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Office Space

The Benefits of Hosting a Networking Event at a Coworking Space

A networking event includes a lot of benefits and value, but even more so hosting it at a coworking space. Read on.

 

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Real Estate

7 Tips for Finding a Safe and Private Event Space

So what should you look for when it comes to a safe and private event space? There’s no need to stress out. Here are helpful tips to keep in mind.

 

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Business Trends Work Environment

How to Develop and Enhance Your Coworking Community

Business trends are evolving, especially after COVID-19. So what role does a coworking community play for business growth? Read below.

 

There can be no coworking space without a coworking community. A successful coworking space offers more than just an attractive selection of amenities, good rates, and a snazzy ambiance. Coworking spaces are defined by the people who decide to work in them, the connections fostered by those people, and the professional relationships that come to be.

 

It is in every coworking space’s interest to enable and foster those relationships and grow a true sense of community. This is especially important during COVID-19, where a true feeling of community can be hard to find.

 

What Defines a Coworking Community?

 

A coworking community is the social connective tissue within the coworking space – aside from the tenants, it’s the administrators, the designers, the managers, the rest of the staff, and the tools they use to create and maintain a feeling of connectedness throughout the working day.

 

From the creative opportunities enabled by a good coffee bar to the way a coworking space can continue to endure and exist online, the development and nurturing of a coworking community is as important for the marketing of a coworking space as it is for the wellbeing and creativity of those in it.

 

Coworking spaces are more than just square footage of office available for a short-term lease. Every month spent at a coworking space is another month spent collaborating and networking with professionals in different industries from different backgrounds, while reaping the benefits of a creative culture and brand identity that changes from space to space.

 

How is Coworking Surviving the Pandemic?

 

Businesses banked on the work-from-home model during the pandemic, to cut down on interpersonal contact and reduce the transmission of the coronavirus. Yet as more and more countries approach a critical level of immunization, large parts of the world are looking towards better alternatives to the home office without a complete return to the cluttered, densified closed offices of the past.

 

The modern workspace is flexible, open to the outdoors on good weather, with isolated private rooms, well-ventilated common areas, sparse seating, and roving cleaning crews.

 

Many coworking spaces have taken on drastic hygiene protocols to enable safe business and provide a professional refuge to employees who were unable to get anything done from home, and either needed a more suitable environment to get their work done, or just wanted some sense of being back in an office environment, even with social distancing and frequent handwashing.

 

Coworking spaces are an attractive alternative because they are:

 

  • Decentralizing large corporate offices.
  • Providing flexible pricing models for both SMEs and large corporations in a tumultuous economy.
  • Focused primarily on attracting tech talent.
  • Existing in a diverse and competitive market.

 

Coworking spaces have more than just survived COVID – they have proven to be a valuable resource in the process of defining a post-pandemic workplace model.

 

Growing a Coworking Community in 2021

 

Community building is important in drawing in tenants, helping employees relate to one another, and create a productive social environment. And because we aren’t in a post-pandemic world yet, safety remains paramount.

 

If a coworking space is simply hosting workers while providing them with nothing but isolated spaces and plastic covers on chairs, it is little more than an office center. The benefits of coworking come from a highly social environment and finding ways to enable that sense of community without endangering the members of the community is each coworking space’s greatest challenge in 2021.

 

Prioritizing the Workspace Experience

 

What is your coworking space all about? What are you offering to facilitate productive collaboration and safe social experiences? Also, what do you offer in amenities beyond the raw basics of a fully equipped modern workplace?

 

Coworking spaces compete for the affections of their tenants through qualitative amenities and a management staff that prides itself on running a tight ship. This means:

 

  • nap rooms
  • drinks and snacks
  • dedicated meeting spots
  • private concentration rooms
  • outdoor spaces
  • plenty of natural light
  • non-distracting plant life
  • art that helps define the workspace culture
  • a consistent design theme and brand identity
  • a prime location

 

Does Your Coworking Community Facilitate Open Communication?

 

There can be no community without communication. Make sure there are multiple accessible channels to communicate concerns and ideas with management and other staff, send in complaints or reviews, make suggestions, and keep the community up to date on management decisions, upcoming changes, and more.

 

This can be done through open chatrooms like Slack, space-specific to-do boards on Trello, a community manager account on Twitter and Facebook, a proprietary app for the coworking space, a mobile-friendly website with a blog and live chat function, and multiple other online avenues.

 

Create an Online Coworking Community for Your Space

 

Aside from basic interfacing, you can create and nurture an online community in the absence of community events and experiences, to help foster a sense of social interactivity and belonging in our pandemic world.

 

You can host opt-in virtual events such as game night via Zoom or on the premises, monthly introductory meetings to help newcomers feel welcome and get a sense for who’s who, and more.

 

Coworking spaces may fulfill a crucial role in the current climate as interactive workplace communities for those unable or unwilling to return to a typical office setting, either because of the lengthy commute, a lack of space, or the financial impact of the pandemic.

 

While some of us were immensely grateful for the opportunity to fully embrace the home office lifestyle, not everyone is set up or cut out for working from home. There are distinct disadvantages to being a completely self-reliant worker, and some struggle under the isolation and loneliness it breeds, while others have no space bereft from distraction due to their own personal circumstances.

 

Even a post-pandemic world is more likely to see a move towards work-from-anywhere policies than a move back to company headquarters.

 

Some employees thrive and are most productive while working from home, while others need the camaraderie of working with the rest of the team, and others yet like to collaborate with different professionals and soak in the professional-casual atmosphere of a coworking space, a happy medium.

