A study revealed that people Less creative during video calls than in people meetings, and results Don’t come as a surprise.
The research It is suggested that the premises should Prioritize brainstorming sessions for The office.
COVID-19 has changed The nature of office workmassive pay rise in Video conferencing that seems unlikely to recede like home becomes work more well established via world.
seeking to find out how This massive change affects creativity, American researchers studied nearly 1,500 employees of telecom company in Finland, Hungary, India, Israel and Portugal.
In pairs, either in person or on Zoom callStaff came up with As many creative ideas as possible for The company’s products, then choose best one.
couples who wire in the person came up with About 15% more, according to the published study in Nature magazine.
Researchers found similar results in experience involving more of 600 undergraduate students, who they were also paired off They said to come up with creative ideas for Either a frisbee or a bubble wrap.
The in – person spouses up with 14% more ideas.
However, it was not all bad news for Zoom, Skype and other video conferencing apps.
both groups of results found Video calls were just effective for to choose best idea, decision The study required “cognitive focus and analytical thinking.”
“In the virtual condition people looking noticeably more On their partner – almost double – at the expense of of On a larger scale environmentMelanie Brooks, study co-author, and marketing assistant professor At Columbia University, he said in Nature video.
“Video conferencing hinders idea generation because it focuses on communication,” the study said on screen, which results in narrower perceptual focus.”
This type of focus may help select the best Idea – but hinders coming up with one in The first place.
“We are most creative when we are unfocused and liberated,” Brooks said.
“I always suggest turning around off The camera During idea generation, so you can walk Around you, you can look around.”
these results can inform how corporate plan remote Work, the study said – in particular in hybrid home-office set-ups where “it may make sense to prioritize the generation of creative ideas during one-on-one meetings.”
Researchers added which they had to exclude results Engineers from a telecom company in Poland whounlike other groups, met in Hotel meeting room.
“Probably, for This is the reason participants Show rampant non-compliance, including marked preoccupation with The coffee and biscuit station that serves the food in the hotel.”
