We don’t have to be less creative when working remotely, or even when working from home-we can be more creative. By leveraging what’s unique about remote work and the tools to make it happen, we can boost our creativity, both individually and collectively. Here are five ways we can do it:

Remote work lets everyone contribute ideas

  • During a brainwriting session, each team member individually creates their ideas, during or before the brainstorming session, without discussion
  • Everyone shares their thoughts at the same time by pasting on a common platform-an online collaborative whiteboard or something as simple as a shared Word or PowerPoint document or Google Doc

Access to better facilitators

  • With remote work, you can bring in expert facilitators from across the organization or recruit from a bigger pool of external facilitators
  • Facilitators shouldn’t have skin in the game or a vested interest in the ideation session’s output

Let Working from Home Inspire You

  • When working from home, we have more chances for inspiration, even with noisy pets, kids, or partners
  • Remote work can boost our creativity in ways that in-person collaboration can’t
  • Find ways to be more productive when working remotely, but don’t leave creativity out of the conversation

Remote Work Tools Give Us Super Powers

  • Collaborative whiteboard platforms and other digital tools give us new abilities and superpowers that we can’t use during an in-person ideation session
  • With chat, we have an extra channel to communicate, comment on ideas and build on them, and ask questions in a way that is not possible with in-person collaboration

Creativity is boosted by greater team diversity

With remote work, we are no longer limited to the brainpower and creativity of the people in the room. We can bring in a more diverse range of collaborators from other parts of the organization in the same city, in a different country-or outside the organization.

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