Re: [Coworking] How to save a once-successful coworking space if it loses the community that helped make it successful?

[Jerome Chang]

I really liked what Jeannine said, which I heard as, “Step back a little and 
let the community grow organically”.
I therefore really like Tony’s Cotivation process to kickstart the community.

What I’ve always believed is a few things can replicate: space, process, 
brand/experience.
Communities are often driven by strong leadership, but until cloning happens, 
leaders can’t be duplicated nor be at 2 places at once.

After opening a few locations, what I’ve learned is that if you want to open an 
additional location, you’ll have to establish that the community can grow 
without your strong leadership actively present. “STEP BACK!” :-P


JEROME CHANG

WEST: Santa Monica
1450 2nd Street (@Broadway) | ph: (310) 526-2255 

CENTRAL: Mid-Wilshire
5405 Wilshire Blvd (2 blocks west of La Brea) | ph: (323) 330-9505


EAST: Downtown
529 S. Broadway, Suite 4000 (@Pershing Square) | ph: (213) 550-2235

NORTH: Pasadena (Opening 2015 Q4!)
600 E. Colorado Blvd. (@Los Robles)




On Jun 11, 2015, at 7:33 AM, Tony Bacigalupo  wrote:

> Hey Will, I encountered a lot of the same challenges back in 2013 and 
> addressed them by figuring out how to get people to engage with each other in 
> a different way. I knew I couldn't just get people to be an excited part of a 
> participatory culture just by willing them to change, so I thought about how 
> I could re-engineer the culture from within.
> 
> Since it was around the turn of the year and people were making New Year's 
> resolutions, I thought a goal-setting group would be good. I knew I needed 
> one!
> 
> So I kicked off a 5 week accountability group, called it Cotivation, and 
> targeted people who were interested in membership but had not yet joined. I 
> made the start date of this program an excuse for people sitting on the fence 
> to jump in and give it a try.
> 
> Existing members were also welcome, so we had a cross-section of brand new 
> members and longtime residents. Deep bonds were formed immediately, and we 
> ended up having a really strong comeback in terms of both business and 
> culture that following year.
> 
> As Jacob mentioned, he and Susan encountered an even more similar situation 
> to yours when they expanded. Susan's version of Cotivation was a huge help to 
> them as well.
> 
> So, in general, I'd say it's helpful to look for ways to reboot culture from 
> within through some new participatory programming. We're doing training for 
> new Cotivation organizers next week, so if you're interested in that hit me 
> up to discuss!
> 
> Tony
> --
> New Work City • Cotivation 
> 
> 
> On Thursday, June 11, 2015, Will Bennis, Locus Workspace 
>  wrote:
> Jacob and Jeannine, 
> 
> Thank you both so much for sharing your stories. Very helpful getting these 
> other perspectives (even if they don't give me an obvious solution).
> 
> Will
> 
> On Thursday, June 11, 2015 at 10:52:46 AM UTC+2, Jeannine wrote:
> 
> Hiya, Will,
> 
> We had this also when we went from one space to two.  I tred a lot of things. 
>  But in the end for us anyway it came down to this right here:
> 
> Plus it would creat a strange double-pricing structure for two spaces that 
> otherwise are part of the same community.
> 
> (Emphasis added)
> 
> That was how I thought of it also.  Our second location was also set up 
> specifically to deal with a problem I could not address in the first space, 
> which the inability to have storage/warehousing/shipping.  So I thought of it 
> more as an annex or supplement to the first space conceptually.I am a locaton 
> independent kind of girl anyway.
> 
> I was dead wrong.  Couldn't have been more wrong.  It didn't clear up until I 
> finally accepted that the second location had its own identity, its own 
> groove, and all efforts to make it be like its sister location or to spread 
> the community over both locations had the effect of strangling them both off.
> 
> Here's how strong the effect is:  our second location is set up on a revenue 
> sharing model with the owner of the building.  Community management is now in 
> the hands of one of the coworkers there, who also is paid for this on a 
> revenue sharing basis (each of us gave him a piece of the action).  I had 
> thus accepted that I would be lucky to break even with that many fingers in 
> the pie.  I was wrong about that, too.  Once it broke away to do its own 
> thing, it did better with more costs.
> 
> The reasons the problem appeared are of course interesting; but more 
> important it seems to me is to identify what is stopping you now, 
> irrespective of how it happened two years ago.  You can't get the community 
> back, you can never get back to where you were, for the same reasons you 
> can't step in the same river twice -- the water has continued to move in the 
> mean time.  You can only go forward with the two separate, different, 
> communities you have, only one of which is having an adolescent identity 
> crisis.  :-)  
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Jeannine
> 
> -- 
> Visit thi

[Coworking] How to save a once-successful coworking space if it loses the community that helped make it successful?

