Hi Alex, Thanks so much for sharing this! I love seeing explicit guidelines for interactions/decisions. It inspired me to think about how Collective Agency is similar and different, and vision. We have Community Guidelines (9 rules and a preface) which I look to whenever a 'decision' comes up (in quotes because it usually isn't a decision once I look at the guidelines, and I love that). http://collectiveagency.co/community-guidelines/ It's our Bill of Rights and Responsibilities for everybody there including staff (and interactions with staff).
I love how you have "We always" "...help people tell the stories of the experiences they have in Philadelphia." -- that's come up recently for us. I'm curious about "We never" "...accept a "no" at face value." What does that mean to you? About a year ago we started always accepting a no at face value and also accepting an unenthusiastic yeah as a no, and a maybe is open to the person saying what they want, but if they don't become 'hell yes' or 'enthusiastic yes' or 'fuck yes' then it is a no. So if someone really wants X and we don't provide it, it's either on them to figure out what will get them to a fuck yes, or it's a no. Since then I think there's more joy and presence here, and certainly more people and $$$. On Thursday, July 21, 2016 at 6:50:40 AM UTC-7, Alex Hillman wrote: > > This is something that we've slowly been getting better at, and we're > trying to stay thoughtful about it while we do it. > > I don't have a problem with rules, I have a problem with creating an > environment that creates rule-following machines.* I see a LOT of > coworking spaces where staff and members alike are more worried about > following the rules than looking after each other. * > > So about 5 years ago, I started this by trying to write down the > fundamentals about how *I *make decisions, so that our community could > better understand why things work. The result has been live on our public > website <http://www.indyhall.org/purpose> for quite a while, broken down > into a sort of "plinko board" of actions that we always strive for, and > actions we try to avoid. It's sort of like a hybrid of a SOP and a living > breathing action-oriented version of our community values, documented: > > *We always:* > > ...help unlikely groups of likeminded people form relationships. > ...focus on people and their interactions, and the formation of > relationships. > ...help people tell the stories of the experiences they have in > Philadelphia. > ...trust people to do the right thing. > ...guide people to being good citizens of Indy Hall and of Philadelphia. > ...support people in their goals of building businesses to last, in > Philadelphia and for Philadelphia. > > *We never:* > > ...do anything against our community’s interest. > ...focus on desks or square footage. > ...create something only because we think we’re supposed to. > ...accept the status quo. > ...accept a "no" at face value. > ...compromise our core values. > ...prioritize a transaction before a relationship. > > *Every day, we:* > > ...keep people at the center of every action, interaction, and decision. > ...welcome new community members, and make it clear that Indy Hall is > theirs, not just ours. > ...always look for a way to say yes. > ...teach others in our immediate and neighboring communities how we > operate. > > I literally use these guidelines for decision making 100x a day, and it's > awesome to watch my team and even members use and reference this when > figuring out how to make things work. > > A simpler version that we put on our welcome one-pagers, and include as a > major part of our tour, is to: > > - Look after yourself > - Look after each other > - Look after this place > > In all cases, we're SUPER careful in our language choice to make it clear, > before providing SOP documentation, that anything documented is meant to > help, but not constrain. Any "rule" is open to being adjusted, adapted, or > rewritten to help us better achieve our goals working together. > > I'm curious how others have found balance between SOP and handbook-style > documentation, and still allowing/encouraging people to "color outside of > the lines" and trusting people to do what's right? > > -Alex > > > ------------------ > *The #1 mistake in community building is doing it by yourself.* > Weekly Coworking Tips: http://coworkingweekly.com > My Audiobook: https://theindyhallway.com/ten > > On Thu, Jul 21, 2016 at 5:38 AM, Vaibhav N <cowor...@gmail.com > <javascript:>> wrote: > >> Hey Brian, >> >> We've been doing the same, except didn't term it as SOP, but rather >> created a FAQ Document where we had several questions about coworking and >> coworkers being answered. And keeping it on Google Docs make sense so that >> you can make edits and additions while on the go. You never know when the >> right idea might just pop and you would want to make that necessary >> addition to it on the phone or tab. >> >> Vaibhav N >> NQube Inc. >> New Delhi, India >> >> On Wednesday, July 20, 2016 at 11:26:01 PM UTC+5:30, Brian Fisher wrote: >>> >>> I am close to opening my new space and our investors are already looking >>> to the future! We are 90% pre-sold on dedicated offices (doors open August >>> 15). Anyways, I have been the operations manager for other businesses in >>> the past and have had to set up SOP manuals. Has anyone else done this? Are >>> these common in the coworking world? It would seem to make sense, >>> especially for larger spaces or multi-location spaces. >>> >>> Brian Fisher >>> T-Werx Coworking >>> Cedar Park, TX >>> >> -- >> 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 <javascript:>. >> 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 coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
