Creativity thrives in limitations, and little check-in meetings with a specific agenda and a clear briefing to brainstorm can provide excellent results, as they have built-in time constraints.

A Clear Briefing

Online collaborative tools let us literally be on the same page, editing a document together, collaborating using the phone or the built-in chat.
Remote working makes the participants prioritize time, effort and activities. There are less wasted minutes as the participants are prepared and on time.

Collaboration Time

Roleplaying always makes you learn, and looking at your own ideas with a critical perspective and finding flaws with it will develop confidence, independence, and supercharge your creative instincts.
Be critical and objective, walking away from your own idea and then coming back with fresh eyes.

Edit Yourself

Working remotely from home, one has more time to reflect, ponder and dig into their unexplored side, and unseen creativity.
There is no commute and no hassle to dress up and rush, so one can relax and be real, getting inspired by the extra time, breathing space, or the view outside your window.

Embrace Familiarity

Remote work days need to have a specific routine in place, which has structure, clarity and consistency.
Each team member needs to be provided with a daily block of time to be heard, maybe in a 15-minute morning team video check-in. This makes the team connected and accountable. Also, the team members should be encouraged to share concerns, challenges and successes.

Structure For Success

Most people are so used to noise and the buzz of workplaces or even cafes that they find silence a bit tough to embrace. In truth, silence can be a great way to understand ones internal creative rhythm, if we learn to harness its power.
Better thinking can emerge out of silence, leading to creative ideas due to the natural clarity of thoughts.

The Quiet Times

Providing a sense of community when teams are collaborating remotely is not easy, but is crucial.
By asking relaxing and accommodating questions, the remote team feels taken care of, and relaxed. It is a good idea to make virtual collaborative sessions to be chatty, informal and digressive. Talking about shared interests and even recipes, while sharing food selfies, for instance, will calm everyone down and the topic at hand can be dealt with smoothly.

Make It Social

While working from home, it is hard to not be distracted, as, after all, one is in their home environment in the physical sense.
You can use the wallpapers, posters, props and even music and snacks from your office for your mind to be tricked into being in ‘work-mode’.

Psychological Shortcuts

We asked six creative leaders how they set the scene for creative exchanges and productive collaboration in the age of remote work and distributed teams. 