Friday Faves - What We're Reading This Week - Ripple Effect Group

Friday Faves is our weekly blog series highlighting a few select pieces from the REG team’s reading lists. You can catch up on past Friday Faves on the archive.

Virtual Collaboration Won’t Be the Death of Creativity

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Anne says: A common theme that arises when discussing the turbulent year and ways of working has been the lament over the loss of creativity, now we’re all distributed and not co-located. Spontaneous conversations in the corridors, collective areas like kitchens – the water-cooler effect. Mostly it’s accompanied by a sense of defeat, that it’s just one of those things that can’t be replaced by a Zoom session. But wait – this recent article, published in the Winter edition of MIT Sloan Management Review, based on decades of research by the author, suggests it’s an opportunity to improve group creativity!

I have to admit reading this article with a dose of skepticism and but delighted that by the end, I might be convinced to change my mind. As a reminder, the author highlights creativity drivers, including that individuals are more creative than groups; and that constraints such as limited time or funding can promote creative thinking. The author suggests that virtual meetings (Zoom-style video conference sessions) impose more constraints than face-to-face meetings. The lack of visual and communication cues, controls on who can speak and when, all combine to change the way we think and potentially boost our creativity.

Most of the other recommendations could just as easily be applied to face-to-face group creativity sessions. However, the final tactic, of keeping idea vaults provides a point of difference to many in-person brainstorming sessions. We’ve used this strategy successfully a number of times with online innovation initiatives. The process allows ideas to be stored (online) and accessible to review, people to contact each other, or build on others idea sparks.

The concluding paragraph reminds us that new ways of working can enhance processes that we’ve used traditionally. But, we have to intentionally design the processes and include effort to ensure everyone understands what we’re trying to achieve and be flexible within those systems to adapt to changes that may arise. In fact, just keep doing more of what we’ve been doing all year, improvising and still getting things done!

Read: https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/virtual-collaboration-wont-be-the-death-of-creativity/

6 startups that could change the way we work

Jakkii says: Sometimes a good listicle is just what we need, and that’s especially true when you can get an overview of an interesting subject like startups and their tools that could help us do work better in the future. Here, The Next Web have brought us just that, with 6 startups that could change the way we work. These aren’t brand new ideas without seed funding, in fact some of these tools might already be being used in your workplace, even just by designers (number two is a good example, as it’s a popular tool for online workshops – for good reason).

The 6 startups are:

Teemyco: When Sims meets the office
Miro: The whiteboard that never ‘accidentally’ gets erased
Atium: Building a virtual company culture
Textio: Tackling unconscious bias
Clear: Keeping virtual teams happy and healthy
Cognicept: Improving human-robot relations

It’s always fascinating to see the ideas that are out there for how we can do work differently in the future and, especially, when you can see them come to life through startups into tangible technologies we can actually use. With the forced changes from covid, it’s been a big year for thinking differently and for being open to the possibility that just because we’ve “always” done it one way, doesn’t mean there can’t be a new way to do it! As 2020 pulls to a close, it’ll be interesting to watch the work technologies space in 2021 – and beyond.

Read: https://thenextweb.com/growth-quarters/2020/12/03/6-startups-that-could-change-the-way-we-work/

Around the house

Nigella Lawson saying ‘Microwave’ like this has made my Christmas already pic.twitter.com/ByXTDVIloq

— 🍯 (@EtceteraWithEst) December 8, 2020

Jakkii says: It’s almost time for the Christmas break! Next week we’ll have our special 2020 wrap post so this will be our last roundup of things to read, watch, listen to and do from home for 2020. Stay safe, and have a happy holidays!

Friday Funnies

has to be my favourite shakespeare quote pic.twitter.com/dSXZ2EsOGg

— three wise pams 👑 (@alexandrakuri) December 8, 2020

Save money on expensive calendars for 2021 by reusing one from 1993 as the days/dates match. Bequeath it to the grand kids and they can use it 2106 in their radiation-proof subterranean lair. pic.twitter.com/rPn8BleaNd

— The Shend (@The_Shend) December 7, 2020

me: i’m so sad and hopeless and directionless

my brain: buy stuff

me: no listen i need a purpose

brain: a purchase?

— dirt prince (@pant_leg) November 29, 2020

he’s having a main character moment pic.twitter.com/BghOzxCovJ

— afrah (@goldenberryx) November 28, 2020

Social Media Friday Five

Sydney Business Insights – The Future This Week Podcast

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This week: reducing the reliance on ad revenue, reducing the reliance on external partners: how big tech companies evolve their business models.

Sandra Peter (Sydney Business Insights) and Kai Riemer (Digital Disruption Research Group) meet once a week to put their own spin on news that is impacting the future of business in The Future, This Week.

The stories this week

09:38 – what’s the strategy behind Facebook spending $1 Billion on a company you’ve never heard of

Other stories we bring up

Shenzhen turned all its 16,000 buses fully electric

The NSW government will work to replace its 8000 bus fleet with electric vehicles

Our previous discussion of BYD electric buses in China on The Future, This Week

Cultured meat has been approved for consumers for the first time in Singapore

Our previous discussion of clean meat on The Future, This Week

China’s Chang’e 5 mission has landed on the moon and is bringing back rocks

Our previous discussions of platforms, competition, and big tech on The Future, This Week

Facebook expands customer service

Facebook acquires Kustomer