How Innovation Slows Remote Work - and how to Solve Remote Innovation

Jakob — Mon, 13 Sep 2021 16:52:01 +0000

How Remote Work Drains Innovation
How to Solve Remote Innovation
Innovation Tools, Platforms, Techstack

How Remote Work Drains Innovation

Let's be honest, some of us like working remote. A lot.

Your desk, your coffee, your flexible work hours. Companies and people are waking up to a new dawn; a time where remote work is the default.

But with great remote comes great responsibility.

It isn't all cherry trees. Companies worry about their culture if they are remote or that are going remote. People don't see face to face in the same way. Trust needs to be established in new ways and a common purpose and culture needs to be kept up; while previously it was just, you know, there.

Weekly check-ins. Daily check-ins. Zoom workshops. Team camps. There are a lot of remedies, but one problem remains:

Silos continue to grow, just without anyone seeing it.

The sales team ignores the marketing team, the dev team ignores the sales team and happenstance that previously brought Tim and Gupta together at the watercooler to talk about page load speed issues

As the world moves to remote work teams are starting to realize that if nothing is done, teams and companies innovate slower. Less goal-oriented. Ideas are not cross-germinated or shared.

How do you stop the innovation drain train?

How to Solve Remote Innovation

Unexpectedly, the core to solving remote innovation lies in doubling down on the remote reality. You cannot deny the truth or change the future. Fighting it is futile.

And, yes, while a yearly team camp or a quarterly brainstorming session can hide the pain and spark some innovation - it just does not cut it for co-workers, companies, leaders or the fast paced global competition.

When you can't make people's ideas and voices heard every day your innovation will fail; you'll have to find a way.

The answer is continuous innovation. Creating goal-oriented idea collections that can be created in seconds, accessed by anyone and where contributions can be added at any time of night or day. From home, from the plane (if it's a fancy plane) or even during a meeting, so it's not lost after the meeting.

Ideas need a home. A place to grow. A place where everyone in the company knows their ideas will be treated fairly. With a transparent and predictable process that moves ideas in days and weeks, not quarters.

Give people more ownership in how they work and they will fill it with purpose. Give people more ownership in how they innovate and they will share more willingly.

Innovation Tools, Platforms, Techstack

This is dev.to - so a brief mention of some good idea and innovation management solutions for remote work is in order.

Mind you, of course you can re-invent the wheel. But for all I can say, the innovation-led growth flywheel is already out there, spinning.

If you want to run productive innovation meetings, a real-time whiteboard solution can help you pin down ideas.

From real-time whiteboards to goal-oriented idea collections with idea management.

It's time for you to create an idea collection that starts and keeps going.

A place for ideas grow.

DEV Community: Jakob

How Innovation Slows Remote Work - and how to Solve Remote Innovation

Table Of Contents

How Remote Work Drains Innovation

How to Solve Remote Innovation

Innovation Tools, Platforms, Techstack