How I became an accidental coworking pioneer & why coworking affects us all
Like bees in nature, I think coworkers and coworking spaces have a critical role to play in our future prosperity. That’s why I’m so happily involved with a fantastic bunch of people, creating a UK Coworking Assembly to help this precious sector survive and thrive.
It’s been a heck of a journey — largely accidental, and involving several cycles of death and re-birth. Inspired by Anita Roddick’s trail-blazing vision and boundless energy for action, this is my story.
For those who don’t know, Anita founded The Body Shop — a global success built on her firm belief that business should be a force for good. She was determined her company would be responsible for helping create a more just and kind world. But as it grew, she found she had a problem.
Business schools didn’t see things the same way, producing graduates who were good at profit making, but rapidly out of their depth in company ethics. She struggled to find the responsibility in business practice she wanted to recruit. Never one to take ‘it can’t be done’ for an answer, she set up The New Academy of Business. Soon after, there was a Masters degree in Responsible Business Practice offered in partnership with the University of Bath.
This was certainly no ordinary business degree — it was run in such a radically different way that the Harvard Business Review said it was of global importance. Drawing people from all over the world who were climbing the leadership latter, it was reported as having ‘the transformative power of a life-altering event’. It was truly pioneering in the business school world, clearing the way to make it easier for those who followed. I graduated from the course in 2001.
By 2004, you could say the New Academy of Business had achieved its original goal. The course was really successful, and the university which once needed commercial connections and expertise now had a great stock of their own. Goodwill ran high in both directions, but that wasn’t going to pay any bills. A new injection of energy was needed from somewhere, and the Director asked me to help review the options as a trustee.
During the review, we decided to kill off the company.
But like the ancient spruce Old Tjikko, reports of its death would be premature. The roots of the New Academy of Business ran so deep it was not about to die. It simply needed to produce a new form.
Tapping into the wisdom and wishes of the people who made up the New Academy’s roots, a new Association of Sustainability Practitioners (ASP) sprouted into life. We decided to celebrate and honour the past with a ‘funeral’ event for the New Academy of Business and at the same time, a baptism of our new Association. We just needed a suitable venue.
It was 2005, and a new place called The Hub had recently opened at 5 Torrens Street in Islington. Snubbing office space conventions by offering ultra-flexible hot-desking arrangements, it was the first of its kind.
Expert opinions had declared the scheme hare-brained and unworkable in such a small space without ‘anchor tenants’ — but the team behind it were passionate about working for a better world and saw a different kind of future. Like Anita, ‘can’t be done’ wasn’t part of their language so they’d decided to give it a go. It felt like a match made in heaven for us — a natural home.
At the event, Jonathan Robinson set the room alight when he welcomed us to the space. He painted a picture of low cost spaces full of people from all walks of life — not just office space, but a global community with a shared sense of purpose and the power to make a difference together. The atmosphere positively crackled with energy. The potential of this new world of coworking seemed vast, and we left full of mutual good wishes for the future.
Six months or so later, Jonathan got in touch with me out of the blue. He said something like this:
‘People are clamouring to start up Hubs everywhere in the UK , but none of them have any money, and none of them have a building we could develop. Apart from Bristol. In Bristol, someone’s found a suitable building. It’s available, and they’re prepared to put up 1/3 of the money. The problem is, there’s nobody in Bristol to lead the project. You seem pretty well connected there — can you help’?
He totally got me. I loved what The Hub stood for, love bringing people together and love solving problems. I had an amazing network of contacts from my 7 years at the Chamber of Commerce, so I did what I nearly always did and said yes. It was clearly risky, but definitely going to be fun.
Within 6 months, I’d done my due diligence and found two investors willing to put up the other 2/3 of the money we needed — one of them being Gordon Roddick. It was 2006 and my journey in coworking had begun.
One of the first things I did was gather a group of the people running ‘funky’ spaces I knew in the city. I’d seen too many new arrivals strut in like The Big I Am get taken down a peg or two for their arrogance. Plus, I figured we were definitely a bit different, and we’d do better working to support each other and grow the market rather than battling it out for thin slices of action.
Some were enthusiastic, some were wary — but they came.
The group gelled really quickly and from that day to this, we’ve been sharing information and best practice, helping raise the bar for coworking services in the city. Instead of turning anyone away if our space wasn’t quite right, we’d refer them on. A good ‘fit’ was great for both them and us, but better yet, we were collectively enhancing Bristol’s reputation as a great place to come coworking. The market grew. Win, win.
The tendrils of our little ‘FunkySpaces’ group spread from the original half dozen to nearly 40, snaking up into Manchester. With connections forming in several other cities around the UK, I started to think about ‘going national’ in 2017. It felt familiar — time for re-birth, a bit like the New Academy of Business scenario all over again. I just didn’t have the time or energy spare to drive the change from the informal to the professional. So I sat with it for the next two years, waiting for the energy to come.
It arrived, supercharged, in the fantastic form of a member turned freelancer, Than Quan-Nicholls. Ideas quickly progressed, more volunteers joined in, we formed a company, and crucially, Thanh made our connection with the EU Coworking Assembly. We’d found our soul mates, a community whose values were a perfect fit, who shared our interest in forming a national body of peer to peer support for the UK.
So that’s how I got to where I am today.
It’s the values which tie everything together. The values are the soil that feeds our roots — they determine how our future will unfold.
The words used for these values aren’t always exactly the same — but there’s a rich loamy mix that’s been improving every season, thanks in no small part to the world of coworking.
The same kind of ideas that underpinned ASP, The Hub and the EU Coworking Assembly are also the ones that feed the movement for Wellbeing Economics, and the #buildbackbetter campaign. They’re the sort of ideas Anita’s foundation continues to support to this very day, and the sort that coworking spaces are ideally suited to help grow.
So I think coworking matters to all of us, whether we feel involved or not. The places which shelter, connect and nourish inspired and inspiring people standing for a just and kind world, are surely the best nurseries for an abundant society.
But like the bees, I think it’s easy to take coworking spaces for granted. The same generosity of spirit that brings so much hope for the future deserves care and attention in return.
The first task of the UK’s new Coworking Assembly is to do all we can to help make sure these values-based spaces survive.