 

Companies keen on maximizing the potential of their hires will want to offer multiple options to ensure that everyone doing their part can do so as effectively as possible.

 


Read More:

What is a Virtual Office and Why You Need It Today

Categories
Work Environment

5 Ways Networking Opportunities Improve With Coworking

Networking is an essential part of building a business, whether as a company or as an individual, and creating networking opportunities can be difficult. Yet, it’s made easier through coworking.

 

While fortune smiles on many a leader and entrepreneur, most opportunities have to be made, forged through incessant communication and a thick hide against potential rejection.

 

But aside from the shrewd nature of networking for survival, it’s important to create networking opportunities for success. The top dogs only stay on the top so long as they strive to update and innovate, and that’s only possible by talking to (and working with) all sorts of professionals.

 

One cannot deny the importance of networking, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s not exactly a free or always profitable action – it takes time, money, and even more time, and it’s especially hard for freelancers and lone workers.

 

Coworking provides an opportunity to do more than be trendy – it improves a business’ abilities to cooperate and network with other professionals, fosters a more positive work environment, and takes advantage of one of the most powerful human social mechanisms: the power of community.

 

Does Coworking Promote Networking Opportunites?

 

Whereas networking is the process of meticulously gathering contacts and establishing bridges, coworking is the process of working between, on, and around these bridges.

 

If traditional offices are individual towns, coworking tries to bring villages together into urban sprawls, fostering both a sense of togetherness and the potential for new growth and innovation.

 

At first, it might sound like coworking spaces are ill-equipped to deal with businesses and individuals working together – a certain perceived lack of privacy and the distracting elements of working in an open space sound antithetical to productivity and competition.

 

But time and time again, the popularity, effectiveness, and growth of the shared workspace all around the world has proven that it not only increases productivity, but helps businesses thrive despite working in such close quarters.

 

From massive corporations like Google to small businesses looking for a cost-effective alternative to leasing office space, coworking has helped countless companies of all sizes establish that a cooperative atmosphere that fosters networking opportunities and communication leads to better results.

 

1. Open Spaces Create an Open Atmosphere

 

The success of the coworking space cannot be overstated. Among top offices in the US, growth surpassed 60 percent in 2017 to 2018.

 

In part, this is due to the nature of the coworking space as an open office. Businesses and freelancers alike are free to rent their respective spaces and take advantage of a myriad of different amenities.

 

2. A Casual Work Experience Fosters Cooperation

 

One of the main changes in a coworking space is the removal of strict and stifling hierarchies. While the manager is the manager, and the boss is the boss, there’s much greater accessibility between members and an increased level of communication.

 

It becomes easier to ask questions, collaborate, and organize projects. Separate teams come together much more smoothly, and a malleable workspace makes for a much less rigid definition of ownership. Instead of owning a single space, there is an emphasis on sharing all spaces.

 

While this might not seem conducive to business, the reality is quite the opposite. This approach to working has led to greater levels of productivity in many cases, and it is one of the reasons why coworking continues to grow and flourish as it does.

 

3. Coworking Space Generates a Sense of Community

 

If nothing else, a coworking space always evolves to become something greater than simply the sum of its parts. When professionals converge and find ways to cooperate on projects they enjoy working on, in an environment that doesn’t attempt to stifle them, true magic can happen.

 

It doesn’t always happen, of course. Partnerships can break, ideas come and go, dates may be set but not always followed up on. But despite how ephemeral these bridges might seem, it remains an ideal place to come across the right professionals at the right time, or get the right idea with the right person.

 

Shared office spaces do this, all while maintaining that while we may work on different projects, there’s a sense of community in a coworking space that isn’t found in a traditional office, much less in working from home. Coworking quashes loneliness, creates networking opportunities, and helps workers feel like they’re part of something greater. That feeling of community is an essential human need.

 

 

4. Networking Opportunities Keep the Office Sociable

 

Communicating is key to coworking culture. But it isn’t always easy to communicate between coworkers, let alone between businesses.

 

There is a lot of complexity to proper communication at a coworking space because you have to remember that the people working together there are:

 

    1. Usually working on very separate projects
    2. Working with very different specializations
    3. Utilizing varying levels of experience and competence

 

This makes the most of the oft-eclectic members of a coworking space means knowing what to do and what not to do.

 

For one, the most important thing is to focus on your work. One of the few challenges coworking spaces pose is a certain lack of routine. It’s not entirely your space, and there’s bound to be something different going on each day.

 

You share the space with many other people and must deal with potential opportunities to network with other professionals, potential distractions or interruptions, and other unplanned changes.

 

Coworking spaces often feature weekly or monthly events, which may or may not interest you. Finding the time to crystalize all you’ve learned and harvest the progress you’ve made communicating with others by turning it into tangible progress on any given project is important. It is, after all, still an office. 

 

5. More Time Spent Around Other Skillsets

 

Understanding how someone does their job in an entirely different department will not only give you a greater understanding of what they’re doing, but it can help you get a better insight on your own responsibilities.

 

Maintain a sociable attitude. Prioritize your work when you need to and give yourself time each day to truly be undisturbed and concentrate entirely on the tasks at hand but take your time to catch up with your coworkers, with freelancers, and with professionals in entirely different fields.

 

Conclusion

 

The networking opportunities coworking spaces present also help workers further broaden their horizons and potentially discover new facets to the industry they’re working in, maybe giving them the incentive to pick up a new skill or diversify elsewhere.

 

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