There is a moment in every new project when someone has to decide whether to get involved before there is a result to point to.
The work is still taking shape. There are questions to answer. Nobody can show you a photograph of how it all turns out.
And somebody says, “Let’s explore it.”
I think that first yes deserves attention.
It may come from a collaborator, a client, a sponsor or someone who recognises a possibility you have not yet found the words to explain properly.
They ask questions. They examine what you are proposing. Then they bring something of their own.
Experience. A skill. An introduction. Time they have chosen to spend working with you.
Now your idea has encountered another person’s imagination.
That is one of the most exciting parts of collaboration: discovering what becomes possible once the project no longer depends entirely on what you can see alone.
Someone notices a different direction. Makes a useful challenge. Offers a solution that changes the scale of what you thought you could do.
And your responsibility grows with their involvement.
You prepare. You follow through. You listen properly. You make their contribution count.
Because someone has put more than encouragement into your possibility. They have put part of their working day, their ability and perhaps their reputation beside it.
When the result finally exists, remember that moment.
Before there was anything to celebrate, there was something to build.
And someone chose to begin with you.
Silvia
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