertain times,” she says.
Potential Project isn’t about learning a new skill or method – it’s about discovering the potential within all of us by training the mind and relearning humanity and compassion in a professional setting.
We made rediscovery part of our process, too: It was clear that all the ideas and visions were already present; what they needed help with was to put them into words and visuals and make it come alive online.
"You made us aware of our role, and that helped the pieces of the puzzle come together before our eyes" Paula Kelley
“You reminded us about reviving what is already there. I feel lucky to have worked with you because you made us really think about our clients and make them the centre of our story. You made us aware of our role, and that helped the pieces of the puzzle come together before our eyes. When all of that came together, it made perfect sense to us,” Paula says.
And now, one year into the pandemic, Potential Project has launched their new strategy, visual identity, and website that manifest the change they’ve lived and the result of them pivoting their business when reality changed overnight.
Learn more about Potential Project and their offering on their brand-new website here.
