What happens to innovation when the "Old Ways"​ keep winning?

I read an article earlier today about the likes of Disney (one of my favorite brands) and Starbucks (I was there this morning), mandating their office employees back to work. And I couldn't help but wonder...how does continuing to move backward impact our ability to innovate?

When innovation is one of the key principles in which companies do business today, it's interesting to explore all the ways we keep moving back instead of moving forward.

I actually get it. It's much easier to go back to something we know then going towards something we don't.

But when that thing didn't really work in the first place, what do we risk by going back?

One of the arguments in the article specifically stood out to me:

News Corp CEO Robert Thomson wrote,

“There is simply no way that true collective creativity can be consistently generated in not-so-splendid isolation. Screens deny us the subtleties of body language and the nuances of knowing glances. The spontaneity and serendipity of a dynamic office environment are crucial in creating and in iterating, so in-office attendance is vital to our future success.”

I have SO much to say about this. And because I believe creativity is such a huge focus when it comes to marketing, I want to talk about how mindsets like this hold us back, instead of thrust us forward. Let's explore.

What actually creates Collective Creativity?

I'll tell you one thing. It sure as heck isn't "just being in the same place".

I've been in one too many work environments what were totally devoid of any collective focus or creativity. So, being in the same place can't be the primary driver of that experience.

So what is?

Intention.

The intention of creating a collective. And the intention of creating space for creativity.

The idea that all people are creative in the same environment is just ridiculous.

It wasn't true before everyone went to work from home. And it's not true now.

But when we BELIEVE it to be true, we miss out on all of the other forms of creativity we may be able to access through other mechanisms.

So, what if, instead of just going back to what we know, we tried to expand our intentions into more spaces that could better support the people?

Not-So-Splendid Isolation

Again, here we have an assumption that people can't be creative in isolation. But how many authors spend months in isolation while they write? How many painters paint in the silence of their own studio? Even the great Michelangelo mostly worked in isolation.

Isolation isn't uncomfortable from a creativity perspective. It's uncomfortable from a CONTROL perspective.

It's not so splendid because I can't see that you're spending 100% of your 8+ hour work day at your desk. It's not so splendid because management can't control HOW I enter my creative process.

But more importantly, we come back to the fact that if isolation is uncomfortable for ONE person, it must be uncomfortable for ALL people. Which again, just isn't true.

And when we believe that it's true, we go to a lot of work to "convince" other people that they can't possibly be productive in their preferred work environment. The problem is, you can't convince people of that any more. They KNOW they can be productive in their own ways. Maybe even MORE productive than when they were adhering to YOUR ways. And mandating them to do a thing doesn't convince them you're right. It breaks your employee brand experience.

Screens deny us “human nuances”

When I was working in my corporate spaces, I might have agreed that this was true. But having spent the last 2.5 years doing 100% of my business online, I understand that this, too, is a false belief.

Although many people would still agree with it. But that's because they haven't experienced the opposite.

I run an online community by the name of Your Business Peeps. We have an INTENTION of creating spaces that break down the screen barriers, and more importantly, break down the barriers between humans.

In those spaces, we consistently create Collective Creativity online.

But if you don't believe it's possible, you can never create it.

And let's be honest. When I worked in corporate, there use to be people who would hide behind their laptop for entire meetings and not read the human nuances in the room anyway. That is a culture problem. Not a human proximity problem.

Creating Spontaneity and Serendipity

Let's dig one step deeper on this one. Does this happen because of the office environment? Or does it happen in CONVERSATION?

My argument is that the thing that's critical to creating spontaneity and serendipity is the quality of the conversation. NOT the space.

But if you're not using online spaces to create this space; or your employees don't have the relationships with each other that would lead to these types of conversations; putting them in a physical space together isn't the answer.

Why can't a team of people, some in person and some logged in on zoom, create the same type of spontaneity as having all people in person?

The answer is, they can.

And again...if someone is calling in from a home office space that makes them feel more creative, isn't the likelihood of these moments even greater?

I find myself fairly constantly in an experience of spontaneity when in conversation on my weekly LinkedIn Live series, Conversations. Because when you're having interesting conversations with interesting people, you can always be surprised.

What happens when we're WRONG about what's vital?

These companies aren't listening to their people. They don't want to come back to the office because they don't believe they need to come back to the office. And instead of listening to what they have to say, we mandate the people back.

Do we really think that's BUILDING our brand experiences?

Brand experiences start with your employees.

And if we continue to create US (management) vs THEM (the people) scenarios, we're going to do nothing but break our relationships with them even more.

We're not looking deep enough at what's vital.

We're only looking at what we THINK is vital based on how we used to do things in the past. But this is the New World. And Old World ways of thinking might have worked in the Old World. But we don't live there any more.

We need to do something else. Something new.

But what?

Innovation & Creation

We create something new.

Which is scary.

It's even scarier when you've created something HUGE based on something OLD. But we forget that we've done it before.

The Disney's and Starbucks's of the world were created based on the concept of something new. They thrived on the concept of something new.

And it's possible again.

And it's equally important for those of us who don't have huge companies (yet).

Creating something new is about evolution. And everything that we still have as humans has evolved.

And evolution is always scary. Because it's about forging a new path through the jungle instead of just driving down the paved motorway.

But that's where innovation is found.

If we're not going to look for new ways of addressing the remote work problem, in what other business areas are we failing to evolve?

What are you Creating in Sales & Marketing?

It's time to re-assess your Marketing & Sales functions on this front as well. Are you still doing all the things you used to do? Are they filling your funnel the way you want them to? Because if not, it's time to create a new way 💡

Let's chat about what the digital equivalent of your remote work challenges look like in the sales and marketing funnel.

Because you don't HAVE to keep doing it the same way. You CHOOSE to keep doing it the same way. It's time to choose something different 💖