Top 10 Tips on Managing a Team in Coworking Spaces

The days of occupying an entire building by a single company or organisation has undergone a huge paradigm shift with the rise of multi-utility spaces and with it there is a need to manage the team in coworking spaces effectively.

Thus, when it comes to a fully functional coworking environment, as a manager it is important to keep your team motivated and your members inspired. Some of the best coworking space has a well-designed layout, updated communication tools, multi-purpose and dedicated rooms for meetings and conferences, and accessible cafeteria. But to make this all happen, you cannot overlook the people who help you every day. After all, you need them to keep your office space functional and operational.

Here are the top 10 tips for management of team in coworking spaces:

Team Building Exercise

You will be working with a variety of people with different skill sets. Plus they will require to be hands-on in assisting you in managing the coworking space. Chances are this can lead to some form of detrimental productivity from your workforce. Thus, you will need to create some team building exercises to raise the productivity of your team and ensure they feel being part of a work culture.

Fostering Culture

Though it is important to have diversity in your team, it is also important to have some workplace culture. This can help in building your brand and also making your team feel part of a team. Fostering a culture can also be extended to the members where they know the calibre of the people who are running the place and they too are inspired to maintain that professional expectation from themselves. It works both ways.

Sharing Ideas

A great coworking environment is open and receptive to leveraging the benefits of being a community space. This is a good way to find innovative solutions and introducing new ideas to the workspace by your team and members utilising the space. As a manager, you can further enhance the work environment by tagging some of your team members with new people to share new ideas. Also encouraging someone to lead with their idea gives a sense of ownership that can have a positive drive to others.

Encourage Member Engagements

Following from the above point, it is important to have a feedback channel open for members to contribute towards making your coworking space more productive and streamlined. These feedbacks can be about the daily operations, housekeeping, to technical services. As manager of the coworking space, you can take the additional step to cater towards member engagement by social activities and games.

Utilise Digital Tools

Digital tools have become an indispensable part of daily communication. It is efficient and effective. Investing in such tools and platforms can help your team communicate with each other in a more efficient manner. Some digital tools can also assist in the dissemination of updates such as a newsletter, CRM software, or even a simple CMS platform. Furthermore, you can encourage your team to share and collaborate by means of using online platforms for ideation and discussion.

Disturbances and Disruptions

The concept of a coworking space is open and collaborative with different work cultures merging into a single entity. This blurring of space can lead to frequent interruptions and disruptions to the normal flow of the daily work. To address this occupational noise, certain rules and provisions must be arranged for your team members ensuring that work gets done along with addressing member queries and issues.

Brand Awareness

A brand is more than a logo. It highlights your company’s character, it builds a persona. Promoting your brand within your workplace will constantly remind your team members about your organisation’s identity and the values it stands for. This will generate a sense of identity and your workforce will feel a part of the team. This can be done by branding your logo on various stationary that can be handed out to your team and members using the space.

Counselling

No matter where you and your team works, stress will be a normal part of the day. However, some may find it difficult to cope with additional stress. This may be due to work or personal pressures or even both. It is important to notify your team that help is available where they can avail of a counselling session to improve their mental well being. It can also be encouraged for your team to attend some daily sessions even if they are fine, as it will only improve their mindset.

Privacy

As part of the team-building exercise, it is also important to know that some will be more responsive to individual talks. This means, as a manager, it is your responsibility to ensure that whatever is communicated or discussed between you and your team member, it will remain private and confidential.

Transparency & Set Timelines

With everything going on, ensure there is transparency in your work. As a manager, everyone will be looking up to you as a leader and therefore you need to adhere to not just the work hours but also lead by example. If a work timeline is set for everyone, the manager is also expected to meet their deadlines too. This encourages others to follow suit and will lead to improved productivity within your team.