Productivity During Covid-19 – At What Cost?

Valuing productivity over innovation may turn into a short-sighted strategy

Remote working has been a major coup for those that have wanted to work from home for some time.  Companies across industries (both those that embrace remote working and those that swore against it) are seeing that productivity of their staff has increased. Companies in all different industries are swearing that they may never have their staff come back to the office!

I would caution each and every one of those companies that they shouldn’t make that decision based on what they’ve seen to date. The reality is that after almost eight months of remote working, people have been able to stay busy on the things that were planned at the beginning of the year. But what happens when the current projects dwindle? Operations can continue but not for those involved in project-based work. 

Project-based work is the result of the strategic vision within an organization. And I would contend that innovation doesn’t happen remotely. Studies have shown that the water cooler effect is real. People develop new ideas and innovate better when they get to collaborate. While Zoom may seem to be an answer for some companies, the impact of a face-to-face interaction is more effective. IBM had 40% of its employees work remotely for over two decades and around 2017, they called everyone back because productivity was good—but innovation was down. As they discovered, innovation is worth more than productivity in the end.

Alas, I’m not sure that companies in the time of Covid-19 have had the chance to recognize that.  Getting “back to normal” doesn’t mean that everyone has to come back into the office. It very well may mean that a hybrid approach is more realistic. Either way, given the need for being remote and the need for companies to continue to innovate, innovation can be a challenge to most organizations during this pandemic. How do you nurture that innovation now given we don’t know how much longer this will last? Here are some ideas:

If you can’t be face-to-face and Zoom is causing fatigue, look at the roles in the organization that you’ve hired with the purpose of ideating and innovating specifically. How are they currently working? Have they focused their attention on tactics given the uncertainty of the pandemic? Can you redefine how people work together at designated times to do nothing but brainstorm new ideas or build out a particular one? Set up an appointment at regular intervals to focus on innovation and not operational problems. With an eye towards employee safety concerns and their comfort, bring together some designated people in the office to do some face-to-face development work.

So much time is being spent on tasks that can be done independently (e.g., tactical tasks). Organizations are all in the same boat and while productivity is up, innovation is down. How can you encourage innovation? Create some problem-solving brainstorm sessions. Some of the best ideas can come from a brainstorm session if you follow the rules. Start out in the initial stage of this meeting and just capture any and all ideas. During these sessions, there is no such thing as a bad idea.
 

a) No dissecting ideas in detail. Once the initial capture is done, there will be time to dig in deeper to understand if and how an idea could be implemented.
b) No dissing of ideas. Dissing ideas is literally the number one way to prevent anyone else from sharing their ideas. If you think an idea is stupid or not worth jotting down…fight the urge to dismiss it. Write it down anyway. The most eloquent of ideas can come when people aren’t worried about looking foolish in front of their peers.
c) Encourage risk taking and audacious ideas. Even if the group wants to jump in and complain about an idea (see b above), don’t do it. Sometimes, the best of ideas come from the most audacious thoughts. In the brainstorm session, encourage pie in the sky type of ideas.
d) Everyone gets a say. On Zoom calls, it is easy to stay silent and in the background. If the group is large enough, you may not even be visible on the gallery view. Yet, in a true brainstorm session, you can call on people to share ideas if they aren’t speaking up.

Once you have a list of everyone’s ideas, you can then begin to dive into them. You can break the ideas into categories. For example: 
 

A. Great idea. Keep on the board
B. Too costly
C. Can’t get the organization to the desired outcomes
D. Great idea but wrong time
E. Poor idea for this organization

This doesn’t happen easily. Most people aren’t comfortable in a risk-taking role. Risk is often associated with losing your job. This is a culture shift. No risk, no reward. To create an environment like that might be easier to achieve during the Covid-19 pandemic. If so, make the most of it. Build in governance and oversight and agree to fail fast if trying out something risky.

Companies need people to create strategies and people to execute on them (innovators and implementors). Find people with a mix of those skills and put them together while they are working remotely. Someone to talk to; someone who can pick up the phone when it’s time to get coffee and “stand around the water cooler” virtually to start to drive new ideas.

Don’t be too comfortable with productivity gains through work from home. Innovation is a group activity. You have to think outside of the box as to how to be creative and innovative. Creating an environment to drive that takes a bit of innovation in its own right.