Today I am thinking
about Co-Working.
Is it future or is it
fad? This is the question I have considered myself and asked of others. Let me boldly conclude that I do believe it
is future. 5 constructs are shaping the emergence and the sustainable potential
that co-working presents. They come
together to suggest that it is T.I.M.E. for a new C.
What makes it T.I.M.E.
for a new C.
T: Technology proceeds
at a warp speed pace to get better, stronger, faster, smaller, more affordable,
and easier to use. Yesterday, the lease end inspection for my car took place in
20 minutes with the inspector’s car serving as his very equipped office. He took photos, recorded data, did a
diagnostic, loaded it all into a laptop, completed a data analysis, provided me
with a lease end report including costs for multiple alternatives, printed me
out a paper report and sent a version to me by email, all from the front seat
of his car in less than 20 minutes.
That’s technology today; no office required.
I: Innovation
rules. It is the key to our future and
the single most important dynamic driving the public sphere right now. How will we re-imagine our broken systems and
pave new paths for our economic system, our financial system, our global
relations, our social systems, our consumer model, our politics and more? The
expectation is that only through the embracing of innovative approaches and the
audacious pursuit of innovative solutions can this be possible. Innovation
tends to emerge from smaller pods of activity, where non-like meets non-like to
produce something un-like ever before.
It is very questionable that the old organizations we have all been
working in for the last fifty years can provide this environment.
M: Mobility is the
mantra of the millennial generation, and increasingly of the masses. Rampant air travel means many of us are able
to be much more mobile than ever before.
The smartphone means we are only tethered to our pockets or our purses whereby
powerful communication technology is merely at arm’s reach. The world is figuratively and factually our
oyster, and we are not only embracing the opportunity, but we are becoming very
quickly accustomed to the ability to be mobile. To be detached and entirely
attached at the same time is now an expectation and a need versus a desire or a
want.
E: Entrepreneurialism is
all the rage – it seems. Steven Harper
declared 2011 to be The Year of The Entrepreneur. I think that was just recognition of what is
rapidly becoming a commonplace job title.
Many of the dynamics discussed above are conspiring to make the
conditions ripe for entrepreneurial activity.
The notion of exercising one’s creativity and vision in an act of enterprise
is even more appealing given that the tools and the context is there to support
the desire. Technology is making it
possible. Governments are supporting the
activity financially. And the chief
product of entrepreneurs – innovation – is in demand. Entrepreneurs work different and they will
need the spaces that can meet this need.
For a new C.
The Old C: Is ‘the corporation’,
the corporation as understood in traditional conceptual terms. The place one goes in the morning and leaves
at the end of the day. The place where
hierarchical systems of managers and workers are organized to plod through fairly
repetitive orderly days. The place where
a paycheque is guaranteed and eyeglass purchases are covered.
The New C: Is the collaborative
workspace. A place where entrepreneurial-minded
people of multi-disciplinary interests convene. A place where inspiration,
imagination and collaboration rule.
Where technology facilitates. Where mobility is championed. A place where creativity is cultivated and
innovation emerges. A place of the
future: the new office.
Co-working.
In the collaborative workspace.
The office of the future.
Where we will work
differently and, yes, work better.
That’s what I am
thinking about today.
