Unlock Your Team’s Intelligence with Collaboration Design
Summary
By putting people first and designing to connect individuals, collaboration design helps everyone feel like they’re included and contributing equally.
Join MURAL’s Emilia Åström, Learning Experience Lead, and Jim Kalbach, Chief Evangelist, to learn how your team can use this proven method — and MURAL — to strategize, innovate, and create your best solutions.
Key Insights
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Collaboration design integrates deliberate social connection with structured problem-solving for more effective teamwork.
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Connection and reflection before and after meetings are as critical as active problem-solving during sessions.
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Personal placemats help all participants, including introverts and non-native speakers, to contribute thoughtfully.
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Pre-workshop asynchronous activities foster trust and readiness by allowing participants to share about themselves and the topics.
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Using varied visual cues like color, shape, and tags on sticky notes improves inclusivity and accessibility.
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Dot voting and the ‘bullseye’ prioritization technique enforce clear decision-making and focus during collaboration.
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Regular, small connection moments in sessions outperform occasional large events like annual retreats.
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Experimentation and iteration are fundamental to evolving effective collaboration design practices.
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Facilitators should consciously plan turn-taking and participation methods to ensure equity in hybrid sessions.
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A collaboration designer can be a formal role or an adopted skill for anyone leading group conversations.
Notable Quotes
"Collaboration should be intentional and deliberate, just like industrial or service design."
"Work has a social element – connection is one of the biggest things people feel is missing."
"Good collaboration design helps teams solve problems and connect at the same time."
"Personal placemats give everyone time to think before sharing, increasing diversity of ideas."
"Pre-work allows people to share who they are and their interests, building trust before the session."
"Use sticky notes with different colors and shapes to make the session more accessible and fun."
"Reflection after sessions increases ongoing collaboration design and continuous improvement."
"Take time to connect and reflect before you start collaborating, not just dive into work immediately."
"Experimenting with collaboration methods helps you find what works best for your team."
"We envision a whole new class of workers called collaboration designers."
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