[Tony Bacigalupo]

Hey Will, I encountered a lot of the same challenges back in 2013 and
addressed them by figuring out how to get people to engage with each other
in a different way. I knew I couldn't just get people to be an excited part
of a participatory culture just by willing them to change, so I thought
about how I could re-engineer the culture from within.

Since it was around the turn of the year and people were making New Year's
resolutions, I thought a goal-setting group would be good. I knew I needed
one!

So I kicked off a 5 week accountability group, called it Cotivation, and
targeted people who were interested in membership but had not yet joined. I
made the start date of this program an excuse for people sitting on the
fence to jump in and give it a try.

Existing members were also welcome, so we had a cross-section of brand new
members and longtime residents. Deep bonds were formed immediately, and we
ended up having a really strong comeback in terms of both business and
culture that following year.

As Jacob mentioned, he and Susan encountered an even more similar situation
to yours when they expanded. Susan's version of Cotivation was a huge help
to them as well.

So, in general, I'd say it's helpful to look for ways to reboot culture
from within through some new participatory programming. We're doing
training for new Cotivation organizers next week, so if you're interested
in that hit me up to discuss!

Tony
--
New Work City  • Cotivation 


On Thursday, June 11, 2015, Will Bennis, Locus Workspace <
wmben...@locusworkspace.com
> wrote:

> Jacob and Jeannine,
>
> Thank you both so much for sharing your stories. Very helpful getting
> these other perspectives (even if they don't give me an obvious solution).
>
> Will
>
> On Thursday, June 11, 2015 at 10:52:46 AM UTC+2, Jeannine wrote:
>>
>>
>> Hiya, Will,
>>
>> We had this also when we went from one space to two.  I tred a lot of
>> things.  But in the end for us anyway it came down to this right here:
>>
>> Plus it would creat a strange double-pricing structure for two spaces
>>> that otherwise are *part of the same community*.
>>
>>
>> (Emphasis added)
>>
>> That was how I thought of it also.  Our second location was also set up
>> specifically to deal with a problem I could not address in the first space,
>> which the inability to have storage/warehousing/shipping.  So I thought of
>> it more as an annex or supplement to the first space conceptually.I am a
>> locaton independent kind of girl anyway.
>>
>> I was dead wrong.  Couldn't have been more wrong.  It didn't clear up
>> until I finally accepted that the second location had its own identity, its
>> own groove, and all efforts to make it be like its sister location or to
>> spread the community over both locations had the effect of strangling them
>> both off.
>>
>> Here's how strong the effect is:  our second location is set up on a
>> revenue sharing model with the owner of the building.  Community management
>> is now in the hands of one of the coworkers there, who also is paid for
>> this on a revenue sharing basis (each of us gave him a piece of the
>> action).  I had thus accepted that I would be lucky to break even with that
>> many fingers in the pie.  I was wrong about that, too.  Once it broke away
>> to do its own thing, it did better with more costs.
>>
>> The reasons the problem appeared are of course interesting; but more
>> important it seems to me is to identify what is stopping you now,
>> irrespective of how it happened two years ago.  You can't get the community
>> back, you can never get back to where you were, for the same reasons you
>> can't step in the same river twice -- the water has continued to move in
>> the mean time.  You can only go forward with the two separate, different,
>> communities you have, only one of which is having an adolescent identity
>> crisis.  :-)
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Jeannine
>>
>  --
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Re: [Coworking] How to save a once-successful coworking space if it loses the community that helped make it successful?

[Jacob Sayles]

Tricky indeed!  We ran in to this twice in our history so I can relate.

The first time was when we were exploring the idea of opening a second
Office Nomads across town for the same reasons you mentioned.  With our
diluted attention our first space wasn't what it had been and we received
our first (and only) negative yelp review.  Remember when Susan sent a
similar letter out to this group?  To weather it then, we pulled back from
our expansion plans and ended up scrapping the idea.

Turns out that was a good move for us because soon after another floor in
our building opened up and we did expand in this location.  We doubled our
size causing everyone to spread out and then our membership dropped
significantly.  They call that the empty disco effect.  You need a certain
amount of activity or people just move along.  This time we powered through
it but did incur more debt than we originally projected.

