How to Build an Innovation Culture in Remote Teams

6 June.2023

3 min.

Business landscapes have witnessed significant change in recent years. The growth of remote work is one of the most noticeable features. While it has actually translated to an increase in productivity, research has shown that innovation regularly suffers as a result of this modern way of working. Fostering creativity and collaboration in a virtual environment has subsequently become a significant challenge for many organizations.

With the right strategy in place, however, businesses can continue to cultivate a culture where corporate innovation remains strong. Explore different methods to ensure your innovation culture thrives beyond the confines of the office.

1. Make Creativity Accessible and Safe

Remote employees face different challenges compared to those working from an office. The motivation and desire to work on new ideas still relies heavily on accessibility and psychological safety however. Forbes explains that “creativity requires energy, peace of mind, and perspective”. To fuel creativity amongst remote employees, it's important to offer flexible schedules that cater to their unique routines rather than the traditional 9-to-5 grind. Taking it a step further, granting them the freedom to work on new ideas as inspiration strikes can truly unlock their innovative potential.

Many company executives are concerned that their employees, including remote teams, aren’t equipped with the skills needed for innovation. In reality however, placing trust in your team is a key factor to ensure innovation success.

The majority of innovations face failure, and even successful ideas often require an iterative approach. All employees, remote or otherwise, should be reminded that failure is a part of the learning curve and can be a step on the road to success.

2. Enable and Support Virtual Collaboration

Collaboration in innovation is needed during each stage of the innovation cycle. In a remote setting, the lack of in-person interactions is regularly seen as the largest stumbling block for employees. Such challenges, can however be overcome by promoting connections and fostering innovation through using the right tools.

Decentralized, cloud-based innovation platforms and team communication tools such as rready's host of innovation solutions enable the collection, execution, testing, and implementation of ideas in real-time, using defined methods and tools to keep all employees on the same page.

Virtual creative sessions ranging from brain-writing to virtual round robin techniques can also encourage teamwork and collective brainstorming.

3. Celebrate Successes

If you want to actively encourage remote teams to place a greater emphasis on innovation, you must make it clear that innovative ideas are welcomed and championed. An imperative step here is to celebrate every contribution, whether big or small. Even if an idea ends up failing, it is still important to recognize the employee's efforts behind it.

Recognizing contributions could manifest as public acknowledgment, added responsibilities, monetary rewards, or further growth opportunities.

4. Enable Access to the Right Tools

In addition to this, remote employees, just like in-person employees, can only innovate successfully as far as they are supported with the right tools and frameworks.

Here, tools like KICKBOX Intrapreneurship, rready Idea Management, and rready Innovation Management, can offer the needed accessibility for remote employees through the comprehensive innovation platform that forms the core of these programs. The user-friendly and easily navigable platform supports companies in adapting to the contemporary work environment by making innovation available to everyone, covering everything from idea conceptualization to testing, collaboration, evaluation, and final implementation.

By providing the necessary support to remote employees through virtual collaboration opportunities, recognition of achievements, and the right tools, ongoing innovation is promoted and made easier. With experience, remote employees will innovate and work on ideas with greater confidence.

rready helps companies to drive innovation through the creativity of their employees. By leveraging employee-driven innovation, organizations can unlock new avenues for growth and development, tapping into the diverse ideas and perspectives of their workforce. To see how rready's solutions can be the driving force for creativity and collaboration in a virtual environment, arrange a demonstration with the rready team today.