Coworking Serbia

​Why would your office disappear?

If you work in a corporation, you certainly do in a commercial building with colleagues who are most of the time out of their jobs - at a meeting, lunch or business trip. Get ready for a drastic change. The global recession, the development of new models of economy and more concern for the abrupt climate changes are guidelines to growing - coworking wave.

Where you work?

You can find in Austin. For the second consecutive year, Austin will host innovators in the "design work" at the largest coworking conference in the world. - For those of you for whom this new, open workspaces for collaboration called themselves "coworking spaces" or work areas that are growing productivity, collaboration and togetherness. By  Deskmag , the number of coworking spaces is growing around 200% per year for the last 7 years. If you are interested in folders,  LiquidSpace  will show you the various options in 350 cities of the world. Workspace Association of New York  offers over 700,000 square feet of space in just three states so by presenting a fairly influential organization.  UnConference Global Coworking Conference  , or "Juicy" as it is called participants, aims to collect and combine the best and brightest minds of the movement to divide ideas and inspiration, and so developed a new strategy for the future...

How will your office look like?

Office setting will be structured in a more relaxed work. Leader in innovative, office design as  Turnstone  creates all relaxed and comfortable furniture for coworking spaces. Architectural solutions which separate sectors will disappear. You will know more about what is happening in other parts of your organization. Open office spaces will create an atmosphere reminiscent of the cafe, promoting creativity and transparency.

New office toys as Flockd  will help people from different sectors to start a conversation so stimulating productivity. You will have to interact with a coworker's a much friendlier, more acceptable and transparent manner. Resources such as the kitchen, bathroom, coffee, office materials Delic more than before. Take a deep breath and get ready to split up with some of the pen that is in your hands ... maybe even a monitor!

Your Office, Edited

​If you’re like most people, you probably work in a large office building alongside colleagues who, much of the time, are away from their seats in meetings, at lunch or traveling for business.

Driven by a global recession, an emerging sharing economy, a more mobile workforce and concern about climate change, COOs, entrepreneurs and other business leaders are looking for ways to make office spaces more efficient. Paying high real estate costs and electric bills for people who use their space 30% of the time doesn’t make good fiscal or environmental sense. For these reasons and more, a drastic change is underway that will make the traditional office as you know it disappear.

Where Will You Work?

Collaborative work spaces everywhere are defining themselves as “coworking spaces,” or workplaces that are shared, fostering productivity, community and collaboration. Good for startups, freelancers, independent workers and entrepreneurs, the trend is growing exponentially. According to Deskmag, the number of coworking spaces has increased 200% annually for seven years. The Global Coworking Unconference Conference (GCUC) convened this month, sharing new strategies for the future.

What Your Office Will Look Like

The architectural silos that separate departments will erode. You will know more about what’s happening in other areas of your organization. Open plans will create cafe-like atmospheres and promote creativity and transparency. Office layouts will be more structured for liquid, easy work.

New workplace tools like Flockd, unveiled at GCUC, will help people across departments start conversations while increasing productivity.

Flockd offers a new system for people to signal whether they’re free. The available, “Lets Flock,” signal encourages coworkers to interact and connect, while the, “I’m Busy” signal sets clear, healthy boundaries. Better work flow means more free time.

Less Stuff, Less Overhead

Sharing an office means the stuff you need, but hardly use, is also accessible to 100 other companies who share your space. One paper cutter for 100 companies instead of 100 paper cutters. And it means the usual overhead, like rent and heating bills, is split among them too.

Proximal Innovation

FastCompany recognizes the serendipitous, positive function of proximity stimulating innovation. A recent study found “the best, most-widely cited research came from coauthors sitting less than 10 meters apart. ‘How closely they worked mattered as much, if not more, than their affiliation,’ says the study’s author, Isaac Kohane of Harvard Medical School. Coworking’s combination of casual relationships and shared spaces, he suggests, can lead to some of an employee’s most fruitful collaborations.”

OfficeEdited = Smarter Business

As big business comes aboard the coworking revolution, the triple bottom line gets better. American Express recently lowered its carbon footprint by 27.5 percent, citing a decrease in business travel and the creation of centers for virtual meetings. Widely recognized for championing economic development and entrepreneurship is Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh, championing Las Vegas and its Downtown Project to become the coworking capital of the world.

