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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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Speaker 1: Today's tip is about how to innovate virtually. As more

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Speaker 1: organizations keep work from home arrangements or adopt hybrid models,

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Speaker 1: people are figuring out new ways to collaborate and innovate.

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Speaker 1: The good news is that it is quite possible to

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Speaker 1: come up with new ideas even without seeing each other

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Speaker 1: in person, as long as people are a little strategic.

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Speaker 1: Before the pandemic, working from home was seen as a perk,

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Speaker 1: something people could earn over time if they proved themselves.

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Speaker 1: Even so, it tended to be reserved for Fridays, which

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Speaker 1: are generally seen as the least productive day of the week.

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Speaker 1: The thought process was that people who work from home

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Speaker 1: aren't really working, so best to minimize the opportunity cost.

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Speaker 1: The pandemic changed all of that as offices reopen, though

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Speaker 1: some of the old arguments against remote work are resurfacing. Yes,

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Speaker 1: people might be more productive when they are not distracted

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Speaker 1: by colleagues in their cubicles, and yes, people might be

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Speaker 1: more comfortable in their homes when they can set the

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Speaker 1: temperature where they want but aren't people more innovative in person.

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Speaker 1: I guess the idea is that you bump into someone

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Speaker 1: random in the ladies room, have a conversation, and the

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Speaker 1: two of you come up with a new billion dollar

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Speaker 1: line of business as a result. I am kidding, but

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Speaker 1: that is the argument. And yes, there is some literature

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Speaker 1: showing that proximity can allow people to cross pollinate their ideas.

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Speaker 1: But there are plenty of ways to innovate virtually too,

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Speaker 1: especially as new tools allow for virtual collaboration and as

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Speaker 1: people supplement virtual collaboration with meeting in person. One of

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Speaker 1: the best ways to get good ideas is to generate

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Speaker 1: lots of ideas. That's why places do brainstorming sessions, where

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Speaker 1: people are supposed to write lots of ideas on the whiteboard. Unfortunately,

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Speaker 1: the dynamics of in person and often hierarchical groups means

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Speaker 1: that people don't suggest ideas, or people criticize ideas prematurely,

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Speaker 1: and the boss's ideas get taken way. More seriously, here's

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Speaker 1: an idea, create a Google doc or something like that

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Speaker 1: where everyone puts at least a dozen ideas. Now you've

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Speaker 1: got sixty ideas from the five of you that all

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Speaker 1: of you can leave notes on. By the time you

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Speaker 1: have a zoom meeting to discuss them, you'll have a

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Speaker 1: few leading contenders that you can rely ponder and come

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Speaker 1: up with ways to make them work. Good ideas also

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Speaker 1: come from casual conversations, so have those. I'd point out

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Speaker 1: that many people are going to be in their offices

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Speaker 1: at least two to three days per week in this

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Speaker 1: new world, and so those days should feature lots of conversations, coffees, lunches,

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Speaker 1: happy hours, those random conversations in the ladies room. Then

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Speaker 1: people can buckle down and focus on work from home days. However,

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Speaker 1: it is quite possible to have virtual conversations to bounce

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Speaker 1: ideas off people, so set up a few calls with

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Speaker 1: your office friends. Ask your work friends to pair you

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Speaker 1: up with people that they know and you don't. Everyone

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Speaker 1: should be networking anyway. Form a mastermind group with a

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Speaker 1: few folks who are similarly oriented for more than one

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Speaker 1: every week. You can be debating an idea with a

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Speaker 1: group and coming up with new ideas together. And of

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Speaker 1: course you can participate in any industry virtual conversations. You

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Speaker 1: write a blog post for an industry website and people

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Speaker 1: will email you their thoughts about it. This can help

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Speaker 1: you refine your ideas. You can also create virtual events

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Speaker 1: that will get people thinking. Host a virtual conversation with

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Speaker 1: an expert in your organization or industry and get people

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Speaker 1: to listen in and ask questions. This will spark some

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Speaker 1: new ideas too. In any case, I would point out

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Speaker 1: that my team and I don't work in the same place,

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Speaker 1: and yet the enterprise that is my business, with feedback

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Speaker 1: from friends and colleagues, comes up with a new Before

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Speaker 1: Breakfast topic every weekday morning, multiple blog post per week,

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Speaker 1: a weekly newsletter, new books every two years, and so forth.

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Speaker 1: You can get new ideas anywhere. In person conversations are great,

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Speaker 1: and so are all the other methods. They aren't an

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Speaker 1: opposition at all. They can all work together. In the meantime.

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Speaker 1: This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making

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Speaker 1: the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to

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Speaker 1: hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,

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Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook

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Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod that's B the number four,

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Speaker 1: then Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me

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Speaker 1: an email at Before Breakfast Podcast at i heeart Media

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Speaker 1: dot com. That before Breakfast is spelled out with all

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Speaker 1: the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to staying

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Speaker 1: in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio.

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