I’m interested in building higher level engagement of members, and have been thinking about more team-building, orientation training, and other systems to help individuals work more like a team. What are the best practices ou
t there?
This is something I’ve been looking at for a long time.
It seems coworking spaces tend to start off with a lot of momentum, with members really engaged and excited, but then over time culture erodes into a state where people tend to just walk in, put on their headphones, and go to work.
Getting members to participate becomes an increasingly challenging slog.
One solution, as has been discussed here in the past, is to develop a culture of empowerment and encouragement, whereby all community members feel like the space is theirs to build together. Alex writes well about it here.
To build on that, I have been experimenting with adding a layer of intention to the average workday, harkening back to Brad Neuberg’s original vision.
Part of what members look for in coworking is a sense of structure and accountability, two critical things that you have in a typical office but don’t get when you work for yourself from home. Coworking spaces satisfy these needs, but only implicitly and partially.
When I’ve worked with spaces to provide that more explicitly, through some simple group goal-setting and accountability programs, the results have been spectacular. For people who don’t actually work for the same company to act more like a team, they need a shared context in which they can feel like they’re helping each other succeed and grow.
I discovered that people sometimes just need clear boundaries and a safe space to open up about what they’re doing. Once they have a chance to build genuine connections and a sense of shared mission within that framework, good things start happening fast.
Happy to discuss more about this topic if you’d like!
Tony
···
On Sun, Mar 6, 2016 at 9:29 PM, Elizabeth Trice [email protected] wrote:
I’m interested in building higher level engagement of members, and have been thinking about more team-building, orientation training, and other systems to help individuals work more like a team. What are the best practices ou
t there?
–
Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com
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1 Like
We have a few things that we do in this regard:
-
It is accepted custom that when someone is stuck, they can just announce their impediment to the room. Those who are able to hear can decide if they are able to offer assistance/advice.
-
We run regular mastermind groups out of the space (it’s also been another way to introduce people to our community and start them down the path to adoption). These are great places for building strong accountability structures between groups.
-
Our regular BizTricks meetups encourage people to share things that are working for them in their personal practice.
-
Many of us have accountability partners within the space.
-
We have an end-of-week celebration where we vent, cheer, feast and drink (alcohol and non-alcohol). We call it Fuck-it Friday, and it’s the highlight of many people’s weeks.
There’s also many other moments throughout the day where this sort of teamwork is modelled. We’re home of Niagara’s independent workforce; we decided to look out for each other because nobody else was going to do it for us. That mindset needs to run through everything we do in order for people to believe it. I think we do a pretty good job of it, but it requires constant effort to maintain.
So my advice? If you really want to build this type of togetherness or team culture, then you just start doing it. Find ways to be together. And let everyone contribute to what it looks like. Do it consistently. Over time, it will transform your space and the people in it.
···
On Sun, Mar 6, 2016 at 9:29 PM, Elizabeth Trice [email protected] wrote:
I’m interested in building higher level engagement of members, and have been thinking about more team-building, orientation training, and other systems to help individuals work more like a team. What are the best practices ou
t there?
–
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.
Hi Trevor,
Thanks for your insights! I have been wanting to start a mastermind group at my coworking space; Connects Workspace in Golden, Co but am a little stuck as to the best way to go about it. Can you add a little more detail?
-Once you start a group is it closed? or do you allow new members to join existing groups? How often do you meet? How many are in a group? How much do you monitor the group or do you let them self lead?
Any insights would be greatly appreciated!
Jen
···
On Monday, March 7, 2016 at 9:20:42 AM UTC-7, Trevor Twining wrote:
We have a few things that we do in this regard:
- It is accepted custom that when someone is stuck, they can just announce their impediment to the room. Those who are able to hear can decide if they are able to offer assistance/advice.
- We run regular mastermind groups out of the space (it’s also been another way to introduce people to our community and start them down the path to adoption). These are great places for building strong accountability structures between groups.
- Our regular BizTricks meetups encourage people to share things that are working for them in their personal practice.
- Many of us have accountability partners within the space.
- We have an end-of-week celebration where we vent, cheer, feast and drink (alcohol and non-alcohol). We call it Fuck-it Friday, and it’s the highlight of many people’s weeks.
