As the post-pandemic pace of change accelerates, innovation remains critical. Customers expect it. If you don't achieve it, your competitors may outflank you. Talented employees may not join – or stay with – your company if you do not deliver. Analysts anticipate it. It is rewarded by investors.

Companies that promote remote work often see employees thrive, develop a sunnier disposition, and increase productivity. The good news is that innovation doesn't get lost when everyone is working remotely.

According to a McKinsey research of over 200 firms across industries, 90% of polled executives believe COVID-19 will profoundly change how they do business in the next five years. 85% believe the epidemic will have an indefinite influence on their clients' requirements.

Business leaders are pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to bring remote workers together to interact digitally. Since the start of the pandemic, remote business giants like Zoom and Microsoft Teams have improved their user experience by offering features like meeting rooms.

Because remote workers do not share physical workspaces, casual bar meetings, or impromptu lunchtime conversations that can lead to creative work decisions, they may feel overwhelmed by the lack of creative opportunities. Companies like Zapier and GitHub worked remotely until 2020 and didn't feel a lack of innovation among their employees.

We found that most of the companies are considering working remotely to scale up innovation, adding that multiple processes need to be implemented to provide a solid foundation for seamless virtual collaboration.

Boost Your Productivity With Clear Business Goals and Objectives

While it is important that your remote team is focused on business goals and objectives, taking the time to work on their own projects can help them find innovative ideas and approaches that can deliver significant business value. When a team can easily gather and exchange ideas, innovation is born.

Always Keep A Line Of Communication Open

Fortunately, new technological advances in communications, team collaboration, real-time video calling, and project management are already helping to alleviate many of the historic challenges of telecommuting.

Most remote control problems can be solved with better communication and transparency. Open and ongoing communication is key to encouraging this kind of innovative thinking among teams working from home. You can use Slack to communicate with people more effectively, whether it's individuals or the entire company.

Use The Right Tools To Encourage Collaboration

With the right tools and techniques, you can enable your entire team to collaborate creatively. Management of remote teams, on the other hand, does not have to be difficult, and with the right tools and processes, your remote projects can be as productive, efficient, and successful as any internal project.

Trello, a cloud-based project management tool, may help you keep track of new ideas and proposals while also keeping track of your team's present workload. You can create a bulletin board where individuals can post their innovative ideas and receive feedback from others.

Convert More Flexibility Into Better Work-Life Balance

Most remote working organizations provide flexible hours, which can help fulfill childcare needs while also giving employees more freedom to work when they're most productive. This allows you to more easily align your professional and personal lives, which can help you retain employees and attract fresh talent.

Although the employer's flexibility is beneficial, you are ultimately responsible for achieving a better work-life balance. Plan your day carefully if you want this balance to work.

Encourage Serendipitous Meetings

It's not always difficult to encourage creative thinking at work: you just need to provide space for it. Even though it seems weird or even terrifying to some, encouraging individuals to experiment with an idea can lead to a solution, whether you're in a remote or mixed corporate world.

And instead of relying on processes or work orders to solve these problems, companies often find that spontaneous, interactive, and collaborative brainstorming moments can provide a solution.

Momentum Thrive In Fully Remote Environment

There are far fewer restrictions on where people can work in a remote work setting. Companies can gain a considerable edge by expanding their talent pool to include people who reside in close proximity to, well, the world. Not only does this allow for the hiring of workers from different time zones who can, in principle, give 24/7 coverage, but it also allows for the benefit of hearing new ideas for the firm from the best and brightest employees all over the world.

Hiring remote workers is the ideal way to build a team since you can hire the best people from anywhere. Workers and management working together to deliver the finest effort possible are what team innovation is all about.

Hybrid Work Schedule Can Be Better For Innovation

Even if your organization moves to a hybrid work schedule, the experience of absence is likely to persist as not everyone will be in the office on the same day. Taking some time to work remotely can help your employees find peace and quiet so that they can tackle the project the way they see fit, but the lack of contact with colleagues still has its drawbacks. In a Buffer study, 21% of employees rated collaboration and communication as the biggest challenge when working remotely.

This can lead not only to increased productivity, but also to greater flexibility, innovation, and diversity within your organization. Using a hybrid or fully remote workforce can also help you save significant overhead costs.

Looking ahead …

While technological advances will help determine the ability of companies to innovate when they work remotely, how they manage people is also critical. Managers who are more likely to succeed are those who are able to manage the diverse work environment of their employees, ensuring that everyone is working towards the same goal and building trust between their teams. This will require new ways of working for all team members and across different organizations.

Working remotely will never replace the personal connection that comes from meeting and collaborating in person. But, even in these uncertain times, we're making it work - and working well.

Whether you are in the product discovery phase or are looking for a partner to launch your software development project, CONTACT US! We’re happy to help you discover the advantages of a dedicated remote team!