Hi Adam and everyone! We just opened up our coworking space last week, so I'm wearing all the hats for now. Honestly, I can't imagine it any other way for the time being. I love getting to know every single person in the community and making sure I do my best to serve them and meet their needs and expectations. Even though we just opened our space, we've had a throwing and thriving community for nearly 3 and a half years already.
I run the group with 3 other individuals, and we've been using a chat service called Slack for a few months now. We used to have our regular conversations in Facebook but that just got messy and disorganized. Now we just opened up a "team" for the greater group and it's been awesome. Other companies around us are even starting to adopt the platform for inter-company communication. What if we created a Slack team for Coworking Space management - we can create different channels (basically chat rooms) for all kinds of topics and that can be where we go when we need real-time answers or real-time like-minded company to keep. What do you think? It's an invite-only service and it's free. Check it out at https://slack.com/. I can start up a team if you guys are interested? *Melissa Geissinger* President & COO | WIMP LLC <http://www.beawimp.org> WIMPspace: Cowork * Colearn * Coexist <http://www.wimpspace.com> p 707 827 1334 x1 c 707 888 0225 On Tuesday, September 9, 2014 8:46:12 AM UTC-7, Adam Teterus wrote: > > Thanks, Will! > > >> how to engender that sense of commitment and passion to go above and >> beyond the formal job requirements and to want to be involved in the Google >> Group (as an example of going above and beyond the strict job definition >> more generally), given that the external motivators (income potential, >> career development) are not overwhelming? >> > > This. Exactly this. I think you hit the nail on the head, and to your > point, there very much is a critical practice of learning to *make your > employees care as much as you do*. Makes total sense, too, because that's > precisely what we ought to be doing for our members: making them care for > this community as strongly as possible, as though they themselves own it. > In many ways, your members do own it. In just as many ways, the space > manager does own it - *I* own it, and I do my best job possible when I > feel that way. I just don't have my name on any legal documents. :) > > I have to ask, and this goes to every coworking space owner: if you have a > hired gun running the place or helping you run the place, do you explicitly > invite that person to participate on the Google Group? What do you offer > your hire in terms of training or job help? > > On Tuesday, September 9, 2014 5:57:16 AM UTC-4, Will Bennis, Locus > Workspace wrote: >> >> Adam, >> >> Great post and great question! >> >> As a space owner and space manager, I could certainly learn as much or >> more from space managers as from space owners. And I would hope that the >> space managers would find a happy home in this Google Group, sharing their >> own knowledge and requesting help/insight from others. We'd all certainly >> gain a lot, just as we'd gain a lot if there were more coworking space >> members on this list. Which I suppose begs the question, "Where are all the >> coworking space members?" >> >> I guess one answer--the less interesting answer--is that most space >> owners are or once were space managers. Margins are low for most coworking >> spaces and many of us run one-person or few-person operations. So we >> managers are here, but we may use the "owner" tag since that sort of trumps >> the "manager" tag on our business cards :). >> >> But of course most coworking spaces also have non-owner employees &/or >> managers, so why aren't they more active on this list? Here's a potential >> answer, and in this case it's the same answer as why there aren't more >> coworking-space members on this list. It's also an answer I'm a little >> ashamed to give, because it speaks to how far my own coworking space needs >> to grow as a *community* and not just as a business providing shared office >> space and events: most non-owner space-managers, as with most members, are >> not passionately involved in the world of coworking and in learning about >> and contributing to that world. >> >> The material incentives/external motivation (large potential salaries, >> career advancement up a high ladder) are not there except in the very rare >> cases of some of the most successful coworking spaces that can really >> attract people ready to do their very best at the job for the financial >> benefits, and the internal motivations that have to do with love of the >> job, commitment to the community and doing one's best are just rare, I >> think, for often part-time, low-paid work. I would guess non-profit >> coworking spaces and for-profit coworking spaces that do an incredible job >> developing a strong sense of commitment to the space and its community can >> find space managers ready to give the job their all without the external >> motivators (the money or career trajectory), but I think that's a rare >> achievement. I think once that's achieved, those are the places also where >> you find space *members* and not just managers getting involved, posting >> answers and questions to this list, trying to build the movement more >> generally. >> >> So the challenge for me, who runs a for-profit coworking space--but does >> it in large part because he's passionate about the importance of coworking >> spaces as a kind of human/social capital for freelancers & independent >> workers--is how to engender that sense of commitment and passion to go >> above and beyond the formal job requirements and to want to be involved in >> the Google Group (as an example of going above and beyond the strict job >> definition more generally), given that the external motivators (income >> potential, career development) are not overwhelming? >> >> I'd guess this is a challenge for many of us (space owners) and the main >> reason you don't see more non-owner space managers actively involved here. >> >> Will >> >> ---- >> Will Bennis >> http://en.locusworkspace.cz <http://www.locusworkspace.cz/> >> >> On Sunday, September 7, 2014 3:47:49 AM UTC+2, Adam Teterus wrote: >>> >>> Hey, all. I'm Adam. >>> >>> So I've been running Indy Hall as the Point Man for just shy of 3 years, >>> looking over this place and these people on a daily basis from January of >>> 2011 to right now (and well beyond right now, I should hope). 3 years of >>> facilitating relationships between new and old members, introducing >>> newcomers to our community, saying goodbye to longstanding members who came >>> before me, bumping into very *human* obstacles and guiding members >>> through sometimes tough social situations, always toward a place in which >>> we're much tighter and stronger and better than where we came from. >>> >>> I recently had a really great conversation with a friend about what it >>> is that I do here at Indy Hall. Given that coworking is relatively "new" in >>> the scheme of things, and given that it's a burgeoning meta-community and >>> industry in its own rite, she asked me who I turn to when I have questions, >>> when I encounter something new. >>> >>> That's a long, winding answer. My reference points are ALL OVER the >>> place, there's not really anyone one, particular role model. Not really a >>> coworking space manager that I look to for parallels or direct reference. >>> Many of you on this forum are among reference points, but there's a >>> contingent missing from the Google Group: the person that most closely >>> reflects me and what I do here at Indy Hall. I know that person and those >>> people exist, but...where are they? >>> >>> My friend, she's a researcher type, and she points out that I've got >>> this wealth of domain knowledge >>> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_knowledge>, this set of skills and >>> attributes that I reflexively understand and act on every day to keep this >>> community up and running. Things that I often take for granted, admittedly. >>> Things I rarely think about because I'm not talking about them out loud >>> with other people who do it, too. >>> >>> She goes on to say that it sounds like I'm lacking a field >>> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discipline_(academia)>, a network of >>> people who share the same domain knowledge. A group of people like me. >>> Where are those people? >>> >>> I know the Google Group is primarily for/frequented by owners and >>> prospective space owners, but where do the space managers go to talk to one >>> another? The daily, boots on the ground, hired to be here community >>> leader - where does she go for answers? Where do they go to learn and talk >>> and share? Hell, where do they go to debrief and unwind after a long week >>> of weird social situations? Who teaches them how to do what they're doing? >>> >>> Further, for owners and prospective owners: when you're hiring for a >>> coworking space manager, who are you looking toward and thinking, "yeah, I >>> need *that* person"? When you do hire someone, who do you refer that >>> person to in terms of a role model for the gig? >>> >>> Where are the people like me? Who are they? I want to meet 'em. >>> >> -- 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/d/optout.
