The coworking space makes work so comfortable that we often forget that it is a professional community. Leaving dirty dishes in the kitchen area to holding court at any one of the hot desks are some of the worst transgressions. Let’s not talk about the incessant loud calls made by professionals that can be heard throughout the entire coworking space.
To be fair, the coworking space’s comfy, cosy, friendly environment invites the type of social interaction that makes work a little distracting. However, the coworking space is an office, first and foremost, and even a really good conversation can interfere with the ability of others to work, but it is also a social space as well. Finding the fine line between work and socialising in a space designated for both can be difficult.
Keep reading to learn how to navigate the coworking space without offending your coworking neighbours.
Get To Know The Community
The best way to form good relationships in the coworking community is to find ways to get to know others in the space. The way many of these spaces are organised create opportunities for engagement. For example, see the way Servcorp Coworking America organised their office to create opportunities for social interaction in the workspace by clicking onto the following link www.servcorp.com/en/coworking/. In fact, many coworking spaces will host the types of events that encourage social interaction. Take advantage of these events so you cannot only forge relationships with people in the space, but you can also use these relationships to create other opportunities in the space.
Know The Rules Of The Space
One of the easiest ways to determine how to conduct yourself in the space is simply to know the coworking community’s rules. Some rules might ask you to contain conversations to designated areas in the space while others might ask you to not eat heavy meals in the space at all. The regulations of the space are in place to protect the entire coworking community, so knowing the rules can prevent you from unknowingly offending your neighbours and other professionals working in the space.
Make Volunteering A Priority
Professionals do not only rent coworking spaces, but they also join them, which means in many cases they are committed to the community. One way to approach your coworking community positively is to volunteer in the space. You can volunteer to put together an online newsletter or manage the space’s social media site, but devoting time making the coworking space a better office allows you to get know others in the space.
Respect Other’s Boundaries
Because the workspace is also a shared space, people work together at the same workstation if working at a hot desk, and this can create many opportunities for friction if not careful. Anything thing that might interfere with the other people’s ability to work in the space should be taken into consideration, whether it relates to spreading your work across the tables or looking at other monitors as they work.
Keep Your Work Area Clean
Finally, the workspace is used by many professionals every day and all day. For this reason, try to leave the coworking space as tidy as you found it when you arrived. There is nothing more bothersome than finding food spills, discarded paperwork, and other pieces of litter lying around the space, especially if it is anywhere near computers and other office equipment.
Sharing Space Cooperatively
The great thing about coworking is it provides businesses in the United States an all-in-one opportunity to work in a comfortable environment while networking with other professionals not to mention the space’s other uses. However, ironically, this same social benefit can be an annoyance if left unchecked. Ultimately, though, sharing space successfully requires cooperation from everyone in the community.
