3 Ways to Foster Remote Creativity

When Steve Jobs set out to redesign the Pixar studios, he noticed that engineers sat in one building, while animators sat in another. The directors and producers – they worked in yet another. Cut off from each other, each team lacked the daily interactions and commingling of different cultures that spur creativity. So he broke the walls down.

Remote employees can feel equally as isolated. And when they do, creativity suffers. Why? The less diverse our experiences, the less creative and more stagnant we become. This is true in our personal – as well as professional – lives. When the highlight of the day is walking from our kitchen to our home office, it’s hard to generate new ideas.

To foster a creative environment, hybrid organizations must find new ways to generate new ideas. This comes down to input and connections – unexpected experiences and new people, places, and ideas that challenge old ideas and thought patterns. But with so many people in so many places, creating those connections takes a deliberate approach.

Three Ideas for Hybrid Creativity

• Encourage In-Person Meetings
  Give teams the freedom and time to meet in unstructured settings. Book clubs and interest groups bring different people with different skillsets together in new and interesting environments. It’s an incredible way to help them break through ruts and monotony.
• Allow for Extracurriculars
  Don’t just let hybrid workers enjoy downtime – encourage it. Midday walks, volunteer work, classes, and coffee breaks (at the coffee shop). Allowing time to get outside of the home office and experience the world leads to new ideas inside the office.
• Rethink Brainstorms
  Traditional brainstorming is, by and large, ineffective. Managers expect employees to show up to a pre-scheduled meeting and think of ideas on the spot. Please, don’t do this. Instead, give remote workers a problem to solve well in advance. This can include prompts, challenges, and the freedom to seek solutions together. With preparation and the mandate to think outside the box, brainstorming meetings will lead to truly innovative solutions.

New Experiences. New Ideas.

Without creative thinking, innovation dies. Building a hybrid culture that fosters it takes some creative, out-of-the-box thinking as well. Find new ways to bring employees together. Encourage them to seek inspiration beyond the walls of their home office. Don’t micromanage their timecards. With the right strategy in place, remote workers might become your most creative.

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