Our Framework

Who is Colabs for?

Colabs is for anyone who is:

Keen
to deepen their awareness and understanding around complex social issues

Open
to explore new ways of making progress on these complex social issues

Willing
to work with a diverse group of people, and deal with ambiguity, uncertainty and emergence

Principles of Colabs

Our three principles underpin the creation of an inspiring, insightful, and meaningful experiences for the Colabs community.

1. activate empathy

To understand the system and its beneficiaries with compassion
To stir members’ emotions and appeal to their humanity
To increase their motivation to act

2. expand Cognitive understanding

To develop a deeper appreciation for the complexity of the issue
To increase collective knowledge and understanding towards the issue

3. build Community

To transcend self-interest and work towards achieving greater impact together
To identify and leverage strengths of members for collaborative action

The Colabs Journey

The Colabs Journey comprises of three key phases – Learn, Align and Act. This journey is not a perfectly linear process as complex challenges require an iterative approach.

1. Learn

To increase awareness about the issue and initiatives in the landscape
To acquire emergent insights arising from collective knowledge exchange and sensemaking
To have a deeper appreciation about the complexity in the ecosystem and understand its inter-relationships

2. Align

To align priorities based on emergent insights
To identify opportunities, assets and strengths in the community for collaborations
To garner support from stakeholders to collaborate

3. Act

To share expertise and resources across stakeholders based on emergent insights
To collaborate for greater social impact

Series Outline

Participants would go through the Colabs journey from inaugural to alignment session, working towards potential collaborations post-series.

Inaugural

Landscape overview (Worldwide and/or Singapore)

Deep Dives

Deep Dive into specific issues - uncovering root causes, interlinked factors, different perspectives

Experiential

Experiences to increase empathy and motivation to act

Alignment

Moving towards collaborative actions; Prioritise and agree on shared outcomes

Collaborations

Co-create, design and deliver solutions - either scale existing programmes or create new solutions

The 10 steps to run a colabs process

10 step iterative process graphic 4 grey circles

This diagram represents the 10 steps in designing a Colabs series. The course of action begins from the innermost circle and moves outwards, representing an iterative loop.

ten steps iterative process one blue circle

1. Sensemaking

Before embarking on a Colabs series, it is essential to sensemake and assess the suitability of Colabs as an approach to resolve the intended complex issue.

ten steps iterative process two blue circles

2. Landscape Research

After determining that it is suitable to adopt Colabs as an approach, it is important to conduct landscape research to map the stakeholders and have a comprehensive understanding of the space.

ten steps iterative process three blue circles

3. Aspiration Statement Confirmation

With a good understanding of the space/cause, the organisers can then craft the aspiration statement. The aspiration statement is intended to act as a scoping mechanism and should incorporate the direction/ intended outcome of the series.

ten steps iterative process six grey circles

4. Series Outline

The organising team should come together to discuss and determine the number of sessions to hold, format of sessions, key objectives and takeaways of each session.

10 step iterative process graphic 5 grey circles

5. Resource Planning

With a good grasp of the space and scope of the series, the organisers can then conduct work planning to decide the resources required.

1A

Sensemaking is a crucial (reiterative) step in the workflow. At the end of every phase, there should be collective sensemaking by the organising team to decide if the team/stakeholders are ready to proceed to the next course of action.

10 step iterative process graphic all blue circles

6. Stakeholder Engagement

With your best clarity of “who’s who” from the landscape research, and intention of the Colabs issue, this conversation aims to identify who to invite to join Colabs, and how they may play a role in the process.

1B

Based on the insights derived from stakeholder engagements, determine if the organising team should conduct further research, refine the aspiration statement or involve more stakeholders in the process design.

ten steps iterative process three grey circles

7. Session Design

Plan an insightful and holistic Colabs series for the participants. Determine the format of the session and ensure that the three core principles of the Colabs framework are incorporated.

ten steps iterative process two grey circles

8. Operations

Determine the necessary resources, materials, setup and logistics required to execute the session effectively.

10 step iterative process graphic 1 grey circle

9. Session Hosting

Ensure a smooth execution of the session where members are engaged and enriched and that the objectives of the session are met.

1C

Upon completion of each session, consolidate the insights derived. With the insights, make follow-up conversations, facilitate connections and explore collaborations between relevant members. Factor these insights into the programme design for the next session.

10. Community Growth

Build relationships amongst the community of changemakers for continuous collaboration. Constantly engage the community post-series through related events, newsletters, forums.