In a nutshell

I hold bachelor degree (1988) from Tallinn University and MBA degree (2001) from Tartu University. I obtained a profession as a holistic regression therapist from the Holistic Institute (2019).

In the periods 1992-2006 and 2009-2010, I worked at the leading Estonian training company Invicta as a sales and marketing manager, CEO and trainer. The most enriching periods during Invicta have been related to the development of training and consulting products, including the establishment of a competency assessment center (360-degree method) and the development of a Masterclass training program for emotional intelligence in senior management.

In 2006-2009 I worked as the development manager of the sheet metal processing company Frog Group OÜ, as CEO of the design company Roller Leiutised OÜ and as the export manager of Kalev Chocolate Factory AS.

In 2010, I established Brightminds, which offers value in two directions: developing team development programs, mostly based on the ‘Learning Journey’ concept I created, and offering a My Growth Path service to individuals who want to gain better self-understanding, happier relationships or change in self-realization with the help of a professional partner.

I am a member of the Estonian Association of Business and Professional Women, the Estonian Holistic Regression Therapy Society and the International Association of Regression Therapists (EARTh).

My Story

Balance lost is part of a balanced life.

That’s what the Balinese say, and it’s a pearl of wisdom that’s mostly associated with love. It’s become my motto, covering every aspect of life. Striving to live a harmonious life in which we have everything we need – materially, intellectually and aesthetically – is something I think we all do naturally.

But the most enriching moments in our lives, and the ones which truly drive us forward, are when we lack the things we need, be they love, skills, energy, money or something else entirely. Those moments act like an injection of fuel that sees us striving for harmony even more assiduously. The wisdom of the Balinese taught me to view moments of lost balance as a normal and even necessary part of life. Whenever I find myself feeling off-balance, I accept and indeed welcome it as an opportunity to learn, since I know that change is coming and that things will get better in the longer term. Anticipation replaces fear, my confidence rises, ideas and solutions materialise from goodness knows where and I’m imbued with the strength to keep moving towards the harmony I’m seeking. I’m grateful for everything life throws at me – the good bits and the bad bits.

I have a lot to thank my family for. My parents come from different national backgrounds. From the moment I was born I was surrounded by two cultures: Estonian and Russian. This has brought a lot more light and shade into the way I view life, shown me that the question of identity is far from being black and white and made me realise that there are things there’s no point labelling as good or bad, but that they should simply be accepted as they are.

My sensitivity and temperament I’ve inherited from my mother, while my curiosity and assertiveness come from my father. I was a child my parents wanted to have, and very much loved. Looking back, I’m also grateful for the lessons I had no choice but to learn when my parents divorced. The bubble of my childhood burst in an instant, and I was forced to confront trust issues for years, even decades, after the fact. But the love of my parents has supported me every step of the way.

One of the ‘quirks’ I’m known for is that I’m constantly learning. When I left school I had a clear goal: I wanted to go on to study choreography, since I really loved dancing. It was such a luxury to be able to choose a profession based solely on what I was drawn to! At what was then Tallinn Pedagogical Institute (now Tallinn University) I studied under the legendary Mait Agu, whose dedication and talent were a huge source of inspiration. He instilled in all of his students a belief that anything was possible if you were serious about it. I never became a choreographer in the end, because when Estonia regained its independence, it threw open the doors to new and even more enticing opportunities.

One was to set up the training company Invicta, where Mihkel Pärjamäe and I started from nothing in 1991. I learnt how to sell, how to market, how to manage and how to set goals. Taking the company’s British owners as my example to follow, I soon gained a useful insight into managing a company, motivating a team and planning success. Shortly thereafter I also started training others in service, sales and management, and eventually took up the post of CEO.

But the thing I enjoyed most was developing new training and consultation products and leading projects that were on the more complex side. I liked taking ideas and turning them into values, breaking through barriers in the process. I liked having the freedom to create things. The 17 years I spent with the company were a time of self-discovery that taught me, among other things, to let go – something that comes much more easily when you create things and fall in love with what you create.

It was during this period that I earned my MA in Business Management from the University of Tartu. My final thesis focussed on the development of training products, with Invicta as my case study. I’m really happy Invicta’s still going strong, despite life leading me down a different path.

