Building Creativity into Remote Teams

Building creativity into remote teams is a huge priority for companies of all shapes and sizes. It’s how new ideas form and become reality, establishing a competitive edge. The most successful companies are oftentimes also the most creative in how they find unique paths to productivity and build products that customers didn’t know they needed. They also develop internal cultures that attract top talent.
However, a sea change is throwing a wrench into how companies can coax creativity out of employees. The number of companies with at least partially or completely remote or distributed teams has grown tenfold.
A significant number of people also say they would  leave their job for a company that allowed them to work from home. And while most people report being more productive that way, many don’t receive the support they need to thrive.
Not getting enough support means there are thousands of employees who want to do their jobs remotely but usually end up feeling lonely in the process. It’s an unfortunate recipe for disconnection and disaffection.
Modern teams must anticipate these challenges and build an open, transparent culture that encourages creativity. It’s more than just saying “run wild.” Leaders need to be intentional about how they design a culture. It must be based on trust, alignment, and camaraderie while simultaneously empowering teammates with the right tools to foster that culture.
Build Flexibility into Your Structure.
Innovative companies, including tech startups, thrive by living on the cutting-edge and creating desirable workplaces for their teams. Desirable anything in companies  includes open floor plans , pool tables, provided meals, and beer on tap. But these features do not magically transform offices into relaxed environments conducive to building a strong creative culture. In reality, these well-intentioned efforts sometimes stifle employees. 
The remote team equivalent takes the form of misaligned Slack channels or mundane weekly video conference calls. These efforts do not nourish creative juices or address the big picture. It’s a prescription for anonymity and frustration 
Building an internal culture that genuinely encourages creativity requires an approach more nuanced than grafting office-centric touchpoints onto remote and distributed teams. Research reveals that routine weekly video sync-ups mean little to team connectivity if communication is perceived to be top-down and prescriptive.
For fully distributed teams , extra effort must be made to ensure everyone is heard on a video call to reduce such perceptions.  One easy fix is to negotiate a new time for weekly sync-ups that respects the different time zones in which teammates are working or switching who leads the meeting agenda. The more teams hear diverse voices from within their ranks, the tighter the bond they’ll share together....