​​​​​​​​​​​​Work

Alberta CoLab was disbanded in March 2020. This page exists as a historical record.
​Requests for project support are no longer being accepted.​

 
At CoLab, we tackle messes. Our work starts where best practices end.​

​​When you feel like you’re faced with competing views and interests, when you aren’t sure where to start or what to do, and the potential for unintended consequences is high, you might have yourself a mess.  ​​

In the Government of Alberta, we believe we can be most useful on challenges that lie at the intersection of department and organizational boundaries. ​

This is where we find all​ 21st Century challenges – in essence, they are challenges that have no boundaries; at least, not obvious ones. 

In order of priority, we focus our work in the following areas:​

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1) Energy System
2) Integrated Resource Management
3) Government/Cross-Ministry Initiatives
4) Innovation Spaces​​

 
Check out our services and some examples of our work in our portfolios​.​
You are welcome to use and share our work for non-commercial purposes with credit.
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Reach out to us wh​en:
  • Best practices are no longer working or there aren’t any.
  • You aren’t sure where to start, or exactly what the problem is, but you know something is really wrong.
  • You want to understand whether you are doing the right thing, not whether you are doing things right.
  • You want to test new ideas or experiment with a new approach, but aren’t sure how.
  • You want to go beyond what is to explore alternative possible futures.
Like you, we can’t do everything. 
 
We have to focus our energy where we believe that we can be most useful, informed by our skill sets. For us, that means focusing on business as unusual approaches like systemic design and strategic foresight, where we can focus and grow our expertise.​

 
​What we Do:
  • Strategic Foresight
  • Design Facilitation
  • ​System Mapping​
  • Prototyping & Testing
  • Ethnographic Research
  • Graphic Facilitation
  • Scenario Development & Testing
  • Strategy Development
  • ​Strategic Conversations
​What we Don't Do:
  • ​Team Building
  • Operational Planning
  • Issues Management
  • Project Management
  • G​eneral Facilitation
  • Magic*​


​*While Salva is getting better with his card tricks every day, CoLab also doesn't do magic. The challenges that come to CoLab have been years in the making. We won't fix them together in one workshop - but we will accelerate the pace of change.

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