Also, I wrote an essay recently that takes this idea of relationship > work and expands a bit more:
http://dangerouslyawesome.com/2010/11/take-interest-dont-fake-interest/ I think they key takeaway that's relevant in this conversation is this one: Business is an overlay for social interactions, not the other way around./ah indyhall.org coworking in philadelphia On Thu, Nov 11, 2010 at 9:34 AM, Alex Hillman <[email protected]>wrote: > Thilo is on the money, and I like to look at it from an 'environmental' > perspective. Not like the earth's environment, but what in terms of how you > can influence behavior by changing the variables of the environment. > > Think of it this way: it may be your goal to encourage collaboration, but > ultimately, what you REALLY want is collaboration to be more likely to > happen on its own. So it's more of an indirect path to your goal. Here's how > we do it. > > We've operated on the thesis that trust and relationships are the most > important precursor to successfully working together, and as such, we've > worked hard to make Indy Hall a "Community of Trust", where events like the > ones Thilo lists below serve a very specific purpose: > > They get coworkers who otherwise might not be as likely to "bump" into each > other casually to get to know each other outside of the working arrangement, > but still in (or near) a working context. > > By having work be the context, there's a mutual understanding that the > potential for working together (or otherwise collaborating, learning, etc) > is baked into their interactions, so they don't have to focus on pitching > each other. Instead they focus on their personal relationship, what else > they have in common, what shared connections they have, etc. Those bonds > lead to trust, and trust as I've said is the precursor to collaboration. > > If you take this environmental approach, I think you'll find that it's far > more sustainable than shouting "COLLABORATE, YOU > FOOLS!!!<http://www.toplessrobot.com/skeletor08.jpg>" > at your coworkers, and the quality of life at your coworking space increases > multi-fold. > > With this in mind, you can take Thilo's list and see how it encourages this > kind of behavior, and you can also brainstorm what kinds of events make > sense for you and your crew! > > -Alex > > /ah > indyhall.org > coworking in philadelphia > > > > On Thu, Nov 11, 2010 at 5:36 AM, thilo <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Hi Wilson, >> >> great to hear that you open a space in Dublin, love the city, surley >> will visit your next time I am there. >> >> Here a some things we do to encourage collaboration. >> >> - coworker meetups: once a month where coworkers can bring in their >> ideas and projects for the space - informal, like dinner or beers so >> that new coworker get to knew the others. >> >> - host usergroup meetups that fit the identity of your space, e.g. we >> have technical groups like ruby or frontend dev >> >> - throw parties >> >> - open space design, a sperate public area >> >> - go out for lunch together >> >> These are some of the things we do. >> >> I guess people from the list come up with more. >> >> Cheers >> Thilo >> >> --- >> development: http://upstre.am >> coworking: http://co-up.de >> coworking managment: http://cobot.me >> >> >> On Nov 9, 10:10 am, wilsond <[email protected]> wrote: >> > Hello, >> > >> > I am new to this discussion group and would like to kick off my first >> > contribution with a question that i would be very interested in >> > hearing your answers on. >> > We re currently in the process of putting together a coworking space >> > in Dublin, Irl which we are pretty excited by. I have read a large >> > amount of detail about coworking and the philosophy of it. But on a >> > practical level, how would the owners/managers of a coworking space be >> > best placed to ensure that their space would be one of collaboration. >> > What practical steps can someone take to foster this environment and >> > hopefully create the reputation/output that every coworking space >> > wants. >> > >> > Thanks, >> > >> > wilson >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "Coworking" group. >> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> [email protected]<coworking%[email protected]> >> . >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en. >> >> > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en.
