Coworking is a significant revolution in modern office logistics. If before, the practice of coming to work was highly independent among businesses and professionals, coworking changes the game by encouraging human interaction and broadened perspectives on what it means to contribute as a productive force in society.
Businesses which opt to go the way of coworking are in a good place to expand their gains and productivity, but the benefits taking such an unconventional route might not be obvious at first glance.
Here are three tips to help your office make the most out of a coworking environment.
Enjoy the Facilities
Popular coworking providers like thecommondesk.com offer a wide range of amenities for their members to enjoy; they usually cover the small things like free-flowing coffee, to major perks like in-house gyms and high-end cafeterias. New tenants tend to be overwhelmed with the distraction these create, but smart coworkers know just how to turn these into their great advantage.
The first trick to maximizing the value of a coworking space is to design a schedule that has leisure time as a priority. Encourage all employees to enjoy the amenities your coworking space provides, but obviously not at the cost of productivity. There’s an optimal spot at which point employee motivation lends to productivity–that’s what you’re after.
Make Friends
The biggest hidden value in choosing a coworking space is the opportunity to network with fellow tenants. Surrounding yourself with professionals from your immediate area opens doors to new business opportunities and information sharing.
Encourage interactions with people outside your own staff (again, only when there’s time to spare). The kinds of interactions you or your staff might have would vary from person to person, but professionals in coworking spaces are often happy to share their experience and knowledge to those interested enough to ask.
This means that for the price of renting some space at coworking spaces like Common Desk, your business gains access to tips and tricks that could help with product development or consumer reach, and other practices that you could integrate into your own entrepreneurial approach.
Learn and Reflect
While tied to the last point on interactions, this next bit of advice deserves its own entry: use the chance to interact with others as a stepping stone to greater reflection on your own office culture.
Watching or interacting with other professionals at work can yield insight, not only into their products but also into the way they handle the relationships between staff and management. You gain a lot from observing how they navigate within-business interactions, what they do to keep morale high, and perhaps even how conflicts are resolved.
All of these make the job of studying your own office culture easier, since other examples provide solid, tangible contrast against the identity your business has, or wants to have. Use them to measure your strengths and weaknesses, and let them help you fixate on the ideal office culture you have in mind.
Coworking is a major advantage for businesses that know how to make the most of the space provided. Keep a practical mindset as you move in, and navigating your coworking space will be easy and profitable.
