How to be productive in coworking or open-space

In this article, you will find tips on how to be productive in coworking or open-space. Many people work in this hybrid modality from time to time or daily without understanding how to maximize their results. You will immediately find tips that will help you improve your efficiency and productivity at work.

Here are briefly our tips on how to be productive in coworking or open space:

1 – Improve your self-efficacy

2 – Develop your creativity

3 – Exchange and collaborate with professionals who share your values

4 – Establish rules of behavior

5 – Identify the implications of subscribing to a coworking space

Discover now without further delay our advice.

1 – Improve your self-efficacy

One of the main opportunities offered by coworking is the possibility of rubbing shoulders with other people from a wide variety of professional backgrounds.

In addition to being a source for expanding your customer base, developing your professional network is also helpful in improving your productivity.

Why?

Because research shows that coworking can increase self-efficacy and as long as self-efficacy has a positive effect on performance, coworking is a way to become more productive.

But let us see in more detail what the coworking research is saying.

Boyd & Vozikis (1994) suggest that entrepreneurial self-efficacy increases through interaction and collaboration with likeminded entrepreneurs. Coworking spaces provide opportunities for interaction and collaboration, boosting entrepreneurial self-efﬁcacy (Cabral & Winden 2016).

Gerdenitsch & al. (2016) empirically show that interactions and collaborations within coworking spaces provide social support that helps develop entrepreneurial self-efficacy.

In summary, having good exchanges with other professionals working within coworking spaces can improve your self-efficacy, your performance and ultimately your productivity.

But enjoying stimulating interactions does not only have an effect on your professional efficiency. These moments of sharing also lay the foundation for the development of greater creativity. This is the next tip of this article.

2 – Develop your creativity

Exchanges with other workers are also an opportunity to find solutions to your professional problems.

Working side by side, sharing your projects and difficulties from time to time, is also a way to enjoy a collective brain.

It is in this context that collective intelligence can develop creativity to find unexpected solutions or start new projects.

In this sense, these coworking spaces enable entrepreneurs to form groups or teams to work on creative and novel projects that they could not complete on their own (Spinuzzi 2012). The creative environment provided by coworking spaces (Surman 2013) helps entrepreneurs to share knowledge to solve complex problems with minimum efforts in novel ways (Bouncken & al., 2016).

In summary, constructive relationships with personalities with complementary skills allow access to a collective brain capable of propelling groups of people to extraordinary creative abilities.

But what should guide the creation of these groups is not only professional complementarities. Without a shared vision of everyone’s values, we cannot really talk about a real group. This is the next tip of this article.

3 – Exchange and collaborate with professionals who share your values

As you know, being productive in coworking or open-space can expand your network.

But in order to implement good relationships and collaborations, it is important to choose a coworking space and business partners who share your values.

Being part of the wrong community with a mismatching culture or inappropriate work values causes dissatisfaction and stress (Cohen 2016).

Privilege exchanges with people whose priorities and values are aligned with yours. Then, in a second moment, start prospective projects with people who have complementary skills to those you are able to bring. Think win-win and stay open to opportunities.

Entrepreneurs work together in more efﬁcient and effective ways when they have strong social ties, mutual trust and shared values (Bolino & al., 2002).

In any case, define the responsibilities of each and decide how much you are willing to invest your time and resources in a new collaboration. Doing this will help you reduce the risk of unpleasant surprises.

In this sense, Pohler (2012) highlights the risk of exploitation in coworking spaces due to asymmetrical power relations between nascent and established entrepreneurs.

After identifying the professionals with whom you want to cooperate more, stand next to them. This is important because as Orel (2019) shows proximity affects the willingness to interact with other users of coworking spaces.

In summary, take the time to understand if the values and skills of other professionals are up to yours. If this is the case, take action to create mutually satisfactory professional relationships.

But even with shared values we are unique in our own way of working and in our professional needs. It is for this reason that it is essential to define a code of conduct to be respected. This is the next tip of this article.

4 – Establish rules of behavior

Coworking and usually work in open space have the major disadvantage of greater distraction.

It is for this reason that to be productive in coworking, you need to set rules of behavior and enforce them to keep your focus when you need it most.

It requires becoming assertive, that is, expressing what you want with confidence while avoiding the unsaid but without entering into conflicting relationships.

For this reason, it is important to communicate your needs and your own functioning to the people near you to prevent distractions as well as conflicts.

If your coworking space does not offer the possibility of having a quiet place available when you need it, be proactive and find a solution to manage the professionals who are next to you. For example, you can make your most confidential calls during their lunch break.

If you need to make a quick call, then ask not to be disturbed. This is also true for carrying out your most important tasks. If they do not follow your rules, do not get discouraged, explain them again and if necessary, get ready to move elsewhere.

Your rules of operation are not the only ones to impact your daily work because each coworking place imposes its own rules. This is the topic of the last tip of this article.

5 – Identify the implications of subscribing to a coworking space

Every coworking space is different and by joining it you do not just buy a service but you agree to meet a whole range of expectations.

It becomes essential to understand the implications of your registration in a coworking space.

As long as it is difficult to evaluate the various constraints beforehand, it is better not to commit yourself immediately for long periods.

In doing so, you will be able to choose the coworking space that best suits your needs and your personality.

Conclusion on how to be more productive in a coworking

Working in coworking or open space has as many advantages as disadvantages. By following our advice, you will be able to take full advantage of this way of working.

If you are interested in the topic of productivity, I invite you to discover all my articles on productivity.

If you are looking for tools to improve your time management skills, I recommend you read my article on the best time management apps.

If you want to learn how to manage your time, I invite you to find out more about our online time management course.

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Français : Comment être productif en coworking ou en open-space
Italiano: Come essere produttivi in coworking o in open space