When the recession struck in 2007, it hit me while I was working in the production sector. I was the development manager for the sheet metal manufacturers Frog Group OÜ and the CEO of its subsidiary Roller Leiutised OÜ, which developed furniture for public space. Having worked in the field of training for so long, this was like diving into the deep end of a pool full of very cold water – instantly sobering, it forced me to mobilise all of my forces.

The financial crisis was merciless in the changes it wrought, and as a result I found myself taking up the post of export manager for the Kalev chocolate factory. My time there was cut short, however, when Invicta asked me to return to my roots. I couldn’t resist the temptation of developing ideas and concepts in an area I knew like the back of my hand, but the challenge this time was driving the company forward in the middle of a recession. I was soon to learn the biggest lesson this period in my life gifted me.

I was back in a company where everything was safe and familiar, but I was now seeing things from a new perspective and looking to do things differently. This led to uncertainty, and uncertainty led to doubt. I wasn’t satisfied with the situation, but nor could I see a way out of it – how I could make something of myself in a way that both made me happy and put food on the table. I was off-balance. And then, at a critical juncture, I had the proverbial light bulb moment: the clarity to draw a line under my time at Invicta and set up my own business. I should stress that this decision was entirely an emotional one: I spent no time analysing it. I had no plan. I was acting on instinct, and instinct was telling me to shut that door and open a new one.

It was an enormous relief. I’d been running pretty much on empty, and the decision revitalised me, giving me the energy I needed to channel into my own company – Brightminds OÜ. That was 2010. Thinking back on it now, I’m reminded of my colleague Mihkel’s words: “Make the big decisions in your life with your heart and the small ones with your head.” I’d learned that in going back to something, be it a workplace or a relationship, you can never fully restore what you had before, but have to build up something new.

For me, Brightminds means the freedom to truly show the world who I am and what I’m capable of. At the age of 44, when I started running my own business, I knew my strengths and weaknesses, but more importantly than that, I knew what interested me and kept my batteries fully charged: the freedom to decide what I spend my time on. I suddenly had time to think about things and take a proper look at myself. This sorted the wheat from the chaff where my priorities were concerned and cemented my values, all thanks to me having the time to dedicate to myself.

I firmly believe that taking time out for yourself is vital if you want to connect to what it is you truly need, which in turn points you in the direction you have to take if you want to create a life of balance and satisfaction. I admit that in my professional life these days I choose my clients, projects and partners very carefully, and the same principle applies in who I surround myself with in my private life.

Self-seeking (in the good sense) and interest in my personal development led me back to school in 2015. This time it was the Holistics Institute, which I graduated from in 2019 as a qualified holistic regression therapist. It completely changed my understanding of how to effectively influence your personal development.

The years I spent studying at the institute saw me grow, and I added methods to my tool kit that involve the physical, emotional, spiritual and energetic aspects of a person in their development. Now I’m able to work both my previous experience and the new skills and insights I gained at the institute into my everyday work with people and companies. It’s the sort of thing I thrive on!

To me, pairing your attempts to achieve practical success with an awareness of what’s going on inside you creates the best combination if you want to feel balanced and live life to the full. Successful organisations have been there and done that, which is why they foster the professional and personal development of their employees simultaneously.

Today, Brightminds operates along two main lines, each of which supports the other. The first is consulting in the field of smart learning and implementing learning-journey projects. The Learning Journey is a model I’ve developed for organisations which gives the people who work in them the ‘space’ they need to learn from and with one another. It doesn’t so much answer the question of what to study, but how to study. So I’ve become a smart learning consultant.

I also organise traditional but tailor-made classroom courses in cooperation with local trainers (including Dmitri Volov, Margus Alviste, Margus Esnar, Jaanus Kangur) and colleagues abroad, conduct job satisfaction surveys and both develop competence models and assess competences using the 360-degree method.

The other area I focus on is people’s growth paths, consulting those who feel off-balance and like they’re stuck in a rut and who want to achieve more, whether that be in their personal relationships, in understanding themselves better or in making something of their lives. I work in Estonian, Russian and English.

What the two lines I operate along have in common is that they’re not primarily about passing on knowledge, but creating an environment that supports development within an organisation and within individuals themselves. This means everyone involved sharing their ideas and experience, generating trust and truly listening. Inducing change in this way is a longer process, and one in which you have to be prepared to assume responsibility for the change.

