The HR Innovator launches the Co-Development Programme, a confidential, peer-driven format that brings collective intelligence into your teams, led in collaboration with certified facilitator Mahdi Heidarian Bavandpour.
We are very pleased to introduce a new initiative at The HR Innovator: the Co-Development Programme.
Since our first boutique event in London in 2023, The HR Innovator has brought senior HR and business leaders together a few times a year, in London, in Sofia, and soon in more countries. Those days in the room keep teaching us the same lesson. The moments people remember rarely come from the stage. They come from leaders sitting side by side, working through real challenges and learning from each other's experience.
The Co-Development Programme is our commitment to taking that further. We don't want to be only a platform for events a couple of times a year. We want to be the vehicle for real, year-round development inside the organisations we serve, bringing the power of peer learning directly into their teams.
The method behind the programme was born in Quebec, Canada, in the 1990s. Two professors and practitioners, Adrien Payette and Claude Champagne, were troubled by a familiar problem. Organisations invested heavily in training, yet little of it changed how people actually worked. Knowledge was handed down by experts, and it rarely survived the return to the office.
Their answer was simple and radical: practice builds knowledge. Instead of a trainer delivering answers, a small group of peers would work together on real, live challenges. One participant brings a problem, a project or a preoccupation; the others act as consultants. They ask questions, share experience and offer perspective, guided by a clear six-step structure and a facilitator who protects the process.
They called it Co-Development. Over three decades it has spread from Quebec across Europe and beyond, used by leadership teams, public institutions and global companies. The world of work has changed beyond recognition since then. The core idea has not: the intelligence an organisation needs is often already in the room.
To lead the programme, we work in collaboration with Mahdi Heidarian Bavandpour, a certified Co-Development facilitator and ICF-accredited coach. Mahdi has spent close to 20 years across HR, HSE and Operations at Nestlé, Unilever and British American Tobacco. He has also led long-term Co-Development programmes for Bel (12 months) and IranCell (18 months).
Organisations can bring the programme in two ways: Mahdi facilitates the sessions for their team, or he trains one of their own people to become an in-house Co-Development facilitator.
We sat down with Mahdi to talk about what drew him to this work, what really happens inside a session, and why he believes a 30-year-old method matters even more in the age of AI.
You've spent close to 20 years across HR, HSE and Operations at companies like Nestlé, Unilever and British American Tobacco — what pulled you toward facilitation and coaching?
Throughout my career, I noticed something frequently. The toughest business and work challenges were rarely technical, most of the time they were human related.
Whether I was leading HR initiatives, managing operational improvements, or working on safety culture, success always depended on people thinking together, and understanding each other.
That realization led me to coaching and later to Co-Development. I discovered a methodology that unlocks something every organization already has but often underuses: its collective intelligence.
Today, what motivates me most is helping individuals, leaders and managers not only solve their real business challenges, but also working on their improvement areas through learning from one another instead of relying only on external experts.
How does your operational/HSE background shape the way you facilitate?
Having worked in HR, Operations and HSE allows me to understand the realities leaders face every day.
I know what it feels like to make difficult decisions under pressure, manage conflicting priorities and balance people with business results.
That experience helps me ask practical questions and understand the context behind a participant's challenge from different perspective.
I'm not facilitating from theory, I'm facilitating from real experience.
What's the hardest part of the facilitator's job?
The facilitator has two responsibilities.
The first is protecting the Co-Development process and creating a psychologically safe environment where everyone can contribute.
The second is knowing when to step into the conversation and when to step back.
Unlike many facilitation approaches, a Co-Development facilitator is part of the learning circle. If I believe my experience, a question or a different perspective can help the participant or enrich the group's learning, I will contribute it.
But the goal is never to become the consultant with all the answers.
The goal is to help the group build better answers together by combining everyone's experience, including mine when it adds value.
Why does a 30-year-old methodology still work today?
Good question, because the world changes faster than ever, but people still learn best from people.
Artificial Intelligence can generate ideas. Books can provide frameworks. Training can teach skills.
But none of these can replace a group of experienced professionals working together on a real challenge, asking thoughtful questions and building practical solutions.
That's the power of collective intelligence.
In fact, I believe this methodology is even more relevant in the AI era because it develops something technology cannot replace: human judgment, reflection and shared wisdom.
Apart form learning from a group, Co-Development is increasing team understanding, collaboration and team spirit. This will never become old fashion.
What kind of challenges tend to come up in these sessions?
Almost every challenge starts with one problem and ends somewhere completely different.
A participant may come in thinking they have a difficult employee.
Through the group's questions, they discover the real issue is unclear expectations, ineffective communication or even their own leadership approach.
One experience really stayed with me.
After finishing her Co-Development session, one participant smiled and said:
"Before coming here, I had asked my AI 'Board of Directors' for advice. It gave me interesting ideas. But today I received something completely different, real experiences from people who had actually faced similar situations. Those practical examples helped me much more."
That comment perfectly captures what makes Co-Development unique.
AI can generate possibilities but Collective intelligence turns possibilities into practical action.
How do you see this changing over a three-session cycle?
The first thing that changes is trust in positive way.
The second is the quality of the questions.
The third, and probably the most important, is the mindset.
People stop looking for "the expert with the answer."
Instead, they begin trusting the intelligence of the group.
By the third session, participants naturally ask better questions, give more constructive feedback, understand each other more and build solutions together.
That's when Co-Development becomes more than a methodology, it becomes part of the team's culture even outside the circle.
What does success look like one year from now?
Success isn't measured by the number of sessions delivered.
It's measured by conversations that continue after the programme has finished.
If managers begin asking better questions… If teams solve problems together instead of waiting for instructions… If leaders actively seek the collective intelligence of their colleagues before making important decisions…
…then we've achieved something meaningful.
Because the ultimate goal isn't to create dependency on a facilitator.
It's to help organizations become better at learning from themselves.
The programme runs in cycles of three confidential sessions, four hours each, for groups of 6–10 people. It is delivered on-site or virtually, for any department.
There are two ways to bring it in:
Interested? Email team@thehrinnovator.com and get a tailored proposal for your team. Tell us which department, how many people, and what kind of challenges you're facing, and we'll come back with the right format for you.
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