Unlock Your Team’s Intelligence with Collaboration Design
Summary
Collaboration is key to opening the feedback loop and making innovative breakthroughs. But how do we unlock and reimagine versatile ideas in the room? 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
-
•
Collaboration design integrates deliberate social connection with structured problem-solving for more effective teamwork.
-
•
Connection and reflection before and after meetings are as critical as active problem-solving during sessions.
-
•
Personal placemats help all participants, including introverts and non-native speakers, to contribute thoughtfully.
-
•
Pre-workshop asynchronous activities foster trust and readiness by allowing participants to share about themselves and the topics.
-
•
Using varied visual cues like color, shape, and tags on sticky notes improves inclusivity and accessibility.
-
•
Dot voting and the ‘bullseye’ prioritization technique enforce clear decision-making and focus during collaboration.
-
•
Regular, small connection moments in sessions outperform occasional large events like annual retreats.
-
•
Experimentation and iteration are fundamental to evolving effective collaboration design practices.
-
•
Facilitators should consciously plan turn-taking and participation methods to ensure equity in hybrid sessions.
-
•
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."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"You either give money as an unprofessional civilian or you do your job and offer professional services to help the crisis."
Xenia Adjoubei Sean BruceEmpowering Communities Through the Researcher in Residence Program
March 29, 2023
"Notice period sometimes can be more than three months for some roles, so parallel activities are essential."
Tamara KartoziiaThink global, adapt local: how service design accelerated B2B market entry by 6 months
November 20, 2025
"Ethical stress testing subjects AI to hypothetical morally challenging scenarios to ensure alignment with ethical norms."
Jay BustamanteNavigating the Ethical Frontier: DesignOps Strategies for Responsible AI Innovation
October 2, 2023
"Destiny is the belief that a certain future outcome is predetermined regardless of the path."
Nicole AleongFuture Orientations to Everyday Life: Futures Anthropology as a Methodology
March 26, 2024
"Clients often want flashy autoplay video even though it negatively impacts performance and sustainability."
Nick LewisDesigning and building low-carbon websites independently
November 18, 2025
"It comes down to confidence and comfort to articulate why something has value and whether it’s working or not."
Vicky Teinaki Michele Marut Tim ParmeeShort Take #3: UX/Product Lessons from Your Industry Peers
December 6, 2022
"The ultimate goal in conflict is to engage with the tension while reducing the friction between humans."
Laura WeissTurn Down the Heat: 3 Ways to Handle Conflict in the Moment
November 20, 2024
"Most product teams don't really have user research outputs or they come too late and disconnected from design."
Joerg Beringer Thomas GeisScaling User Research with AI: Continuous Discovery of User Needs in Minutes
June 10, 2025
"Why be here if you’re not going to be here."
Shelby SwitzerMaking Space for Community Knowledge-sharing in a Distributed World
December 10, 2021
