Creative Collaboration in the Virtual Workspace
With the sheer number of companies moving to virtual and distributed work, the question of workplace organizational strategy is increasingly critical to the future of business and industry. Where, when, and how can collaboration happen in today’s working world? Is teamwork still a top priority?
Creative collaboration is the source of innovation, and without innovation, business is going nowhere fast.
The case for asynchronous collaboration
Ideas are living things, which means, at its core, creativity is an organic process subject only to the tools human beings use to wrangle it. For business leaders, the trick is to provide the circumstances under which creativity can thrive without imposing artificial limits upon it.
Connection is essential to collaborative organizational strategy, but it’s not limited to technology and logistics. When leadership clings to a vision of employees happily spitballing around a conference table, they neglect the possibilities inherent to a creative process. Virtual collaboration demands access to easy communication and a novel approach to teamwork. While it’s essential to include every team member in every relevant interaction, employers would do better to embrace asynchronous collaboration.
Time differences, scheduling conflicts, and different ways of being “at work” feed the corporate compulsion to overcompensate, and hyper-coordination is antithetical to innovation.
Asynchronous collaboration in action
To promote high-level collaboration, focus on breaking down traditional office communication barriers to allow employees more autonomy in their efforts to work together. Hyper-coordinated collaboration may include rigid schedules and limited communication channels. Consider the following:
Video collaboration most closely mimics the aforementioned “spitballing session,” so it’s subject to many of the same problems as in-person meetings, including limited participation, performance pressure, and time constraints.
Deadline-driven collaboration works well when creativity forms one piece of a problem-solving puzzle, but it can inhibit overall innovation.
Cloud collaboration, in which team members can access and edit projects in real time, works best when each team member has a designated role in an established creative process and understands when and where their contribution is needed.
Asynchronous collaboration can incorporate any combination of these methods — or not — depending on goals, deadlines, and the ability of each contributor to work under guided autonomy. But asynchronous teamwork may also look like a virtual “ideas” channel or a discussion board to which each team member is invited to add to the creative conversation. This can be particularly helpful for companies with employees working across multiple time zones.
Supporting creative collaboration
Effective workplace organizational strategy is key to organizational success; 97% of employees and executives report negative impact on tasks or projects due to a lack of team alignment. Use these best practices to create cohesion in asynchronous teams:
Meaningful meetings. Ensure each meeting has a clear purpose. When your employees are asked to attend a meeting, they should recognize it as a worthwhile use of their time.
Allow for a variety of communication styles. Clear communication is crucial, but not everyone communicates the same way. Each team should have the autonomy to decide on their most efficient method of communication. Invite input from team members and establish procedures to accommodate a variety of needs and communication styles.
Centralize relevant content. Organize all communications, project guidelines, data, feedback, and other relevant information in one easily accessible, virtual location.
Establish psychological safety. For collaborative creativity to thrive, each contributor must feel supported in a psychologically safe work environment. Maintain regular one-on-one communication with members, reach out to anyone who seems less involved in group activity, and treat each team member and their creative contributions with respect.
Creative collaboration is about bridging distance, whether geographical or psychological, to improve performance and productivity. Artificial boundaries limit innovation. Use asynchronous collaboration to expand your thinking — and your company’s creative capability — and give novel ideas an opportunity to thrive.
Learn more about creating Organizational Flow at fitch-consulting.com.