How to Be Innovative: A Guide For Coworking Spaces

Innovation is the second name for coworking spaces. And that’s a fact that can be witnessed by many of those who enjoy the time spent in shared spaces, with people of different professions, but similar look to life and success.

Now, how coworking spaces are staying relevant in this time of swift changes, and how are they succeeding to inspire innovation? 

Whether you are a business strategist, a leader, an entrepreneur, or just someone trying to develop a creative mind or get their business tasks done – look at innovation as an integral factor to your growth strategy and the overall success of your business.

But – becoming more innovative is easier said than done.

This little article can be of service if you are looking to make your workspace or shared spaces modern and ready to attract and retain new talent.

1. Ask Powerful, Fear-Setting Questions. And Answer Truthfully

Ask yourself – Am I ready to undertake these changes? Do I want them?

If the answer is “Yes” – then hit on hard.

A wise man once said that action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without taking action. If you cut through the vague unease and ambiguous anxiety of “what’s the worst that could happen?” – you won’t be as worried about defining your goal.

2. Increase Productivity Via Contemporary Amenities

Amenities are there to help you and your people get results the agile way, but this concept encourages you to focus on meaningful and needed amenities.

Here, the goal is to be smart. Look for amenities that are specific, achievable results, realistic and time-related money spread.

3. Embed Design That Best Describes Your Culture

…And the culture of people that are going to enter the coworking community.

Smart thinking about design is a customer-centric approach to arranging your coworking space to be attractive, modern, and innovative. The design also helps with brainstorming and problem-solving.

This is how you can obtain the designer point of view for your space:

• It is important to empathize. Observe and engage people you are planning to attract. Find out their physical, emotional, educational and business needs and how they view the world.
• Define the goal based on what you learned. Create an actionable yet welcoming environment.
• Ideate! Help people generate ideas to solve their problems.
• Set a prototype to test your work. Quickly create anything a user can interact with (storyboard, physical space, service, etc).

4. Search For Inspiration. It’s Okay To Look Up To Competition

There’s an immense amount of pressure on coworking businesses to innovate ahead of the competition. But what if you try to learn from them?

What’s working the best for your competitors?

What strategies are pushing them to the top?

What sets them apart?

Take a look at their products and services offered in the coworking community, search their website, even social media pages to understand their reviews/customer feedback, and obtain answers to these questions.

These businesses as much as they look alike, all have something that sets them apart. Take FOCUS as an example.

We are an internationally connected, shared workspace community that also provides research laboratories and caters meeting venues in one of the best locations in downtown San Francisco.

FOCUS is a working studio meant for private members, designed to spawn creativity and collaboration between Artists, Designers, Founders, and Technologists – we treat them all.

5. Get Familiar With The Different Types Of Innovation

… and Learn How To Combine Them.

A company creates a successful business story by combining some of the most important types of innovative techniques that help them think more broadly and pinpoint opportunities for the searched innovation. 

Let’s take a quick look at them:

1. State your profit model, your plan to create profit.
2. Start building a network of your connections and stick to their values
3. Make a structure of your company (tangible and intangible aspects)
4. Think about the unique process and developing your service (coworking space)
5. Take care of your performance as they are the key features of your service success
6. Take care of your customers’ needs. Always!
7. Think about the ways you present your services to customers
8. Start customer engagement by creating genuine interactions that encourage community members to connect with each other and your space

The world’s most innovative companies optimize every aspect of their business, including their physical workspace which provides the ability to think creatively, to imagine possibilities, to connect dots that will drive business into the future. 

By leveraging useful customer conversations, you’ll be able to dive deeper into new ideas and become more innovative along the way. 

Instead of getting lost in the endless stream of notifications, try stimulating your mind with something creative, mindful, and physically important to someone’s work.