August 9, 2021
Does working remotely spark creativity?
Does working remotely spark creativity?
It’s no secret that remote work is on the rise. Since 2020, many companies, particularly in the tech industry, have adopted either hybrid or fully remote frameworks. While the forced transition was difficult for many at the start of the pandemic, workers grew to cherish the flexibility of the remote model.
With the ability to manage your own time and reclaim the time once stolen by commutes, it’s no surprise that the remote model is popular among employees and employers. After all, a 9-5 job seldom provides the freedom most crave; this freedom is the exact reason nearly six in ten employees work from home at least once a week.
While the convenience of remote work is evident, a more unexpected benefit to this model is the increased creativity that many workers report. In both the professional and personal sense, employees feel that their freedom grants them the ability and time to exercise the creative muscle that often goes underused in the corporate world.
Why are workers more creative in a remote setup?
Think back to a time when your work schedule was the most stringent. Most likely, you’re bouncing from meeting to meeting, switching context, then commuting to get home at the end of the day. How creative did you feel with all of your time already accounted for? Most likely, you were tired and burned out to indulge in your favorite hobbies.
Freedom is linked to creativity. Remote workers cite all of the following as creative benefits to a distributed team model:
- Fewer interactions and more asynchronous collaboration allow people to contribute thoughtfully. With the time to reflect between meetings, frequently, at-home employees perform at a higher level than their in-person counterparts.
- Zoom or other conferencing tools can often alleviate anxiety, encouraging more introverted personalities to speak up. Online communication comes easier to many and can therefore foster increased collaboration.
- More time in your day means less stress. Employees note that their mental health improves by managing their time as they see fit. Anxiety, depression, and other mental health concerns impede creativity and prevent individuals from performing their best.
- Task diversity is challenging in the office. While routine can be helpful for us, habits can quickly become mundane. Working from home enables you to change your environment as you see fit. Whether working from a coffee shop or taking a midday break to exercise, you can change scenery and recharge easier than the average in-office employee.
The importance of creativity in the workplace
Creativity isn’t siloed to specific times of day – this means that when remote people feel more creative at home, it will bleed over into their professional life. With many leaders citing innovation as a criterion for success, your company’s best interest is to foster individuality and expression within teams. While we live in a highly competitive society, teams develop the best ideas together. Applying creative thinking to work will not only encourage team unity but also:
- Improve the ability to attract and retain talent: Creative employees who feel autonomy over time are happier. Happier employees stay put, and perspective employees can detect a culture of contentment.
- Improve focus: By weaponizing creativity in the workplace, you can effectively minimize burnout and therefore improve focus. People can perform their best when they are happy, relaxed, and clear-minded.
- Promotes problem-solving: When you encourage out-of-the-box thinking, you often find better solutions to your problems. Encouraging fresh perspectives will encourage innovative answers.
Tips to improve creativity while working remotely
You may now wonder how exactly you can foster a creative environment for yourself or a team. Here are a few quick tips:
- Make time to communicate with others - Collaboration promotes creativity more than anything else. Hearing about a problem a coworker is solving may spark a new solution for a problem you’re working on. You could bring a fresh perspective to their work and vice versa. Leverage your coworkers.
- Step out of your routine - Whether it’s diversifying tasks, environments, or your schedule, make sure to switch it up. Everyone benefits from a new perspective. Pay mind to when a routine becomes a rut.
- Pre-brainstorm the brainstorm - Individual brainstorming is proven to be more successful and productive than group brainstorming. Because of social dynamics or tangential conversations, group brainstorms have diminishing returns. Take time to form cohesive ideas before a session to stand out in a group and give yourself (and your team) a better starting point.
- Choose a stimulating atmosphere - When thinking about how to improve your office space, consider the sound, color, temperature, and lighting. some text
- Sound - Quiet environments are crucial to focus.
- Color - Let’s face it, traditional office colors like brown, beige, and white are depressing and uninspiring. Pastel blues and greens promote relaxation, and indoor plants can increase happiness and creativity.
- Temperature - When people are too hot or too cold, they’re distracted. Find a happy medium.
- Lighting - Nature light is ideal, but if that’s not an option, just provide some areas with bright light for focus and others with dim to promote creativity.
- Ask for feedback - Whether anonymously or directly, soliciting feedback almost always grants you a new perspective on your work and approach.
Hybrid or fully remote environments promote creativity by enabling individuals to have autonomy over their days. When environment changes and task diversity are encouraged, burnout and stress are reduced, and ideas flow more easily. If you’re not already adopting the remote work model, it might be time to consider otherwise.
