Structuring Remote and Hybrid Work to Drive Innovation

To more directly answer the question posed above, the fact is that in-person interaction is not required for innovation, and in fact, virtual teams may be even more innovative than in-person teams. However, the switch from office-based to virtual work does undeniably change team communication patterns, and there is a risk of silo effects or even individual isolation with remote work, which could certainly dampen innovation.

The important lesson to take from the research is that leaders have to be more intentional in prompting innovation with remote or hybrid teams. The following practices are recommended:

• Diversity: Whether in-office or remote, diversity is still an important factor in promoting innovation. One study found that businesses that were more diverse outperformed their less-diverse competition by 36%, an outcome that researchers attributed to higher levels of innovation in diverse firms⁵. Because remote work options allow employers to hire from a broader geographic region, companies may be able to boost their diversity by offering remote work.
  
  
• Moderated hybrid meetings: Teams that innovate well are those that make sure all voices are heard. Hybrid meetings, where some team members are in-office and some participate via video conferencing, run the risk of excluding virtual members. To counter this risk, designating a moderator is recommended. Having an employee monitor the remote chat ensures that attempts to contribute by remote members are not overlooked by the in-person team members.
  
  
• Regular videoconference meetings: Innovation thrives within an environment of trust, and regular contact with team members is important to build this trust. Remote and hybrid work lends itself well to asynchronous work, which helps some employees maintain work-life balance. But maintaining a certain degree of real-time communication is important for building the group relationships that give rise to innovation.
  
  
• Asynchronous brainstorming: For many leaders, the notion of “team innovation” is synonymous with the group brainstorming process, which derives its synergies from in-person interaction. Because virtual meetings have a different “flow” and interactive dynamic, many fear that replacing in-person meetings with virtual meetings will stifle the brainstorming process. The surprising news is that asynchronous brainstorming using virtual communication tools actually outperforms in-person brainstorming in terms of numbers of ideas generated⁶.
  
  Asynchronous brainstorming begins by providing team members the topics to think about on their own. Each team member then submits their ideas anonymously (e.g., using applications like Forms). All ideas are then circulated among the whole team, with further rounds of iteration proceeding as desired. Finally, the team comes together in a video conference session to review the final set of ideas.

• Planned spontaneity: Some employees feel that the loss of impromptu “water cooler moments” with remote work reduces their innovative output. To accommodate employees who thrive on spontaneous interactions, some businesses leverage the breakout session functionality of video conferencing platforms to create brief meetings for randomly-grouped employees. Although the meeting itself is planned, employees never know who will be in their breakout session, adding an element of serendipity to their encounters.
  
  
• Virtual whiteboards: Collaboration platforms like Teams allow you to create chat channels that are dedicated to specific topics or types of conversation. To create a venue for innovation among remote or hybrid workers, some firms designate specific chat channels as “virtual whiteboards,” where employees are free to randomly suggest new ideas for solutions, contribute ideas for solving problems, or evaluate others’ contributions. One firm, Rite-Solutions, created a virtual whiteboard and allocated $10,000 in virtual currency that employees were encouraged to “invest” in ideas that had been suggested. At the end of its first year, the virtual whiteboard yielded ideas that accounted for 50% of the company’s new business growth⁷.