The League of Extraordinary Coworking Spaces (LEXC) has become a resource for such corporations expanding their workplace strategy. The organization’s first corporate customer is Accenture. Good for mobile workers, LEXC offers a new work solution for larger companies.

“Facilities plans have been kept too separate from business plans for far too long,” says Brian Macmahon of Your Office Agent, a commercial agency specializing in leaner work space. “Forward-thinking companies of all sizes are exploring these new models.”

Disclosure: The contributor Marissa Feinberg is the shared office space owner of Green Spaces NY, upcoming member of LEXC, cofounder of Flockd and attends GCUC.

CoworkingBasics: Striking the social balance

Dear Anna,

My coworking space is great! I have really made friends here and we all help each other out. The problem is, sometimes I am really in the middle of writing, and when I get interrupted by a question from a coworker (which I am happy to answer) it breaks my flow for over an hour. How can I turn off without seeming 100% anti-social?

Anti-Social Sal – NYC

CoworkingBasics is a fortnightly column by Anna Cashman, market research and social media person for Deskwanted - online portal to find and book coworking spaces worldwide. Are you a coworker, coworking space operator, or just want to know more about coworking? Email her your questions.

Dear Anti-Social Sal,

In order to truly benefit from a coworking space, you need to set ground rules for yourself. Yes, the routine comes easier compared to when you’re working in a café or home office, but it still needs attention. One way to do this is to set personal times when you allow yourself to be distracted. Just before lunch, for example, is ideal, because it can’t interrupt you for too long, and your concentration is probably waning anyway.

Question time

Note the ‘allow yourself’ in this. Just because you have set yourself ground rules, doesn’t mean other people will follow them. Luckily though, just as ‘knowing the people in your space’ created your conundrum, it’s actually its own remedy, too.

If you know those people well enough to share advice and exchange ideas with them, you should also know them well enough to politely tell them that ‘now’s not the time’. Just because you’re not answering right then and there, doesn’t mean you’re not answering at all.

To avoid conflict, set another – more convenient – time to speak, and then devote your full attention to them then. Your fellow coworkers will be grateful for it.

Strike a balance with this strategy, too though. There’s value knowing the difference between a quick question and extended discussion; and setting a later date to discuss your favourite colour is a time waster. Understand the difference, then be strict with yourself: take simple questions as such, and avoid getting too involved or give responses to questions that haven’t been asked.

If it’s the act of being interrupted that really gets your goat, consider wearing earphones (my last column talked briefly about ear-phone etiquette) when you’re in the middle of a concentration streak, or when a deadline’s looming. There are also neat contraptions to help let others know when they’re able to approach you. Flockd is one of these, helping coworkers connect in the real-world when it suits them most. It was developed in partnership with Green Spaces and New Work City, so you can be sure it’s designed with coworking in mind.

It’s easy to switch off online connections… flockd helps coworkers connect – when it suits them – in the real world

You have to be strict with these rules, but if you deliver them politely, everyone will be happier for it. Remember too that sometimes it’s okay to say no. You joined your coworking space to work, and fellow community members shouldn’t expect you to share your know-how too often for free!

Happy coworking,
Anna

Being able to ask people questions – and offer your feedback – is one of the greatest advantages of joining a coworking space. Click here to learn more about coworking, and here to start searching for a flexible desk within a professional community in your neigbourhood. And here to ask Anna a question of your own.

Photo Credit: Curumuri and Flockd. Click here to see the original blog post.

Why Your Office Will Disappear

If you’re like most people, you work in a high-rise building alongside colleagues who, much of the time, are away from their seats in meetings, at lunch or traveling for business.

Get ready for drastic change. A global recession, emerging sharing economy and more buy in to climate change are each pointing boardrooms toward efficiency. Your office as you know it will be gone.

Where will you work?

You’ll have to come to Austin next week to find out. For the second year running, innovators in work design will host the biggest coworking conference in the world. For those of you new to the concept, collaborative work spaces everywhere are defining themselves as “coworking spaces,” or workplaces that foster productivity, collaboration and community. According toDeskmag, the number of coworking spaces has grown 200% annually for seven years. Want to see a map? LiquidSpace will show you options in 350 cities around the world. The Workspace Association of New York represents over 2 million square feet in the Tri-State area alone, managing a powerful center of influence. The Global Coworking Unconference Conference (GCUC), or “Juicy” as its commonly known, aims to bring together the best and brightest minds in the movement, to share ideas and inspiration and develop new strategies for the future.

