The coworking industry is seeing an unprecedented growth. We live in a shared economy, and I’d define coworking as the sharing of three critical resources one needs to be productive:
- Physical (office space)
- Logistical (other physical resources)
- Intellectual (the whole community with which you can engage and share knowledge to create value for yourself and the community at large)
Coworking is much more than a physical configuration of an office or a workplace definition. While traditional office spaces make it difficult for you to get yourself out of things like office maintenance and huge costs, the most you would need at a coworking space would be your laptop, giving you the time and space to be more efficient and productive.
There are many ways you can leverage the coworking ecosystem to be the productive best at your office.
Be Disciplined
While discipline can be perceived as covering shifts, it certainly means quite the opposite. Discipline is coming to office regularly and spending a good number of productive hours – after all, your office should give you a sense of productivity the minute you step inside. In addition, not making too much noise for your coworkers’ sake is very important. It’s as they say – do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Know Your Space
Coworking spaces, due to their scale, offer their members access to a lot of facilities that they would not have otherwise – like a Huddle Area, Meeting Rooms, Video Conferencing and secretarial services. These things go a long way in saving you the trouble of spending innumerable resources, and most importantly, your time. At coworking, you can avail yourself of these services, anytime.
Additionally, coworking spaces strike strategic artnerships with many big players in the ecosystem. Members should leverage these offerings to save their time and resources, and increase productivity. From ordering food to getting an agreement vetted, a good coworking would make sure their community gets the best out of their relationships.
Know Your Co-workers
The core idea of a coworking space is to build a community where people connect, collaborate and create. Build strong relationships with people you’re working with (your coworkers, not just your team). The person sitting right next to you might be your future investor, employee or co-founder!
At a coworking, there are innumerable learnings you might come across from co-workers who’re ahead in the learning curve – thereby making you better and more productive at what you do. At InstaOffice, one of the members came to know about a tool named Zeppelin from their fellow coworkers, and since many months now, their business hasn’t been able to live without the tool.
Know Your Community – Beyond Your Co-workers
This cannot be stressed enough. Coworking spaces invest a lot of time and resources in organising high-value events for their community and enabling a community for their members to thrive in.
Attending those events is a great way to gain better access to the community your Coworking Space has to offer. Barclays, in collaboration with 91springboard, launched Rise in Mumbai a few months ago. InstaOffice keeps organising knowledge sharing events and Pitch Roast events (InstaOffice Unwind Sessions) such as one with Startup Europe India Network, in October. With influential investors, and delegates from Europe and India, the event was a key value contributor to its members.
Personalise Your Space
Many people consider coworking as an interim solution for their office needs, although this perception is slowly losing its credence. Interim or not, it should definitely not stop you from personalising your space. Being in an extremely social environment, it is at times very crucial to disconnect from what surrounds you, and focus.
Little things that help you make your office space yours definitely belong at your desk – be it a plant, a book or some music. There is always enough room to personalise, from changing configuration to changing colours around you! If your space allows such changes, you should definitely give it a personal touch.
Coworking is much more than just a trendsetter. As per the ongoing 2017 Global Coworking Survey, It’s a place where any professional would be one of the 1,180,000 people collaborating in a fast-paced environment – doing what they love.
The best experience at a coworking space comes from finding the right balance between being social and private. While the above-mentioned tips would definitely prove to be useful hacks to boost productivity at your office, they would also make you look at your office as much more than just a desk.
[The author of this post is Vikas Lakhani – co-founder and CEO of Instaoffice, a coworking space.]
