The Future of Coworking: What will be different?
“What do you think will be different about coworking spaces in the future?” asked Cleo yesterday at lunchtime. “What will they have that we don’t have now?” She asked me this because she’s busy doing some research for the Good Ideas team at The Melting Pot on the future of work.
Without much thought, I suggested ‘smarter booking systems’ — it doesn’t sound like much, but they’re a bigger deal than it seems. Here’s why:
- It seems likely there will be a continuing shift from a world where the majority are in long term employment towards a world where portfolio working on short term contracts is much more the norm.
- It also seems people are getting more and more invested in their online experience and relationships so they’ll probably start wanting to see more of their virtual communities in everyday life.
I can imagine a time (not too distant) when people are less likely to attach themselves to ‘a’ space. Seeking out networks of related spaces they’ll be looking for more flexibility and more of the connection they can get online in person.
If coworking spaces start to form loose groups or alliances of local, regional or special interest in response to this kind of demand, you might see a smarter booking system that looked a bit like this….
Let’s say a project team forms to create a new product. They can do a fair bit remotely, but want to meet up for a brainstorming session in person. So they log into their dreamspaces account and find the place that’s easiest for them all to get to, with availability and the space they need.
Some weeks later, and the project is at a critical stage. They’ve realised they need to find a production partner prepared to do something unusual with rubber, and they’re starting to think about setting up tests with potential clients.
They go to the UK Coworking Assembly which they know connects a web of all kinds of spaces around the country as it helps them to thrive. They plug in requests to meet up with some rubber experts, and an invitation to take part in a focus group trial. The system, which has permission to scan the members of all of the spaces, calculates the best matches available. A short while later, it’s suggested a meeting with some rubber specialists based in an industrial maker-space, and a proposed a call on Meet.coop with 12 potential focus group participants.
This leads to another request via the Assembly network that produces a handful of grant and investment opportunities and some business support they hadn’t even realised they needed.
In my little post-COVID scenario, the Boot the commute campaign has helped lots of small local independent spaces re-start or get going — they’re the perfect market for showcasing their clever rubberised device on tour. The spaces get to host a cool ‘show and tell’, their members love the product, and the project team gains a national distribution network— all with the help of the smarter booking system.
The key change I’m suggesting here isn’t actually driven by the tech — it’s powered by an appreciation of the value of connecting IRL thanks to the pandemic year(s). If people can find easy ways to be able to meet the right people in the right places at the right times in person, they’ll take them.
The digital tools that make this story realistic are already abundant — all that’s that’s missing is the collective ‘mind’ that interlinks them to make the pathways simple and clear. That’s where a body like the UK Coworking Assembly comes into its own.
I think the world of coworking attracts the change-makers most likely to shape the future, and their desire to collaborate with each other and with nature is strong. There’s a focus on the wellbeing of people and planet that’s causing the ‘hive mind’ to swarm, bringing people, places and tech together in search of more clarity.
The links I used in my story are all real, and connections may well develop between them, so I’ve got to have at least a little bit of it right.
What do you think?
Write to the UK Coworking Assembly at collaborativeplaces@gmail.com and let us know!
