GREATER THAN

Amenities

Real Community Requires Three Types of Networking

Have open plan coworking spaces delivered on their promises of greater flexibility, frequent collaboration, and diverse networking opportunities?

According to estimates noted in the 2018 Global Coworking Forecast1, 1.7 million people will be working in 19,000 coworking spaces around the world by the end of 2018 and this quick expansion is proving their popularity.  However, the forecast also states that consolidation will drive some coworking spaces out of business, and to remain successful, they need to focus on creating communities by offering more community-building events.

Coworking spaces are currently offering networking opportunities that are either operational or social in nature.  Members can gather key contact information from other members for the purpose of purchasing products and services to support business operations or members can meet, greet, and interact on a purely social level during events like happy hour.   These types of interactions are often missing a key component of building community – strategic, structured, constructive conversations that lead to learning and personal growth.

Community is what binds us.   As Maslow2 said more than 70 years ago, we not only have a basic need to belong to a group where we share social relationships with family members, neighbors or colleagues, but we also need to feel respected and valued for our expertise, opinions, and contributions.

At this very moment, coworking spaces have the incredible power to bring members with different backgrounds, different perspectives, and different business models together to learn and develop each other’s talents.   But this requires a willingness to accept that building community requires some structured conversations.

The coworking space that nurtures community with all three types of networking opportunities, operational, social and strategic, will not only survive, it will thrive.

Our goal at GreaterThan is to provide members of coworking spaces with the forum for constructive conversation.  To learn more about our workshops, contact us at info@greaterthancourses.com

  1. Deskmag (2018.) The Global Coworking Forecast 2018. https://bit.ly/2EMPh9r
  2. Maslow, A. H. (1943). A Theory of Human Motivation. Psychology Review 50(4): 370–396. doi:10.1037/h0054346

Coworking spaces – a new set of challenges for independent professionals

Coworking spaces have the distinct advantage of flexibility, a quality critical in a modern workplace that demands agility.  They offer members diverse workspaces, opportunities for broad networking in daily interactions, and events to foster many types of conversations.

But what about all the perks and benefits offered by formal organizations? What about personal development and career growth?  What about training?  How do independent workers and entrepreneurs seek out and find growth opportunities?

Members of coworking spaces are often entrepreneurs, owners or employees of small businesses, and individually-employed persons seeking an atmosphere offering a community that exists beyond the local coffee bar.

 

Data about the modern workforce tells us a few things…

  • The modern worker wants career development opportunities
  • The failure of employers to offer career development is the number one reason employees quit to seek new opportunities
  • The modern worker wants to expand their knowledge to enable ongoing growth
  • Most people in leadership positions lack skills essential to good leadership

On top of this, a quick survey of urban coworking spaces indicates that these spaces offer diverse and interesting perks to their members.  Art openings, career panels, conversations with politicians, happy hours, free lunches and open lounge space, weekends away, etc.  All with the purpose of building community by networking and sharing experiences.  Are these experiences, however, opportunities for personal development?

A coworking community can offer broad amenities and events, but outpacing the competition requires that offerings be far more effective for creating community, business development, and professional growth than what can be found at the weekly happy hour.  As the coworking space expands across the world, professional workshops and career growth opportunity offerings will set the best apart by offering the member customers what they seek in the modern workplace.

Coworking spaces are the ideal arena for professional growth and career development workshops

Bringing together small groups of people, from different organizations with vastly different perspectives, experiences, and expectations, to work together and lend insight in an interactive setting is something few large organizations have the capacity to do.  Working in teams in a workshop setting is proven to incubate problem-solving, and facilitates networking and community by offering goal-oriented professional experiences.

Growth opportunities in workshop-oriented training within coworking spaces can far exceed those offered by large organizational training programs because of the diversity and flexibility coworking spaces offer.  To learn more, contact us at info@greaterthancourses.com.