Co-Working is great, but how do you plan a space to co-work that encourages collaboration but doesn’t punish those who need/want to quietly work on projects?
At Zirtual, we’ve got three offices (Las Vegas, San Francisco and New York) where co-working is done with some regularity. We’re a virtual company so people do work virtually for the most part, but, when they can, love getting in a room with other Zirtual-ites to work.
And, I’ve seen two different outcomes when people gather to cowork in a open office setting.
The Good
Everyone is enmeshed in what they are doing. It’s motivating to see others around you working hard to build the company that you all are invested in. The room is fairly quiet. People are happy to be ‘round the table’ with their group. When they need to ask for some information or help, they’ve got colleagues sitting beside them to turn to and problems are quickly solved. Contentment is apparent. Synergistic creativity rubs off.
The Bad
Things start out good. People get louder and louder. Those wanting to concentrate are distracted. Colleagues are interrupted frequently for no really good reason. Sometimes, co-workers are ‘lured’ out of a productive state into ‘play’ mode and little gets done. When
everyone leaves to go home, they leave behind a dirty office/kitchen area without a glance.
Things to consider in setting up a company coworking space:
1. Arrange a choice. Even only a one room space can be laid out in way that allows for collaborative areas and quiet areas. Private areas for phone calls or discussions or where people can go for a break are important. A couch against one wall with whiteboards or chalkboards close encourages sketching out and building on ideas.
2. Have some rules… but only a few (people hate a long list of rules). Things like ‘Use headphones if you want to listen to music’ or ‘Move long conversations to a private area’ or ‘Clean up after yourself ’.
3. Find ways to engage your group. An occasional pizza lunch. A 15 minute Yoga break (led by someone who’s good enough to do this). A 30 minute lunch time power walk. Something that people would find easy to commit to during working hours. At our old office in SF, we had a dart board on the wall. People would take a break and play darts together. Standing up, moving, laughing was just what some of the guys needed to break up long hours on a laptop.
Solely virtual workers miss the camaraderie of a team atmosphere. Coworking makes it easier to ‘turn off’ at the end of the day since the employee has a clear ‘start’ and ‘stop’ to the work day. Workers have a social side to their day which they would miss if they stayed strictly at a coffee shop. People who cowork on a regular basis report being happier with a better mental outlook just from the discipline of getting up to go to work in the morning. Having people waiting for you to show up and share ideas and problems throughout the day is something that most of the virtual workers I talked to really need occasionally.
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