The other day at work we were discussing a whole range of potential themes to dig more into, as the fall approaches, and we’re taking on exploring new, interesting ideas.
One of the themes, we of course quickly came to discuss is “Work From Home” (WFH) as a general trend. I don’t think I need to explain why:
WFH has become a necessity due to Covid-19, and we’re already seeing how different sectors are catching on. As an example real estate agents in Denmark has already started touting the availability of “the home office” as a cool feature of listed properties.
So a lot of things are being done, and people are looking for business opportunities in this New Normal. As they should.
However, I can’t escape the feeling that we have got this the wrong way – at least from a stand point of maintaining our ability to be innovative and creative about things (something fx the Danes have always prided themselves in).
What do I mean?
An awful lot of ‘success stories’ on WFH that I hear have to do with jobs, where you can tick boxes, i.e. task or to do-lists. People find it a breeze to be able to sit at home with little or no distractions and just get stuff done.
I get it.
But what we don’t hear so much about are the proactive, creative processes. Those that are necessary for innovation and creativity to happen and for those task lists to be generated in the first place.
Why?
Because they are infinitely harder to do remote. They crave for people coming together and finding new ways of doing things; of being in the moment, be open and just make a collective go at it.
“But there are a lot of people doing workshops remotely and being quite efficient about it”, you might argue.
Perhaps.
But still: Every article I see about how to fx do brainstorms remotely are ultimately guides into turning the creative process into a…manageable to do-list. And then we’re right back where we started.
I understand a lot of people will say and feel they have good experiences being efficient about creative processes and put real innovation on a formula. I just beg to differ.
I think it’s next to impossible for 99 out of 100 people to remotely ‘plan’ for creative breakthroughs that ultimately end up unlocking entirely new and valuable revenue streams.
I think it takes getting together, deploying all your human senses, be in the moment, let your mind wander, pick up on the little signals in the room etc.
Anyway, that’s just me and how I feel.
But what I am certain off is that we are looking at WFH through the wrong lens; that we’re (again) confusing short term results for long term sustainability.
(Photo: Pixabay.com)