Collaboration by Design with Philippe Coullomb and Charles Collingwood-Boots

Complexity is rising, and collaboration is one of the few ways we can match it: diverse minds working together, with intention.In this episode, I’m joined by Philippe Coullomb and Charles Collingwood-Boots, co-authors of Collaboration by Design. They describe their work as designing collaborative journeys to help groups solve complex problems and make complex decisions, often in multi-stakeholder contexts. We unpack what really makes collaboration work: the sponsor work that happens before anyone enters the room, the importance of context setting, how facilitation is only the visible tip of the iceberg, and why space is not logistics but a design lever.We also explore virtual and hybrid collaboration: what stays the same, what gets harder, why intensity drops online, and why hybrid is especially challenging without strong technical setup and deliberate design.In this episode, you will learn:what matters when people gather to solve complex problemswhy a workshop is only the visible tip of the iceberghow sponsor selection and engagement shapes outcomeswhy context setting is essential for participant engagementhow facilitation differs from simply following an agendawhy teams enable agility and real-time pivotswhat changes in virtual collaboration and why it takes more effortwhy hybrid collaboration is very challenging and tech-dependentwhy space is a facilitation lever, not a logistics detailwhat happens after the workshop to turn outcomes into actionFind the transcript and the references in the companion blog post:https://blog-alexis.monville.com/en/2022/07/19/collaboration-by-design-with-philippe-coullomb-and-charles-collingwood-boots/