Cracking the Collaboration Code

Master the 5 Elements of Collaborative Intelligence™

Transform how you lead, work, and connect.

Collaboration isn’t soft

It’s not just about being nice.

It’s about how people actually think, communicate, and work together in high-stakes, fast-moving, and often messy environments.

I’ve spent 20 years working with leaders and teams around the world to decode what makes collaboration succeed — and what quietly gets in its way.

What I’ve found is that it’s not about process. It’s not about personality.

It’s about mastering the elemental forces at play in every human interaction.

I call this Collaborative Intelligence™ (CI) — and it might just be your most valuable asset in an AI-shaped world.

The Five Elements of Collaborative Intelligence™

Over 20 years of working with leaders and teams, I started noticing patterns.

Not processes. Not skills.

But elemental forces that seemed to shape how collaboration succeeded — or didn’t.

These became the 5 Elements of Collaborative Intelligence™:

Curiosity

Igniting fresh thinking and open dialogue

Clarity

Aligning focus, purpose, and priorities

Comfort

Building psychological safety (in teams and in ourselves)

Challenge

Creating space for learning and intelligent tension

Communication

Turning shared understanding into coordinated action

Master these, and collaboration becomes a source of energy, not exhaustion.

Ignore them, and it collapses into confusion, consensus, or chaos.

Meet Stuart

I’m Stuart Powell — CEO of Compass Partnership International, global facilitator, and guide to some of the world’s most capable (and stretched) leadership teams.

Over the last 20 years, I’ve worked in 30+ countries with leaders navigating complexity, ambiguity, and transformation.

What I’ve learnt? Collaboration doesn’t just happen. It needs a code.

I created the Collaborative Intelligence™ framework not as a theory, but as a way to decode what actually works — and help leaders unlock it in real time.

Solutions

Keynotes, Workshops, Programmes & Tools.

Whether you’re looking to spark fresh thinking at a leadership offsite or transform how your team collaborates day to day, here’s how we can work together to bring CI to life in your organisation.

Keynote: Cracking the Collaboration Code™

A focused introduction to the 5 Elements of Collaborative Intelligence that sparks clarity and shared understanding.

Team Labs: CI in Practice

Immersive workshops that strengthen collaboration by applying the 5 Elements to real team challenges.

Leading with CI

A development experience that helps leadership teams deepen capability, refine communication, and work with greater cohesion.

The CI Index™

A diagnostic that highlights strengths, blind spots, and development priorities across the five elements.

The CI Index™

A practical diagnostic to assess and improve how your team collaborates.

Even the most experienced teams can’t always see what’s getting in their way.

The CI Index™ is a diagnostic tool that helps you understand where collaboration is working — and where it’s not — across the 5 Elements of Collaborative Intelligence™.

Use it to:

Benchmark your team’s CI (and track it over time)
Identify invisible blockers to better teamwork
Shape your development plans based on real insight, not guesswork

Available in individual, team, and group formats — with optional debriefs, workshops, and follow-up coaching.

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New events coming soon.