There’s also many other moments throughout the day where this sort of teamwork is modelled. We’re home of Niagara’s independent workforce; we decided to look out for each other because nobody else was going to do it for us. That mindset needs to run through everything we do in order for people to believe it. I think we do a pretty good job of it, but it requires constant effort to maintain.
So my advice? If you really want to build this type of togetherness or team culture, then you just start doing it. Find ways to be together. And let everyone contribute to what it looks like. Do it consistently. Over time, it will transform your space and the people in it.
Trevor Twining
Cowork Niagara
Home of Niagara’s independent workforce
twitter: @coworkniagara, @trevortwining
cel: 416-201-2254
On Mar 7, 2016, at 10:01 AM, Tony Bacigalupo [email protected] wrote:
This is something I’ve been looking at for a long time.
It seems coworking spaces tend to start off with a lot of momentum, with members really engaged and excited, but then over time culture erodes into a state where people tend to just walk in, put on their headphones, and go to work.
Getting members to participate becomes an increasingly challenging slog.
One solution, as has been discussed here in the past, is to develop a culture of empowerment and encouragement, whereby all community members feel like the space is theirs to build together. Alex writes well about it here.
To build on that, I have been experimenting with adding a layer of intention to the average workday, harkening back to Brad Neuberg’s original vision.
Part of what members look for in coworking is a sense of structure and accountability, two critical things that you have in a typical office but don’t get when you work for yourself from home. Coworking spaces satisfy these needs, but only implicitly and partially.
When I’ve worked with spaces to provide that more explicitly, through some simple group goal-setting and accountability programs, the results have been spectacular. For people who don’t actually work for the same company to act more like a team, they need a shared context in which they can feel like they’re helping each other succeed and grow.
I discovered that people sometimes just need clear boundaries and a safe space to open up about what they’re doing. Once they have a chance to build genuine connections and a sense of shared mission within that framework, good things start happening fast.
Happy to discuss more about this topic if you’d like!
Tony
—
Projects: New Work Cities • Open Coworking
eBook: No More Sink Full of Mugs
Connect: Personal site • Twitter • Facebook
New: Preorder the Ultimate Coworking Toolkit
On Sun, Mar 6, 2016 at 9:29 PM, Elizabeth Trice [email protected] wrote:
I’m interested in building higher level engagement of members, and have been thinking about more team-building, orientation training, and other systems to help individuals work more like a team. What are the best practices ou
t there?
–
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.
–
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.
Sure, Jen. I’m happy to!
A group is closed once it forms. In ours we all put some money up front ($200). If you’re late twice, your money is gone. At the end of the term (ours was one year), you either distribute it back, continue on another term, or do something fun with it.
A new member could join a mastermind if it is starting a new term. The MM group needs to build trust within its membership. There’s a lot being shared in these meetings.
Our self-led group meets once a month. I’m aware of some who meet bi-weekly. Given the intensity, I don’t think it would be common to meet weekly.
We have five members in our group. Each member gets 30 minutes to talk about whatever they want. The other members listen, ask questions, offer advice and, most importantly I think, call out BS when it pops up. This is why you need to build trust in the group; it can sometimes feel really uncomfortable to get called on language or thinking that’s holding you back.
···
Trevor Twining
Cowork Niagara
Home of Niagara’s independent workforce
twitter: @coworkniagara, @trevortwining
On Mar 7, 2016, at 7:01 PM, Jen Thoemke [email protected] wrote:
Hi Trevor,
Thanks for your insights! I have been wanting to start a mastermind group at my coworking space; Connects Workspace in Golden, Co but am a little stuck as to the best way to go about it. Can you add a little more detail?
-Once you start a group is it closed? or do you allow new members to join existing groups? How often do you meet? How many are in a group? How much do you monitor the group or do you let them self lead?
Any insights would be greatly appreciated!
Jen
On Monday, March 7, 2016 at 9:20:42 AM UTC-7, Trevor Twining wrote:
We have a few things that we do in this regard:
- It is accepted custom that when someone is stuck, they can just announce their impediment to the room. Those who are able to hear can decide if they are able to offer assistance/advice.
