Optimizing team communications is crucial for innovation in hybrid work.
Balancing bonding and bridging ties is essential for maximizing organizational impact.
Deep dives
Virtual Work's Impact on Innovation
The podcast delves into the impact of virtual and hybrid work on innovation. The researchers found that productivity for knowledge workers remained high or improved in the virtual setting post-pandemic. However, concerns arose regarding long-term innovation due to the delicate nature of innovation-specific connections. An example cited was the video game industry facing delays during the pandemic, highlighting challenges in idea generation and scaling products.
Stages of Innovation and Social Bonds
The episode explores the stages of ideation, incubation, and scaling in organizational innovation. These stages are crucial for bringing ideas to fruition and maximizing their impact within an organization. Additionally, the concept of bonding and bridging ties in social networks is discussed. Bonding ties focus on close relationships within teams, while bridging ties help in connecting diverse parts of the organization for innovation.
Adaptive Hybrid Work Model for Innovation
The podcast introduces the concept of an adaptive hybrid work model to optimize innovation in a virtual world. The model emphasizes the importance of understanding different phases of innovation and leveraging social capital effectively. By considering individual work stages and types of social connections, organizations can enhance innovation outcomes. The episode stresses the need for flexibility, experimentation, and high judgment in fostering innovation in the evolving work landscape.
“We need to be much more adaptive in the way we think about hybrid work,” says Michael Arena. “Experiment, experiment, experiment.”
Innovation relies on teams connecting in very specific ways. But are those connections possible in a hybrid work reality? Glenn Carroll, a professor of management at Stanford GSB, and Michael Arena, a faculty member of Penn's Master's in Organizational Dynamics program, have been looking for the answer — studying how team interactions have changed since millions of workers went remote.
In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, they discuss how teams can optimize their communications to keep innovating in a post-pandemic world.