The idea of ​​community is more and more prevalent within flexible workspaces. It is both at the heart of a workspace’s success and one of the deciding factors for new customers. Some of the many benefits of having a collaborative workplace community include sharing knowledge, increasing business opportunities, and maintaining overall well-being within a single community. So what factors go into creating a successful community?

Space

Space is in itself an essential factor in creating an environment and a working atmosphere conducive to cooperation between individuals and companies.

Offering common spaces or relaxation reinforces the feeling of collaborative community. Indeed, they provide informal areas where individuals can get to know each other and share their ideas. For example, the best establishments often have a large kitchen, equipped with tables and chairs, which becomes the nerve center of the workplace where people come to chat over coffee or at lunch time.

The relaxation areas do not need to be limited to a table and chairs: you can consider a roof terrace, a reception area, an on-site café or even a games room equipped with a table. table tennis.

Opportunities To Expand Your Network

Collaboration is above all a matter of networking, whether between colleagues or between individuals from different companies.

Networking events, whether internal or external, are a great opportunity to work together and encourage people to get to know each other. These events bring together people from completely different backgrounds, promote useful encounters and provide an excellent platform to market yourself as a company. Examples include conferences with speakers relevant to your industry, debates, focus groups and even newcomers and project presentations.

Whether you are attending as an individual or as a business, industry groups provide an opportunity to connect with other businesses potentially looking to collaborate on a particular project. This may be a more suitable approach to finding the right network in which to grow your business. In addition to specialist groups in your industry, sites such as FindNetworkingEvents.com offer insight into upcoming events in your area.

Occupants On The Same Wavelength

Perhaps the most important factor for a functioning community is to successfully mix businesses within the building. To start well, any good collaborative community must welcome different but complementary companies. In addition to promoting the sharing of ideas and collaborations, complementary companies have a better chance of getting along well and therefore ensuring a good mood at work.

Some providers offer apps to encourage companies offering complementary services to get to know each other, while others rely on word of mouth or use community managers.

We can also mention providers who focus on a particular type of occupant to strengthen the sense of community. They do this by imposing access restrictions, for example by attracting companies in the innovation or technology sector only.

A community does not necessarily need to meet the above requirements to be successful. However, it is important to find the right balance, because the higher the sense of community, the more a business will want to stay in a given building or with a certain provider.