Bob Finlayson is the Futurist. Tanner Latham is the Executive Producer. They’re both storytellers, and with these conversations about Creativity and Culture, they share their ideas and what’s inspiring them.
Tanner:
Hi Bob. I guess we should say, welcome our new reality. The big question on my mind this week is: What will isolation do to creativity? AdWeek says it’ll lead to a spike. Anecdotally, I was on a meetup call with other creatives this week, and one woman said that she and her team have had more great ideas in the last week than the last six months. It has so much to do with more time, space and mental capacity.
Will this last? Will companies implement more space into people’s lives because they see the good that that can produce?
It seems to me, there won’t be a “normal” that we return to because so much has changed in such a hyper-compressed period of time. And it’s changed for ALL of us. We are tapping into a global collective community like we’ve never seen before.
Bob:
So true. This may be the mother of all cultural moments! From coast-to-coast and around the globe, we’re all cognizant of what’s happening. In many ways it feels like a shared experience. But there’s an ominous uncertainty connected to this experience. And we are the least creative when we’re scared. Fear usually drives creativity out of our minds.
So I see a sort of duality to what we are now experiencing. Fear, but also a massive change in our routines. And, as we spoke about in Episode 4, changing routines is a powerful driver of creativity. Now, all of our routines have been changed. Many of us are working from home instead of from an office. We are interacting with colleagues (and our families) in new, and often unfamiliar ways. Even if we worked from home all or some of the time pre-COVID, today all of our colleagues are working from home too. This just might be the biggest social experiment in history.
Tanner:
Yes, this has been an incredible jolt to our systems. And it’s produced some amazingly creative pieces. Five roommates performing a choreographed dance with such straight humor!?! Yes...give me more! I could only imagine the visionary brainstorming, storyboarding, performance and editing involved to pull off something this hilarious.
That brings me back to the “business” of creativity. This isolation is radically affecting how we meet with teams. I’ve worked remotely with access to video conferencing for a long time, but I’ve never scheduled or participated in so many Zoom calls. And that has highlighted the need for moderators and agendas. That’s typically how meetings work, but in person, less is lost when people overlap or talk over each other.
Bob, you’ve done a lot of work on crafting successful brainstorms. We’re gradually developing and adopting acceptable Video Conferencing Etiquette and techniques. How do we need to think about that when it comes to idea-flowing brainstorms? How do you “raise your hand” or give cues that you are ready to talk?
Bob:
That’s a good question, and one we face at every in-person brainstorm. The key is for the moderator -- yes, every brainstorm must have a moderator -- to set the conditions for the brainstorm. Explaining how people are to chime in, and making it clear all participants must make room for everyone to speak.
With video brainstorms, the moderator must carefully watch her or his screen and look for the subtle cues that someone wants to speak, then create an opening. This is especially important for participants who are more reserved and for the more junior people, who may feel hesitant to jump in.
It’s also a good idea to take five minutes at the beginning of the brainstorm just for some socializing. This happens organically at in-person meetings, but often needs a bit of a push when you are conducting a video or audio brainstorm. Such socializing gets everyone comfortable with each other. At the end of the brainstorm, the moderator should reach out to each of the participants and see if they had any ideas that weren’t discussed. This can be done over email or chat channels, but an audio or video call will usually yield more information.
I’m still a firm believer in in-person brainstorms when possible. But as technology continues to improve and duplicate the in-person experience, maybe we get to the place where we never meet live! But I sure hope not.
Tanner:
Likewise. Another thought: How will all of these video conference meetings affect our body language when we can meet in person again? Most experts recommend lots of the same body language awareness around eye contact, posture and gestures you’d find in in-person interactions. We’ve also got to be aware of our lighting and what people can see around us. No surprises there. But consider just the single act of note taking during meetings. When I’m sitting across from someone, I’m cognizant of making sure they feel like I’m listening. If I’m taking notes, it’s so much more difficult for me to maintain eye contact. In this time of hyper video conferencing, I’m literally looking at an open window or doc on the screen, but the other person sees my unobstructed eyes. It’s like an optical illusion (pun intended). That has translated to so much better note-taking for me because I’m not as worried about communicating engagement in that way.
