All great points, thanks Dina. Especially this: The caution is don't ask unless you intend to take action on findings. It's > important to share what will happen as a result of the member giving you > their faith & trust by responding.
Honesty and integrity are key to making this *actually* work. If you're just going through the motions, you're not going to get any of the benefits. -- /ah indyhall.org coworking in philadelphia On Fri, Aug 9, 2013 at 1:56 PM, Dina Lynch Eisenberg <lynch.d...@gmail.com>wrote: > Listening can take so many forms. Observing the interactions is a way of > listening. Where do you see people getting stuck, then ask about their > experience. > > Another way to listen is through action. The dot method works great for > gathering data and setting priority. Ask members anonymously to generate a > list of issues, perhaps using google forms or surveymonkey. Then post each > issue on paper on the walls. Distribute dot decals like you see at Staples > to members,say 10 each, and ask them to vote for the most pressing issues > with the dots. > > Because the process is fun & easy you get good participation. And you can > always offer an incentive for 100% participation. There's something about > the visual nature that sparks conversation. For large communities this > method gets you the diversity of thought. In smaller communities it allows > for expression without the worry of being judged. > > It's pretty exciting to hear the movement call for more focus on coworker > experience and needs. The caution is don't ask unless you intend to take > action on findings. It's important to share what will happen as a result of > the member giving you their faith & trust by responding. > > Typos courtesy of my iPad > > On Aug 9, 2013, at 9:16 AM, Alex Hillman <dangerouslyawes...@gmail.com> > wrote: > > ...even which things should be *addressed* *less*. As I see things, this >> is a very tight line to walk between giving the right amount of guidance >> versus stifling the center's personality. > > > I love this question! > > When it comes to "crowdsourcing", in my experience, there's two kinds: > mething about the vexplicit and implicit. I don't think I've ever written > about this before, so thanks for the prompt. > > People are most familiar with *explicit crowdsourcing*, where the crowd > ceis actually coming into contact with creating the goal. > > In this version, explicit crowdsourcing is tapping into the co-creation > models that coworking kicks ass at. It's extra hands on deck + diverse > perspective + emotional buy in. > > *Implicit crowdsourcing** *is a bit different. And it requires something > that a lot of us are *really* bad at: listening. > > When your crowd is small, you can use it to your advantage and by going > deeper. You have less noise, more signal. > > Listen for pain. Listen for anxiety. Listen for frustration. Listen for > curiosity. > > And then instead of trying to fix it...ask the person about it. See where > the conversation goes. This is one of the hardest, but most gratifying > parts of building the community...even to this day. We're going through a > lot of this right now as the community recovers from our most recent " > reboot<http://www.indyhall.org/blog/2844/join-indy-hall-this-friday-saturday-sunday> > ". > > Especially in early stage community building, implicit crowdsourcing is > absolutely critical. It's the kind of experience that will not only give > you implicitly crowdsourced questions (and better answers), but it'll help > you build trust bonds with the members you work with. > > -Alex > > > > -- > > /ah > indyhall.org > coworking in philadelphia > > > On Fri, Aug 9, 2013 at 11:50 AM, Brian <bri...@tractivewest.com> wrote: > >> This is the resource that I perused the most out of those I found before >> posting, honestly, so thank you for creating it. I promise, I've not ganked >> any content, though I have used it to get ideas on topics and layout to >> integrate with our internal documents, if you're ok with that. >> >> I have to say, I like the fact that your guide isn't entirely complete. >> It hints at the issues and clarifications that are most important to your >> particular space and spaces in general, and seeing that has an incredible >> value all its own. >> >> I am curious, though, about getting direct non-OOS coworkers' >> perspectives on what needs addressed the most, or even which things should >> be *addressed* *less*. As I see things, this is a very tight line to >> walk between giving the right amount of guidance versus stifling the >> center's personality. Alex's approach of putting the guide's creation into >> the hands of the coworkers themselves is a great answer to this, but >> somewhat dependent on the size of the coworking pool as most crowdsourced >> projects are. >> >> Would any of you OOSes be willing to point your non-OOSes to this thread? >> >> Thanks! >> >> >> >> On Thursday, August 8, 2013 4:40:17 PM UTC-5, Alex Hillman wrote: >> >>> So....I was going to wait until Coworking Day to reveal this, but I've >>> got enough other goodies to share tomorrow so I'll spill a little early. >>> It's the 9th already in some time zones after