Introducing the Cool Collaborations Podcast
Many months ago, I had a random thought about putting together a podcast that focused on collaboration. There wasn’t any shape or form to the idea; I didn’t know anything specific other than this general idea. But, over time, the idea evolved and became an actual concept for a podcast, where I would interview people who had led or been part of successful collaboration to try and understand what worked and why. I decided to call it Cool Collaborations, and it became tied into my personal goal to help more of us understand why collaboration is such a powerful force for solving problems and provide insights that help us grow as effective collaborators.
Is started with no real understanding of what it takes to put together a podcast. I called a few people and asked if they’d be willing to be subjected to my decidedly entry-level interview skills. To my surprise, several people said yes.
I recorded my first interview with Stephani Roy McCallum (at Bravely Lead and Brave Spark Leadership program), a trainer and facilitator who has helped communities and groups all over the world to connect. I first met her at her training session on Outrage Management and was immensely impressed with her experience in tense, high emotion situations. And in subsequent training with Steph, I learned a bit more about the person behind that experience. There isn’t anyone more ‘real’ for a first conversation on collaboration.
In the beginning, it was all about the interview. I’d schedule people, figure out some questions, and record. But a recorded interview is not a podcast. It wasn’t until I spoke with Rebecca, another potential podcast guest, that I got the push I needed to go from recording interviews to publishing an actual podcast, because she agreed to be a guest only after the podcast was published.
And with that, I learned how to go from a recording to a podcast. I found Jack, a mastering engineer at Vital Mastering, who not only edited the audio and put together intro and outro, but gave feedback on cover art, music, and listing with various podcast directories. I’ve even launched a GoFundMe campaign to help keep cover the basic costs of putting together a podcast.
And, just prior to the Thanksgiving long-weekend, I launched Cool Collaborations. It’s now listed on Apple Podcasts and Stitcher, with more listings in the works. I am super proud of this first offering, and I’m looking forward to the next episodes.
In a sense, the podcast is a kind of collaboration. Steph and I explored ideas together on the first episode, and I was prompted into action by Rebecca. Jack built off of that work by applying his skills to make it a real podcast. And, I am hoping to keep it going with interesting, quality conversations into the future.
Listen to Cool Collaborations. If you like what you hear, subscribe, rate it, and recommend it to your friends. And visit the Can We Learn to Collaborate GoFundMe campaign to provide support for future episodes.
Happy Collaborating!
Scott Millar often works as a "peacemaker" by gathering people with different experiences and values and helping them navigate beyond their differences to tackle complex problems together. Through Collaboration Dynamics, he offers a program in High Performance Collaboration, where he guides groups to explore the nature of collaboration, inclusivity, and innovation, and acquire new abilities to create the conditions that enable groups to contribute and thrive in challenging environments.
