How To Jam In A Hybrid Workplace
Authored by Kashyap Avashia, Principal & CEO (Mentor Trust) at IvyCap Ventures
As part of our regular Mentor Call series, Mr. Krishna Thothadri, Director, Doublespresso Consulting, shared his thoughts on how to jam/innovate in a hybrid workplace environment. Given below are the salient features of the discussion:
- Before the pandemic, many of us used to collaborate with one another in person. One of the critical ingredients of collaboration and innovation was intuition. It was like a music band that would come together (perhaps from different backgrounds) and create “magic” like music (i.e., innovation).
- However, with the advent of the pandemic, most of us shifted to online meetings. While technology/tools are here to help, many times the connect among team members is weak and the melody of the music (to take the example of the previous point) is often not fully audible virtually.
- Given below are a few “rules” that have worked in real-life situations:
Rule 1: Define the challenge/opportunity — In addition to a process owner, there should also be an owner who frames the topic(s) to collaborate on well in advance for the team to ponder on before the meeting/session is conducted.
Rule 2: No data sharing during the meeting — Pre-reads need to be sent at least 48–72 hours in advance. The pre-reads can have all the data and background information that is required for the meeting. However, during the meeting, there should be no data download. Instead, there should be relevant questions to trigger thoughts/ideas. Moreover, simple to follow format should be provided to participants to create the desired outcome.
Rule 3: Come (prepared) with ideas to share — Participants should be encouraged to share their ideas ahead of time. The ideas can be organized into themes and during the meeting, the focus is more on refining or building on ideas and themes.
Rule 4: Regroup one week later –To finalize gap analysis (current vs. future state), required intervention, milestones, owners, enablers etc.
Rule 5: Turn on your camera — We ideate with people and not screens. So, for an effective virtual jamming session, it is critical to have the camera on. -
- In today’s workplace, we have a diverse pool of participants in our jamming sessions. As long as the focus of these sessions is ideas and not judgement, differences (e.g., language, culture, hierarchy, personalities etc.) melt away.
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