all, right!? :) >>> >>> As Indy Hall has grown, we found ourselves (and some of our members) >>> asking similar questions. On one hand, there's an "operational" guide, but >>> there's also a cultural guide needed. "How something works" is just as >>> important as "why it works that way", so in many ways, they're intertwined. >>> So we took a stab and launched this internally as a beta a few weeks back: >>> >>> http://howto.indyhall.org >>> >>> As you'll see in the "How to use this >>> guide<http://howto.indyhall.org/#1__How_to_use_this_Guide>" >>> section, while creating this guide, we asked ourselves the question: >>> >>> *"How do we create a resource that gives answers, but also explains how >>> we came up with those answers and encourages members to explore new >>> possible answers?"* >>> >>> The result is a guide that is a mix of story, dialogue, introspection, >>> ideas, and tools to help anyone be an excellent community member at Indy >>> Hall - and ultimately, in any setting where you gather, meet, work, and >>> collaborate. >>> >>> We sourced the vast majority of the questions directly from members, and >>> many of the answers as well. Much like our space and community is >>> co-created, so is the guide to "using" it. >>> >>> More importantly, our guide follows the coworking core value of >>> "openness" by welcoming ongoing contributions from members, and by >>> publishing the source code that powers it on Github: https://github.com/ >>> **alexknowshtml/How-To-Indy-Hall<https://github.com/alexknowshtml/How-To-Indy-Hall> >>> >>> At this point, the *content* *itself *is not licensed for free >>> re-use...so please be respectful about that. If there are portions or >>> passages that you're interested in using, let me know and I'm happy to talk >>> about it. >>> >>> And like everything else, this guide is a work in progress for us. >>> There's a lot of TODOs left, and several placeholder images while we >>> continue to work on the content each week. >>> >>> Hopefully, though, this serves as an inspiration as you create your own >>> guides. And if you have ideas for how we could improve ours - or even >>> contributions - they're warmly welcomed :) >>> >>> Happy Coworking Day Eve, everyone! >>> >>> -Alex >>> >>> -- >>> >>> /ah >>> indyhall.org >>> coworking in philadelphia >>> >>> >>> On Thu, Aug 8, 2013 at 5:02 PM, Dina Lynch Eisenberg <lynch...@gmail.com >>> > wrote: >>> >>>> Hey Brian, >>>> >>>> I'm excited about your question. I've been grooving on how to write an >>>> 'owners' manual for members so they understand the space and the community. >>>> Thanks for clueing me in about the operations side of things, too. >>>> Someone (beside me) better understand how stuff works, especially the >>>> electronics! >>>> >>>> Thanks for sharing your journey and helping me on mine. Warmly, Dina >>>> >>>> >>>> On Wednesday, August 7, 2013 10:20:55 AM UTC-7, Brian wrote: >>>>> >>>>> Hello, all, >>>>> >>>>> Here's the context: The Creative Foundry, our co-working space in >>>>> Springfield, Mo, is growing; although I am present nearly every day to >>>>> make >>>>> sure that there are answers to questions (that have answers), I am also >>>>> near completing my graduate degree and all of the uncertainty that >>>>> entails. >>>>> In short, I may not be here in a year. >>>>> >>>>> So, I am tasked with creating an operations and policy manual. >>>>> Everything from how to hook up a computer to our conference room TV, to >>>>> how >>>>> to turn on the lights (they're hidden), needs to be covered, and there's a >>>>> lot of minute details that I'm sure I take for granted every day. I've >>>>> found some examples and resources on the matter, but I wanted to get the >>>>> direct perspective of this group as well. >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> - What is your preferred example of an operations or policy >>>>> manual? >>>>> - In your coworking experiences, what sort of questions pop-up >>>>> about a space most often? >>>>> - What are the things about your current coworking space irk you >>>>> and ought to be addressed? >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> Thanks for your help with any or all of these questions! >>>>> >>>>> Brian >>>>> >>>> -- >>>> 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 coworking+...@**googlegroups.com. >>>> >>>> For more options, visit >>>> https://groups.google.com/**groups/opt_out<https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out> >>>> . >>>> >>>> >>>> >>> >>> -- >> 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 coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. >> >> >> > > -- > Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the > Google Groups "Coworking" group. > To unsubscribe from this topic, visit > https://groups.google.com/d/topic/coworking/S3sK3g9sHbA/unsubscribe. > To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to > coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > > > -- > 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 coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > -- 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 coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