I’m a mother to a son and a grandmother to a wonder two grandchildren, and I’m in a happy relationship. My life experiences include instigating a divorce and also finding out how it feels to have someone break up with you. In the past I spent a number of years alone, if not lonely. What I earn I principally spend on studying and travelling, both of which serve the same purpose: working my way towards the ‘real me’.

I am a member of the Estonian Association of Business and Professional Women, the Estonian Holistic Regression Therapy Society and the International Association of Regression Therapists EARTh.

People, and the mysteries hidden away inside them, are my passion. I’m fascinated by the dichotomies of human nature, like autonomy vs dependence, safety vs risk-taking, innovation vs conservativeness, togetherness vs solitariness, thirst for power vs acquiescence, the need to be loved vs indifference, maturity vs childishness, happiness vs sadness, empathy vs self-centredness, enjoyment vs self-denial and aggression vs the victim mentality.

There’s a complex world inside us all, and although that complexity is something we automatically bring into our relationships and working life, we also bring beauty and harmony. For development to occur, you need another person, another relationship. In my everyday life and day-to-day work I try to create a space in which people are free to share the world that’s inside them and to really, properly listen to one another. That way, they’re able to experience growth and move towards their goals.

Thank you for reading my story.

Learning Journey

Space where colleagues can learn with and from each other.

Q&A

What is the Learning Journey?

The Learning Journey is a method of learning which combines a variety of activities. It doesn’t tell the learner what they should be learning – they decide that for themselves – but how they can go about learning it.

How’s the Learning Journey different from classroom-based or online training?

Traditional classroom-based training divides the group into two camps – active (the instructor) and passive (the learners) – while online learning is a solitary exercise. The Learning Journey features elements of both, with around 50% of learning taking place in small groups, 30% independently, 10% in a classroom setting and 10% one-to-one. It can be summarised as the ‘space where colleagues can learn with and from each other’.

What’s the Learning Journey method based on?

Learning in the Learning Journey way is based on taking into account the way people’s memory function. Studies have proven that people absorb new information (which is to say understanding it, storing it in their memory and being able to recall it when needed) more effectively if:

1) the information is relevant to them and has some sort of emotional impact on them (learn not with your head, but your heart!);

2) the learner has to search for additional information themselves, put it into words they understand and create meaning out of it for themselves (a certain amount of uncertainty is a good thing!); and

3) the learner learns in small bites over a longer period of time, such as two-hour activities once a week over eight weeks rather than one two-day course.

Constant reflection’s very important, meaning both self-analysis and feedback on your ideas and experiences. The term ‘space learning’ is used to describe a way of learning that meets all three of the criteria mentioned above. You can read an article about space learning here.

Who’s the Learning Journey designed for?

The Learning Journey’s suited to any groups of employees.

What’s the Learning Journey made up of?

Learning Journeys can involve a wide range of activities: watching webinars; classroom-based learning; online courses; sharing ideas and experiences in small groups (4-5 people); individual self-analysis tasks; drawing up case studies and reviewing material; obtaining and studying material from different sources; putting together a presentation with colleagues; teaching others; sessions with a mentor/coach; interim summaries with your line manager; and implementing final assignment, which is an actual change in your area of responsibility.

Who’s involved in the Learning Journey besides the students?

The students’ line managers are normally involved in the process along with mentors and coaches (be they from within or outside of the organisation), plus external trainers. The senior managers of your organisation can be drafted in if you’d like them to get involved as well.

What sort of problems does the Learning Journey solve?

The Learning Journey solves three main problems:

1) Nothing much changes as a result of classroom-based training because the effect it has is short-term.

2) There’s insufficient sharing of employees’ experience as a learning resource, which amounts to letting it go to waste.

3) It’s unclear what potential employees have.

What kind of organisation is the Learning Journey suited to?

There are a few boxes that need to be ticked for the Learning Journey to be a success:

1) The senior managers in your organisation have to view the development of their employees not as a one-off [training] thing, but as a constant process that supports their independent learning.

2) The students themselves have to be motivated, because the Learning Journey demands more dedication than an ordinary training course.

3) Your organisation has to be capable of strategically planning and planning ahead when it comes to the development of its employees.

4) The project manager within your organisation who deals with the Learning Journey – whether one of the managers or someone from your personnel department – has to be motivated.