- We run regular mastermind groups out of the space (it’s also been another way to introduce people to our community and start them down the path to adoption). These are great places for building strong accountability structures between groups.
- Our regular BizTricks meetups encourage people to share things that are working for them in their personal practice.
- Many of us have accountability partners within the space.
- We have an end-of-week celebration where we vent, cheer, feast and drink (alcohol and non-alcohol). We call it Fuck-it Friday, and it’s the highlight of many people’s weeks.
There’s also many other moments throughout the day where this sort of teamwork is modelled. We’re home of Niagara’s independent workforce; we decided to look out for each other because nobody else was going to do it for us. That mindset needs to run through everything we do in order for people to believe it. I think we do a pretty good job of it, but it requires constant effort to maintain.
So my advice? If you really want to build this type of togetherness or team culture, then you just start doing it. Find ways to be together. And let everyone contribute to what it looks like. Do it consistently. Over time, it will transform your space and the people in it.
Trevor Twining
Cowork Niagara
Home of Niagara’s independent workforce
twitter: @coworkniagara, @trevortwining
cel: 416-201-2254
On Mar 7, 2016, at 10:01 AM, Tony Bacigalupo <tonybac…@gmail.com> wrote:
This is something I’ve been looking at for a long time.
It seems coworking spaces tend to start off with a lot of momentum, with members really engaged and excited, but then over time culture erodes into a state where people tend to just walk in, put on their headphones, and go to work.
Getting members to participate becomes an increasingly challenging slog.
One solution, as has been discussed here in the past, is to develop a culture of empowerment and encouragement, whereby all community members feel like the space is theirs to build together. Alex writes well about it here.
To build on that, I have been experimenting with adding a layer of intention to the average workday, harkening back to Brad Neuberg’s original vision.
Part of what members look for in coworking is a sense of structure and accountability, two critical things that you have in a typical office but don’t get when you work for yourself from home. Coworking spaces satisfy these needs, but only implicitly and partially.
When I’ve worked with spaces to provide that more explicitly, through some simple group goal-setting and accountability programs, the results have been spectacular. For people who don’t actually work for the same company to act more like a team, they need a shared context in which they can feel like they’re helping each other succeed and grow.
I discovered that people sometimes just need clear boundaries and a safe space to open up about what they’re doing. Once they have a chance to build genuine connections and a sense of shared mission within that framework, good things start happening fast.
Happy to discuss more about this topic if you’d like!
Tony
—
Projects: New Work Cities • Open Coworking
eBook: No More Sink Full of Mugs
Connect: Personal site • Twitter • Facebook
New: Preorder the Ultimate Coworking Toolkit
On Sun, Mar 6, 2016 at 9:29 PM, Elizabeth Trice <lizt…@gmail.com> wrote:
I’m interested in building higher level engagement of members, and have been thinking about more team-building, orientation training, and other systems to help individuals work more like a team. What are the best practices ou
t there?
–
Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.comYou 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 coworking+…@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
–
Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.comYou 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 coworking+…@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
–
Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.comYou 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.
Thanks Trevor! That helps me a lot. Have a good one!
···
On Tuesday, March 8, 2016 at 5:11:50 AM UTC-7, Trevor Twining wrote:
Sure, Jen. I’m happy to!
A group is closed once it forms. In ours we all put some money up front ($200). If you’re late twice, your money is gone. At the end of the term (ours was one year), you either distribute it back, continue on another term, or do something fun with it.
A new member could join a mastermind if it is starting a new term. The MM group needs to build trust within its membership. There’s a lot being shared in these meetings.
Our self-led group meets once a month. I’m aware of some who meet bi-weekly. Given the intensity, I don’t think it would be common to meet weekly.
We have five members in our group. Each member gets 30 minutes to talk about whatever they want. The other members listen, ask questions, offer advice and, most importantly I think, call out BS when it pops up. This is why you need to build trust in the group; it can sometimes feel really uncomfortable to get called on language or thinking that’s holding you back.
Trevor Twining
Cowork Niagara
Home of Niagara’s independent workforce
twitter: @coworkniagara, @trevortwining
On Mar 7, 2016, at 7:01 PM, Jen Thoemke [email protected] wrote:
Hi Trevor,
Thanks for your insights! I have been wanting to start a mastermind group at my coworking space; Connects Workspace in Golden, Co but am a little stuck as to the best way to go about it. Can you add a little more detail?
