Heya Alex, thanks for sharing this post. First of all, I can't get tired of repeating how important it is to listen to coworkers, know how they feel, and learn from each other's mistakes. This was the point of creating a section for Coworkers Stories<http://goo.gl/9f9i38>in the Coworking Wiki. Alex, you should run and add it to the list - I think this is actually a good one.
Next, I'd like to point out that, putting my coworking psychologist glasses on, I see the root of the problem for this specific coworker was the *lack of Community* - the feeling of belonging which is also one of the coworking values and, as I see it, the most important one. After all, most coworkers are coworkers not because they can't afford a fast Internet connection at home or they love putting on decent clothes and leaving their kitchen tables every morning - they cowork because they want to work around people. This coworker was leaving a place where he didn't feel home, and he did this without feeling he'd be missed by anyone. And this is totally wrong. We're all busy with a million things, but we're all in the people business, and that means *people goes first*. It's not taxes, it's not the new lamp for the lounge or the design for the poster for your next event - it's people. Sorry if this is a little bit of self promotion, but using tools like Cobot <http://cobot.me> (ok, let's fix that self promo thing - I'm quite sure other apps like Nexudus or Destime do similar stuff) you will receive a notification any time a member cancels their membership. It makes it super easy to drop by their desk (or send them an email, but you know, personal contact is always nicer) and ask - hey, what's wrong, why do you want to leave, can we make anything to make you feel home and stay? Wanna consider your coworking space mainly a business? I'm no one to judge here - but then learn an important rule of business - retention, retention, retention. If you can't keep your current members because you are busy with everything else and you don't have the time to work on your community, you will probably have a hard time convincing new members to join your (sorry) cool place full of random strangers. There's a reason why Coworking is usually considered part of the *Service* and *Hospitality* business. Back to *making coworkers talk* - and as a one last thing to my post - the Coworking Day would be a great moment to ask your members to share their thoughts about coworking. From the Coworking Wiki Team we have started a campaign asking spaces to share with us events and blog posts about coworking and related to this celebration. You can share your links here<http://ow.ly/noJDJ>and we will help you with the promotion. Again, it'd be really cool if there were coworkers voices somewhere. After all, we are all business owners, and we wont say anything but wonders! Let's give the real beneficiaries voice to brag about how cool their coworking communities and spaces are. On Tuesday, July 30, 2013 6:14:40 PM UTC+2, Alex Hillman wrote: > > As much as I appreciate the connectedness that we have in this community, > one thing that I think is horribly missing from the global conversation > about coworking is a deeper conversation with the communities of people who > aren't owners, operators, and enthusiasts. > > I've gotten the sense that unless it's for praise, most coworking space > members aren't comfortable speaking up as a part of this global community. > > I think that's a shame. Here's a glimpse of what we might hear if they did: > > https://medium.com/better-humans/c9d8c69f4592 > > -Alex > > > -- > > /ah > indyhall.org > coworking in philadelphia > -- Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