Why should we choose the Learning Journey over other types of training?

The biggest advantages the Learning Journey boasts are as follows:

FLEXIBILITY – Students mainly learn in a small group independently by deciding the most suitable time for them to meet in real or remotely.

EFFECTIVENESS – Sharing experience as short ‘bites’ during several month create more value for learners than only classroom sessions led by trainer.

ABILITY TO INSPIRE – Learning with others and from each other is emotionally enriching, generates greater trust within a team and encourages people to follow good examples.

VALUE – The know-how you gain can be utilised again and again, which means you save on training costs in the future.

How long does a Learning Journey take?

The average Learning Journey lasts for 10-15 months, depending on the number of topics covered. Around three months can be deducted from this for Christmas and summer holidays.

How can we keep the students motivated?

The students’ main source of motivation should be their own desire to take part. In that sense, participation should be voluntary rather than mandatory. Management should also issue a clear ‘mandate’ in favour of the Learning Journey approach. Experience has shown that management getting involved sets a great example to (and therefore motivates) the rest of the team.

What’s the ideal group size?

Normally 12-16 students, although a number of groups can take part in parallel to one another.

Where the teaching materials come from?

All of teaching materials, including theory work, articles, home tasks and guidelines are designed by Brightminds.

Who do the materials belong to that are created for the Learning Journey?

The materials belong to the client, but copyright in the methodology and in written and electronic teaching materials belongs to Brightminds OÜ.

Is the Learning Journey paper-free?

Yes! All of the materials we use are electronic and available on the Brightminds e-learning platform, access to which is via individual accounts we set up for each student.

What sort of tangible results does the Learning Journey produce?

The Learning Journey inspires real change that the students implement as part of their final assignments. The result is higher turnover, lower costs, more efficient processes, innovation piloting, improved cooperation, a more motivated team and more competent leaders.

Does the Learning Journey entail any risks?

Not all students make it across the finishing line, which is only to be expected, because we all have different levels of ability and motivation. Experience has shown that among those who do make it all the way to the end, some will surprise you.

What’s the first step I need to take if our organisation is interested in the Learning Journey?

Meeting face to face, be it in person or online, is always a good first step. I’ll be happy to hear about the challenges your company’s facing in developing its personnel and to offer you ideas and inspiration on how to overcome those challenges. I can also share my experience about the Learning Journeys I’ve implemented in various organisations so far . To get in touch with me, call +372 5664 2531 or fill in the form below, I will contact you. I look forward to hearing from you!

Book a Demo

REFERENCES

We conducted a Learning Journey in G4S to develop our leaders. This program is suitable for companies that want to take on new challenges and get out of the comfort zone. The program puts participants together to do and think about the development of oneself and the company more generally.

Indrek Sarjas
HR Director

The Learning Journey differs significantly from the usual classroom trainings and is a good opportunity to put people in different positions in the company work together and find solutions to problems. Involving mentors helps to transfer existing knowledge and experience. The share of independent work is high, but the result is so much better.

Juta Käsk
Member of Management Board

Tallink Grupp is a company with many leaders in various fields. We are a large, flexible and changing company that puts customer expectations and needs at the center of its activities. We searched for and found a development program for beginner managers that was flexible enough to fit our shift-based workflow. During the meetings with Brightminds and Leena Kivisild, mutual understanding arose immediately, and during the discussions we quickly came to the realization that the idea of the Learning Journey she proposed fits perfectly into the current stage of development of the Tallink Group. There is a strong emphasis on e-learning and a designed learning activities that provides direction for further independent work. Brightminds’ approach is company-centric, and the specifics of each company are planned in the Learning Journey. Brightminds and Tallink became good partners.

Vahur Ausmees

HR Director

The strength of the development program was the use of different learning methods. As one of the goals was to share the company’s culture and existing experience with the new leaders, mentoring and cooperation between the participants in group work played a big role in the LEAP program. Regular meetings with the mentor strongly supported the new leaders and gave them a greater perspective on how to apply what they learned. The group work was based on the completed e-learning part and interactive webinars, the topics of which were discussed in smaller groups. Flexibility and different learning methods were the keywords that made the program work and successful for us. We believe that current and future leaders who have completed the LEAP program are ready to take responsibility and initiative and be good partners for their team members.

