New Collaboration Study Findings and how to avoid them
Hello,
I've seen two recent studies regarding collaboration and creativity in on- and off-line environments. After reviewing their conclusions and methodologies, I don't accept their conclusions. But read them for yourself -- and I'd love to hear your experience.
From Harvard Business Review:
Research has found that team collaboration has been especially impaired in terms of creative work, visioning, and decision-making outcomes since the pandemic began.
And from Nature:
Research published in Nature this week proposes that, in some instances, in-person collaboration can foster greater creativity than when people work together using videoconferencing.
This last study was brought to my attention by a current Expedition participant. My response to her email: I bet they weren't Gamestorming. She lol'd back.
Curious about what they were doing to generate and then evaluate creativity, I dug into the researchers' methodology. They conducted workshops with the following agenda:
60-minute introduction lecture
60-minute lecture on creativity and idea selection
Randomly paired engineers, given their assigned condition (in-person or virtual), were asked to generate ideas for 45 - 60 minutes
Pairs chose one idea to refine and submit
We're all figuring out how to adapt to our still-changing work environment, and it's natural to struggle along the way. But I don't believe we are fated to these results; having facilitated over 150 virtual workshops since March 2020, I'm quite certain of it.
If that agenda looks all-too-familiar, you don't understand why it makes for poor creative output or you want more creativity, collaboration, and camaraderie with your team - no matter where they are - check out an Expedition. Registration is open.