Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is about how to innovate virtually. As more
Speaker 1: organizations keep work from home arrangements or adopt hybrid models,
Speaker 1: people are figuring out new ways to collaborate and innovate.
Speaker 1: The good news is that it is quite possible to
Speaker 1: come up with new ideas even without seeing each other
Speaker 1: in person, as long as people are a little strategic.
Speaker 1: Before the pandemic, working from home was seen as a perk,
Speaker 1: something people could earn over time if they proved themselves.
Speaker 1: Even so, it tended to be reserved for Fridays, which
Speaker 1: are generally seen as the least productive day of the week.
Speaker 1: The thought process was that people who work from home
Speaker 1: aren't really working, so best to minimize the opportunity cost.
Speaker 1: The pandemic changed all of that as offices reopen, though
Speaker 1: some of the old arguments against remote work are resurfacing. Yes,
Speaker 1: people might be more productive when they are not distracted
Speaker 1: by colleagues in their cubicles, and yes, people might be
Speaker 1: more comfortable in their homes when they can set the
Speaker 1: temperature where they want but aren't people more innovative in person.
Speaker 1: I guess the idea is that you bump into someone
Speaker 1: random in the ladies room, have a conversation, and the
Speaker 1: two of you come up with a new billion dollar
Speaker 1: line of business as a result. I am kidding, but
Speaker 1: that is the argument. And yes, there is some literature
Speaker 1: showing that proximity can allow people to cross pollinate their ideas.
Speaker 1: But there are plenty of ways to innovate virtually too,
Speaker 1: especially as new tools allow for virtual collaboration and as
Speaker 1: people supplement virtual collaboration with meeting in person. One of
Speaker 1: the best ways to get good ideas is to generate
Speaker 1: lots of ideas. That's why places do brainstorming sessions, where
Speaker 1: people are supposed to write lots of ideas on the whiteboard. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: the dynamics of in person and often hierarchical groups means
Speaker 1: that people don't suggest ideas, or people criticize ideas prematurely,
Speaker 1: and the boss's ideas get taken way. More seriously, here's
Speaker 1: an idea, create a Google doc or something like that
Speaker 1: where everyone puts at least a dozen ideas. Now you've
Speaker 1: got sixty ideas from the five of you that all
Speaker 1: of you can leave notes on. By the time you
Speaker 1: have a zoom meeting to discuss them, you'll have a
Speaker 1: few leading contenders that you can rely ponder and come
Speaker 1: up with ways to make them work. Good ideas also
Speaker 1: come from casual conversations, so have those. I'd point out
Speaker 1: that many people are going to be in their offices
Speaker 1: at least two to three days per week in this
Speaker 1: new world, and so those days should feature lots of conversations, coffees, lunches,
Speaker 1: happy hours, those random conversations in the ladies room. Then
Speaker 1: people can buckle down and focus on work from home days. However,
Speaker 1: it is quite possible to have virtual conversations to bounce
Speaker 1: ideas off people, so set up a few calls with
Speaker 1: your office friends. Ask your work friends to pair you
Speaker 1: up with people that they know and you don't. Everyone
Speaker 1: should be networking anyway. Form a mastermind group with a
Speaker 1: few folks who are similarly oriented for more than one
Speaker 1: every week. You can be debating an idea with a
Speaker 1: group and coming up with new ideas together. And of
Speaker 1: course you can participate in any industry virtual conversations. You
Speaker 1: write a blog post for an industry website and people
Speaker 1: will email you their thoughts about it. This can help
Speaker 1: you refine your ideas. You can also create virtual events
Speaker 1: that will get people thinking. Host a virtual conversation with
Speaker 1: an expert in your organization or industry and get people
Speaker 1: to listen in and ask questions. This will spark some
Speaker 1: new ideas too. In any case, I would point out
Speaker 1: that my team and I don't work in the same place,
Speaker 1: and yet the enterprise that is my business, with feedback
Speaker 1: from friends and colleagues, comes up with a new Before
Speaker 1: Breakfast topic every weekday morning, multiple blog post per week,
Speaker 1: a weekly newsletter, new books every two years, and so forth.
Speaker 1: You can get new ideas anywhere. In person conversations are great,
Speaker 1: and so are all the other methods. They aren't an
Speaker 1: opposition at all. They can all work together. In the meantime.
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making
Speaker 1: the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to
Speaker 1: hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook
Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod that's B the number four,
Speaker 1: then Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me
Speaker 1: an email at Before Breakfast Podcast at i heeart Media
Speaker 1: dot com. That before Breakfast is spelled out with all
Speaker 1: the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward to staying
Speaker 1: in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio.
Speaker 1: For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i
Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 1: your favorite shows. H