The Future

COOs will not continue to pay high electric bills and real estate costs for people who use their space 30% of the time. Your HR departments have already started calling me and my peers for pricing, and booking tours and visits given by our “Community Managers”. We are the proud proprietors of the new world of coworking.

We design for efficiency; our business models depend on it. We are daring entrepreneurs who have challenged the status quo to create unique environments, building blueprints as we progress. The design of the traditional corporation and office suite will be dated, your company’s seats will be re-situated, or you will be relocated to wonderful coworking spaces.

The League of Extraordinary Coworking Spaces (LEXC),  a unique network of coworking spaces with a common standard of excellence, has become the go-to resource for corporations expanding their workplace strategy to include coworking. Gathering industry pioneers, the organization’s first corporate customer is Accenture. Especially smart for its mobile workers, LEXC makes a compelling case to try a new work solution.

“Commercial real estate is no longer about a square foot; it’s a state of mind,” says Brian Macmahon of Your Office Agent, a commercial agency specializing in lean work space. “Facilities plans have been kept too separate from business plans for far too long. Forward-thinking companies of all sizes are exploring these new models.”

As big business comes aboard the revolution, the triple bottom line gets better. 

American Express recently lowered its carbon footprint by 27.5 percent, citing a decrease in business travel and the creation of centers for virtual meetings. Widely recognized for championing economic development and entrepreneurship is Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh, now championing Las Vegas to become the coworking capital of the world.

​What Your Office Will Look Like

Office layouts will be more structured for liquid, easy work. Office design innovation leaders like Turnstone make coworking furniture lighter and more comfortable. The architectural silos that separate departments will erode. You will know more about what’s happening in other areas of your organization. Open plans will create cafe-like atmospheres and promote creativity and transparency.

New workplace tools like Flockd will help people across departments start conversations while increasing productivity. You’ll interact with coworkers in a more friendly, approachable and transparent way. Resources like kitchens, coffee, bathrooms, conference rooms and office supplies will be shared more often. Take a deep breath and get ready to share that pen in your hand, and maybe your monitor too!​

Don’t Fret, You’ll Benefit

FastCompany recognizes the serendipitous, positive function of proximity stimulating innovation. A recent study found “the best, most-widely cited research came from coauthors sitting less than 10 meters apart. ‘How closely they worked mattered as much, if not more, than their affiliation,’ says the study’s author, Isaac Kohane of Harvard Medical School. Coworking’s combination of casual relationships and shared spaces, he suggests, can lead to some of an employee’s most fruitful collaborations.”

Juicy Questions? We have them too. We’re gathering March 5th and 6th for panels on, “Corporations and Coworking,” “Alternative Funding,” “Can Coworking Have a Deeper Impact on Society?” among others. See the full list of events here. The hybrid conference-unconference mixes professional speaking with collaborative DIY sessions.​

Led most recently by dynamo Liz Elam, founder of Link Coworking and president of LEXC, GCUC is largely a grassroots effort with support from a wide range of volunteers and sponsors. In a former life, Liz was a top sales executive at Dell; you can see where this trend started. It takes a tireless, inspired team to drive any behavior-change effort. Read more about them here.

How GCUC works

Keynote speakers include coworking space owners, property managers, investors, academics, and serial entrepreneurs. It’s a diverse crowd of professionals, all connected to the coworking movement in different ways. The official Twitter speak is @AustinGCUC, #GCUC and #unGCUC.​

People are traveling from every continent to join the dialog that will define the future of how we work, so buckle up!

Featured NYC Company: Flockd

To scale community, Marissa, a co-founder of Green Spaces in NYC and her friend Janice launched Flockd, an analog product for connectivity and productivity, inspired by the coworking movement and social concerns. It’s Marissa’s dream to create a new way for people to connect offline. It is Janice’s dream for everyone to live ‘on purpose’ which requires, among other things (such as knowing your purpose) a combination of creating genuine relationships and productivity.

Flockd is a new low-tech product for your tabletop powering connectivity and productivity for a better world.  You can use Flockd for connecting and collaborating, creating open-conversation zones, building an in-person following, being productive & staying in flow, sharing knowledge & ideas, signaling needs, resources & topics, branding & promotion.

Thank you for this story, Erica Berger! Erica is Curator of 2462miles, Director of Partnerships for Storyful, and Contributor to The Economist and VentureBeat.