Coworking — and 3 reasons you’re getting fooled

We know, it is not easy in the jungle of Coworking. Even as a provider, you have to ask yourself well, where to position yourself in the market. Some spaces have freelancers, some have companies, and others do both! But where we get “the real Coworking experience”?

There is no right nor wrong concept, but some misconceptions by which you, as a customer, are probably getting fooled. These are our Top 3 picks:

Coworking ≠ Co-working

Before even considering a Coworking space as an office, you should be very careful with its definition. What should be the main reason to choose it as an office location? To have the ability to co-work! Its official term refers to the Coworking manifest of 2005 which facilitated a significant value freelancers and enterprises can benefit from:

The synergies that emerge from social interaction.

The prefix “CO” adds spices to our tedious office work, inspires us, and helps us learn and grow! Co-working is no FOMO (fear to miss out). Co-working means sharing, collaboration and innovation potential. Sticking just to “working” stays in the conventional frame and is rarely animated to question. However:

Innovation arises where people question the status quo and experiment with something new

Office — Work is community work!

If your office’s perception is isolation, well, then you are probably not understanding why people build companies in the first place. Any office-work has its community, and wouldn’t it be great to enrich this environment? If you tell me that you are afraid to get “distracted”…

The term “community” comes from “common“, which means unity & equality. Richard Millington identified 5 types of communities that are classified by the purpose that brings them together:

1. Interest. Communities of people who share the same interest or passion.
2. Action. Communities of people trying to bring about change.
3. Place. Communities of people brought together by geographic boundaries.
4. Practice. Communities of people in the same profession or undertake the same activities.
5. Circumstance. Communities of people brought together by external events/situations.

So yes, you should always choose your community wisely!

Open Space ≠ Open Source

Recently I got asked about the effect of an “open space” on collaboration (e.g. working together on a project while being two business identities). My answer is:

Open space doesn’t mean automatically you are getting involved or, on the opposite, disturbed.

Communities should always make sure to create an “unspoken social contract” that rules the environment. Your community is laid back and has a café atmosphere? Great, make sure that everybody understands it. If not, you have ways to communicate that as well.

People want to work independently, not alone. They want to share as much as they want to be focused on their work. It is on you creating opportunities for that.

Let’s conclude our Coworking-Bias:

Co-Working is for everybody and diverse identities (freelancers or companies) make the space even more enjoyable.

The most important is that you align with your Coworkers on an “unspoken social contract” that enables interaction as much as isolation. An Open Space does not mean to be “open source”, although the whole Coworking term pretty much is.