As for what we did to power through it was really about presence and
intention.  It's the same kinds of stuff you do to make any space great.
The critical component is the community managers.  Who is there to know
what is going on and make adjustments as needed?  Who is there to say good
morning or go for a walk with a member if someone needs to just cry it
out?  Who is helping smooth out the process of becoming a new member and
keeping things fresh for the long timers?  If the answer is no-one, or you
are trying to do it in two locations, then that is your issue. Each space
needs it's own team.

That is all I have for now.  Hope it helps!
Jacob

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[Coworking] How to save a once-successful coworking space if it loses the community that helped make it successful?

[Will Bennis, Locus Workspace]

Dear All,

*The challenge: *I need help figuring out how (or whether) to save a 
coworking space that lost it's key ingredient for success (it's community). 

I hope/think it provides a nice example of a more recent kind of problem 
that existing coworking spaces will be facing as this kind of business 
matures. I also think it provides a good lesson about potential dangers of 
expanding even when your first location is a success. 

*Here's the story:*

About two and a half years ago my (small) coworking space was full and I 
had to decide whether to expand or to just stop accepting new members. Long 
story short, I decided to expand. 

I thought about how many members I'd need at the new space and how many 
would move from the old space and it seemed to me like both spaces would be 
sustainable soon after opening the new space as long as growth continued as 
it had been for the short term. I expected growth to be a little faster 
with the added value of an extra location in a great new neighborhood, so I 
thought I was being safe(ish). A couple months after making that choice the 
original space went from being full to being less than half full. It no 
longer had the sense of community/buzz that made it an attractive coworking 
space in the first place.

*Back to the challenge: *is there anything I can do now to restore the 
missing key element of community once the community is lost other than to 
close the one space and focus my attention on making the second space the 
best coworking space I can make it?

*Some important factors in thinking about the problem:*

   - *Please accept the premise *that this "threshold community size" 
   really is the key difference in whether this space is attractive to new 
   members (even though it's definitely a simplification).
   - *Couldn't I just repeat the formula that made it a successful 
   coworking space in the first place? *When I first opened, I already 
   believed a largely-empty coworking space had only a fraction of the value 
   of a full coworking space, and so I set my prices, very explicitly, at half 
   the price I expected to charge when the space became more lively. This 
   worked well. People knew I would increase the prices and they knew they 
   were getting a great deal to be an early supporter, and I got a lot of 
   early activity for that reason. When I doubled the prices, there were no 
   big hiccups. But I cannot reverse that now for a few reasons. Most 
   importantly, I have another coworking space that is doing well at the 
   prices I currently charge (and I am not over-charging), as well as many 
   members who work from the non-sustainable space who paid full price. 
   There's no simple way I can see to dramatically lower the prices at one 
   location to get it back to the threshold community size without either 
   alienating a lot of existing members or giving them back a lot of their 
   already-paid membership dues which would be a big financial burden (at 
   least over the short term). Plus it would creat a strange double-pricing 
   structure for two spaces that otherwise are part of the same community.
   - *Why don't I ask my members for a solution? *I have, but so far no one 
   has had a good solution other than to just close the space, even though 
   many people would be very upset by it. 
   - *Why did I lose so many members after the expansion (& isn't that the 
   real problem)? *The answer is a lot less straight forward--and was a lot 
   less predictable--than you might think.
   - Obviously, a lot of existing members moved to the new location. But I 
  knew about that in advance and that alone would NOT have changed the 
  original space for the worse.
  - Right after committing to the expansion, I found out that about six 
  full-time members were leaving as a group. One of them got his own 
private 
  office with room for all of them, and they moved there to work together. 
  Six members wouldn't have been the difference, but with the space already 
  having lost a lot of members, the loss of this group who all worked in 
the 
  same area of the space was noticeable.
  - I made the commitment to expand at the end of May. I didn't have 
  enough experience at the time to know it, but summer is a killer for 
  coworking in Prague, and my membership shrunk by maybe 30% over those 
next 
  three months just as a result of the usual seasonal fluxuation.
  - Because the expansion itself was stressful and time consuming, the 
  quality of the "community management" at both spaces dropped 
significantly. 
  I was there half as often as before, and when I was there I had a lot 
less 
  positive energy to give to the space. People noticed and several people 
  were openly upset by the change in quality of the space/community 
  management.
  - I raised my prices for new members at the time of the expansion, 
  and in retrospect I think t