-Once you start a group is it closed? or do you allow new members to join existing groups? How often do you meet? How many are in a group? How much do you monitor the group or do you let them self lead?
Any insights would be greatly appreciated!
Jen
On Monday, March 7, 2016 at 9:20:42 AM UTC-7, Trevor Twining wrote:
We have a few things that we do in this regard:
- It is accepted custom that when someone is stuck, they can just announce their impediment to the room. Those who are able to hear can decide if they are able to offer assistance/advice.
- We run regular mastermind groups out of the space (it’s also been another way to introduce people to our community and start them down the path to adoption). These are great places for building strong accountability structures between groups.
- Our regular BizTricks meetups encourage people to share things that are working for them in their personal practice.
- Many of us have accountability partners within the space.
- We have an end-of-week celebration where we vent, cheer, feast and drink (alcohol and non-alcohol). We call it Fuck-it Friday, and it’s the highlight of many people’s weeks.
There’s also many other moments throughout the day where this sort of teamwork is modelled. We’re home of Niagara’s independent workforce; we decided to look out for each other because nobody else was going to do it for us. That mindset needs to run through everything we do in order for people to believe it. I think we do a pretty good job of it, but it requires constant effort to maintain.
So my advice? If you really want to build this type of togetherness or team culture, then you just start doing it. Find ways to be together. And let everyone contribute to what it looks like. Do it consistently. Over time, it will transform your space and the people in it.
Trevor Twining
Cowork Niagara
Home of Niagara’s independent workforce
twitter: @coworkniagara, @trevortwining
cel: 416-201-2254
On Mar 7, 2016, at 10:01 AM, Tony Bacigalupo <tonybac…@gmail.com> wrote:
This is something I’ve been looking at for a long time.
It seems coworking spaces tend to start off with a lot of momentum, with members really engaged and excited, but then over time culture erodes into a state where people tend to just walk in, put on their headphones, and go to work.
Getting members to participate becomes an increasingly challenging slog.
One solution, as has been discussed here in the past, is to develop a culture of empowerment and encouragement, whereby all community members feel like the space is theirs to build together. Alex writes well about it here.
To build on that, I have been experimenting with adding a layer of intention to the average workday, harkening back to Brad Neuberg’s original vision.
Part of what members look for in coworking is a sense of structure and accountability, two critical things that you have in a typical office but don’t get when you work for yourself from home. Coworking spaces satisfy these needs, but only implicitly and partially.
When I’ve worked with spaces to provide that more explicitly, through some simple group goal-setting and accountability programs, the results have been spectacular. For people who don’t actually work for the same company to act more like a team, they need a shared context in which they can feel like they’re helping each other succeed and grow.
I discovered that people sometimes just need clear boundaries and a safe space to open up about what they’re doing. Once they have a chance to build genuine connections and a sense of shared mission within that framework, good things start happening fast.
Happy to discuss more about this topic if you’d like!
Tony
—
Projects: New Work Cities • Open Coworking
eBook: No More Sink Full of Mugs
Connect: Personal site • Twitter • Facebook
New: Preorder the Ultimate Coworking Toolkit
I’m interested in building higher level engagement of members, and have been thinking about more team-building, orientation training, and other systems to help individuals work more like a team. What are the best practices ou
t there?
–
Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.comYou 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 coworking+…@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
On Sun, Mar 6, 2016 at 9:29 PM, Elizabeth Trice <lizt…@gmail.com> wrote:
–
Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.comYou 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 coworking+…@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
–
Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.comYou 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.
We don’t call it team building and it’s member driven. In fact, I try to stay out of it–having had one too many injury experiences during forced “human knot” activities.
The most fun one we did recently was a free app called Space Team. You just use your phone and wifi. You can play it together in about 10 minutes. So. Fun.
Angel
···
On Sunday, March 6, 2016 at 9:29:53 PM UTC-7, Elizabeth Trice wrote:
I’m interested in building higher level engagement of members, and have been thinking about more team-building, orientation training, and other systems to help individuals work more like a team. What are the best practices ou
t there?