Recently I participated in an innovation project in which I was gathered in a virtual room through a collaboration tool. It was 8 hours exhausting, with some breaks, sitting looking at the monitor screen and interacting with other colleagues in the innovation area. At the end of the day, we feel that as much as we were together in that environment virtually the innovation process is not the same as in the face-to-face.
An MIT survey called The Future of Workplace Learning – A Survey, presents results that despite the efforts of work teams to achieve revolutionary innovations, solve complex problems, build culture and manage conflicts are still carried out much more effectively in person, given the current limitations of technology.
Modified ekvall model (1996)
This research reminds me of the Model proposed by Ekvall, where a creative environment is related to attitudes to work and work atmosphere and how both are important for the development of an organization, culture and innovation and the model proposed by Amabile in 1997 where the work environment directly impacts creativity, talent development, skills and experience.
Organizational Creativity Theory – Amabile (1997)
The leaders of organizations should be attentive to both environments – virtual and face-to-face, in a post-pandemic world of Covid-19, according to an MIT study.
In the Virtual environment the role of a leader orchestrator shows to be essential for the management and establishment of goals, simpler planning, decision making, coordination of work and monitoring of the progress of your team, always maintaining the connection, trust and involvement with team members.
In the social environment, the stimulus to collaboration, creativity and innovation creates a shared culture promoting dedication. To achieve this goal leaders must build trust and createa secureenvironment, this will facilitate communication, creativity, collaboration and the search for a solution.
The post-pandemic world will still teach us many new things. We move forward thinking about innovation and its management.
About Author
Alexandre Bastos holds a master’s degree in Business Administration in the line of research in Information Technology, Management and Innovation at FGV, post-graduated in Innovation Management and Digital Law from FIA, post-graduated in International Business from BSP, Executive MBA and post-graduated in Project Management from the Business School of IMT, graduated in Information Systems at FIAP. Currently works with innovation and consulting for national and international companies, in addition to dedicating himself to new business and investments.