I think a lot of people have come to a similar feeling of disquiet about teams. Sometimes the wrong people are leading them. Sometimes the team has the wrong mix of people in it. Other times people are working in the wrong ways with each other. Companies end up full of tensions, rivalries and conflicts.
Yet we all have a sense that it doesn’t have to be that way. We all know, deep down, that humans were made as social mammals. And socialising is not just what happens down the pub after work. There is a social content to the best experience of work for most people.
So how do we square the circle of the joy of craftsmanship than comes from autonomy, mastery and purpose, with the joy of relationality that comes from being with other people we like, admire and respect? Well, the answer is coworking. Coworking isn’t actually particularly new. Medieval guilds did it all the time. Barrister in the Inns of court still do. And entrepreneurs, remote workers, start-up partners and digital nomads are all finding coworking as the solution to many different needs.
At its best coworking is far more than the mere sharing of basic resources such as office accommodation, broadband, refreshments and printing. Yes, every business needs the basics, and in the sharing economy its cheaper to offset these costs by pooling them. But, coworking is more than just people working independently in the same general location. Coworking facilitates ad hoc collaboration, creative inspiration and the casual “water-cooler” socialising that make workplaces the site of many of life’s best moments.
Coworking - at its best - works at at least three levels. The practical. People need fresh water, power, light, decent broadband, good colour printing. If you haven’t got the basics you can’t even work. The aesthetic. People can’t produce beautiful work in an ugly building. The environment needs to lift the heart and enable people to be at ease with their environment. The purposeful. People work together best when they have some common purpose or values. This is why the best coworking hubs seek to attract people from a specific industrial sector or with a similar ethical stance.
So what about me? I work with lots of different people now. Some are my employees, some are associates, some are partners and collaborators. What do we all have in common? Most of the people who want to work with me have a common sense that the ways we do business at the moment are not good for people, for planet or for our common life. Most of us recognise that good business can be a force for good in the world. Some of us have identified global issues such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals as a rallying point under which all of us can do different work for the good of humanity and the Earth.
In February 2020, my business partner Sarah Carre and created new coworking space in Jersey called Soulworks. We found a beautiful and well lit top floor space above a yoga studio a wellness centre, a gym and a natural foods café. We are making a space for people to eat well, live well and work well. We have started to fill it with beautiful art and plants and we are beginning to find that people who want to do good work in a good place are finding us to come and work. Some will come every day for years. Others will end up popping in for a half day every few weeks. Both are great and everyone has something to add to the emerging community that we are beginning to see.
What does the future hold for us? We really don’t know, but we know it will be good.