Viiu Kotkas

Head of the Training Center

PARTNERS

The key to success and happiness is a clear vision of who you are and what’s important to you. Of course, you still have to have the courage to take a stand in that regard, choose the direction your life will take you in, stand up for your values, fulfil your needs and accept that they’re genuine. The solution lies in both understanding why you need to set personal boundaries and in setting them. And that’s something everyone can achieve.

Q&A

What is My Growth Path?

My Growth Path constitutes a series of sessions that’s designed to boost a person’s satisfaction in a critical area of their life. Nothing starts from nothing: every problem we encounter has its roots in the past, and working through that brings understanding and distance. Unfortunately, time doesn’t heal all wounds – especially those we keep picking at. If we come to understand how and why we do that, we can do something to make sure the wound heals. And that’s where My Growth Path comes in.

Who’s My Growth Path designed for?

My Growth Path is designed for those who are unsatisfied with a certain aspect of their lives and want it to change. They don’t know how to bring about that change, but with the help and support of a neutral observer they’d like to achieve it more quickly than if they dealt with it on their own. They come to realise that the starting point of any change is themselves, not others or the outside world – which is to say that if you change yourself, you can change the world around you.

What sort of challenges do I need to be facing to consider taking My Growth Path?

There are three main areas My Growth Path addresses:

Understanding yourself – If you’re affected by anxiety, despair, grief, the feeling there’s no way out, loneliness, the sense that you don’t belong anywhere or mean anything to anyone, the feeling you’re not living your own life, always trying to please others rather than yourself, a feeling of inferiority, actual physical discomfort that has no obvious cause or effective treatment, constant erosion of your happiness and dedication, repeated negative behaviour and thought patterns or inexplicable mood swings.

Relationship problems – What you once had now seems to be missing in your close relationships, you’re having communication problems with friends or family or colleagues or you find yourself trapped in codependent relationships.

Self-realization – Losing your way, discovering your hidden potential (including your mission in life), adapting to change, planning and implementing a major step forward in your working life and developing emotional intelligence skills (such as adaptability, calmness, self-assuredness, creativity, decisiveness, empathy, an entrepreneurial mindset, self-management, playfulness, resilience, self-awareness and determination).

How’s My Growth Path any different from therapy or coaching?

Different types of therapy and indeed coaching represent standalone methods. Each of them is useful in dealing with a certain subset of problems, but each method has its limits. For example, [psycho]therapy mainly deals with the past, digging down to the roots of problems. Coaching, on the other hand, focusses mostly on the future, paying little or no attention to deeper attributes to do with the development of an individual’s personality or their background, which nevertheless wield enormous influence over their future plans.

My Growth Path combines looking at the root causes of problems with setting and ultimately implementing a vision for the future. The whole point of the path is to effect permanent change. What makes this possible is that we first work through what’s caused your problems, allowing you to rid yourself of long-held thought forms and create new ones, integrating them into your everyday life. The way in which an individual’s personality develops is a complex phenomenon, and every person’s life is unique. Based on the problem and on the goal you want to achieve, we work together to choose the methods that are most likely to result in the desired change.

What methods do you use on My Growth Path?

Asking questions, offering advice, giving feedback, regression, creating constellations, doing energetic body work, role-playing, taking kinesiology tests, meditating, doing breathing exercises, completing affirmatory home tasks and keeping a journal.

How long does it take to reach the end of My Growth Path process?

Each session lasts for 2-3 hours. To start with, we book you in for four sessions; after that, we decide whether you need any further sessions, and if so, how many. Practice has shown that it normally takes a person 6-12 months to effect permanent change.

Where are My Growth Path sessions held?

I recommend the Kalamaja district in Tallinn, but certain sessions can also be run online. As a suitable venue, your workplace is a big no-no.

What’s the first step I need to take if I’m interested in My Growth Path?

A free consultation (over the phone, video chat or in person) is the perfect place to start. That way we can get to know each other a bit and map out your main challenge. To get in touch with me, please fill in the form below and I will be in touch with you to schedule the consultation.

In a nutshell

My Story

Learning Journey

Learning Journey

Q&A

Book a Demo

REFERENCES

PARTNERS

My Growth Path

My Growth Path

Q&A

BOOK FREE CONSULTATION