Bob:
I’ve always been fascinated by how people interpret body language, and how powerful it is in shaping our views of others. Your story reminds me of a situation I had on an account. We were having an important meeting with maybe two dozen participants -- agency and client folks -- and one of the members of my team took it upon themselves to take detailed notes of the meeting. Those notes were so helpful afterwards, but what the client saw -- or thought they saw -- was someone not engaged, because they weren’t making eye contact.
In our new, always virtual world, we are going to need a new code of conduct for conducting these virtual brainstorms and collaborative sessions. How do we ensure we are providing the body language cues that tell people we are fully engaged when we are staring at a black dot on the top of our screen? As creative people, we need to give feedback to the technologists to help them understand how they can enhance virtual meeting tools to make them as effective as possible, short of giving us the type of VR experience we see in sci-fi shows. (Can I just say, I love how they integrate VR into Westworld! If only we had that technology.)
Tanner:
Meeting in person will have to continue. We are still human and real connections can only happen in person, right? I’m thinking about agencies and creatives making pitches in moments like these. This is kind of rhetorical, but do you think that virtual pitching will ever be as effective as pitching in person?
Bob:
I have serious doubts that it can. I mean video conferencing technology makes it easy to chat and share screens. But as I always say when I’m doing new business training, it’s not so much what you show the prospect, the ideas and graphics. It’s about building a relationship with them. Helping them get to know you, to trust you. That’s so much easier when you’re in the room with them.
With an in-person pitch, the chit-chat that happens before the presentation really should be strategic. The goal is to connect on a person-to-person level with each of the people you are pitching. It’s difficult to create that chemistry remotely. (And, just because it’s often confused, “chemistry” isn’t about likeability, it’s about how you behave towards the prospect as Dan Olson explains in this excellent post.) Also, before and after the formal presentation, you should be sizing up each of the participants. Who are the skeptics? Who are the real decision makers? And so forth. All, so you can follow up later based upon what you learn.
With virtual presentations, there’s often a “get down to business” attitude, so you never really have that informal time. If we are to do this virtually and make it work for the creative team and the prospect, we have to change a lot of behaviors on both sides of the pitch.
Tanner:
Thinking about meetings like that makes me think about offices, which are empty places now. As we know, there’s something about the buzz and energy of an office; even if we’re not working directly with someone, we’re feeding off of what’s around us. That’s obviously why co-working spaces became so popular. But everybody is remote now. Naturally, things are filling those gaps. I’ve heard of people hosting “work lunches” where employees can conference themselves in and share their meals with co-workers. And the marketing guru Seth Godin has established free virtual co-working spaces. I haven’t been in one yet, but it’s got to be interesting.
Bob:
I so agree with you about the buzz and energy in an office environment! But I think there’s a generational component here we should consider. For example, I have a Gen Z daughter. A few years ago, when she was in high school, I noticed her and her friends doing something really interesting. She would be doing her homework in her room and have her laptop on her desk. She would have a video conferencing tool open with maybe 12 other kids. They wouldn’t be talking. Just working on their assignments. Occasionally someone would pipe up with a question or comment. But it was really more atmospheric. It was a way for them to have a shared experience. My millennial daughter never did that. I never did that. This new generation is growing up in a different world. They are very comfortable with virtual interactions. Their minds are being programmed by these experiences.
Tanner:
This could be one of the big work culture shifts we see after this is over. People “working” by remaining logged in to virtual spaces all day long vs. dialing in and out. We’ll feel connected, even if we’re not literally talking to anyone. This is part of the new frontier of work.
Bob:
Where we are today, in this crisis mode, it’s difficult to imagine how deep or how long will be any cultural changes stemming from the pandemic. But this is certainly how cultural change happens.
A fun exercise would be to think about the vocabulary we’ll need to describe the changes we are seeing in work culture. What are the words we need to describe, for example, having 12 video conference windows open? Is it really a video conference? Or is it a video office? Or something else? Terminology -- words -- are so important in facilitating cultural shift. Four months ago had anyone heard of “social distancing?” We need new language to help us understand and cope with these changes.
Tanner:
That’s such a great point. What is isolation going to do for our creativity? Warren Zevon and Pete Yorn sang about how “splendid” isolation can be. As with so many of our conversations here, we’ll just have to see. Until next time...