How does a coworking space become a facilitator for talent growth. Growing your team and hiring the right talent. Use the space as a magnet for that.
The lone office is passe. And so are the few employees who juggle myriad tasks. Coworking has been a game-changer in initiating growth stories and facilitating talent in its truest form, a win-win no one is shying away from. The unicorn industry is at the crux of great leaps, curiously, due to the ease with which its companies, entrepreneurs, and freelancers thrive. Enhancing talent is a large portion of the coworking bucket list. In effect, it is akin to a “work” university that connects great people to do great things. Flexibility and well-curated work experience in a beautifully designed office is unbeatable in today’s world. CoWrks, a premium coworking space with offices in Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai, seamlessly brings these elements under its aegis.
The rise is imminent
According to estimates, the coworking industry will reach a valuation of $2.2 billion by 2022, with its penetration increasing from 0.7 percent in 2017 to 5.7 percent in 2022. A previous Harvard Business Review survey revealed that employees in a coworking place report higher levels of thriving at 6 on a 7-point scale.
Even the Coworking Manifesto, an online document signed by members of more than 1,700 working spaces internationally articulates the values that coworking aspires for – community, collaboration, sustainability and learning; where talent is not just developed, it is facilitated.
Today, the millennial prefers a coworking hub, and traditional companies are incorporating it into their business strategy. According to Facebook’s yearly employee survey, millennials hold three key motivators dear to them – career, community and cause.
People want to connect, and hubs like CoWrks coworking bring human nature into a space where they can excel. An incisive approach that helps network, connect, educate, ideate and bring people together.
Nruthya Madappa, Managing Partner, The CoWrks Foundry and Director, New Products, CoWrks has spearheaded a multi-faceted philosophy that involves a rigorous 24-week early-stage acceleration programme. This brings in startups together to enhance their resilience on complex and critical problems in the developing world. The intensive programme is designed by learning experts from UC Berkeley, Stanford University and Harvard University.
“The CoWrks Foundry is our answer to India’s fractured entrepreneurial ecosystem. In comparison to the sturdy framework and incredible support afforded to thriving startups in Israel, Shanghai and Singapore, India lags far behind. Therefore, it has been our endeavour to provide them with world-class mentorship and expertise, technology and infrastructure support, as well as access to investors and customers so they can scale from idea to execution at an accelerated speed,” says Nruthya.
A Harvard and Stanford alumni, entering a unicorn industry, Nruthya is among the many expert professionals that have entered the coworking juggernaut.
Abhishek Goenka, CEO, CoWrks, CIO, The CoWrks Foundry, CEO, RMZ Family Office, a former PWC strongman and expert brings with him years of industry wisdom and collaborations. That is the general trend as the industry attracts big names and expertise from across professions, facilitating talent across all levels.
Tryst with talent
When Brad Neuberg started the coworking movement in San Francisco in 2005, combining the independence of freelancing with the structure and community of an office space, he chanced upon an ingenious idea that has made that old wooden desk office obsolete, even the much-coveted yet lone rich teak corner office.
At CoWrks, the community has turned this phenomenon on its head, inadvertently creating a school of learning where people are at the crux of change. Where humans enhance skill sets, connect talent to need, and a “university of career learning” takes form in the plush confines of a minimalist coworking desk. It’s undoubtedly a fertile ground to grow, and add to one’s wealth of experience and talent.
7 Talent Facilitators in Coworking
The Teach and Learn Formula
Having a great event strategy can pave the way for learning. Nikhil Mangal, general manager, experiences, CoWrks Bangalore, a former traditional hospitality man believes in the energy of this unicorn industry, “There are many events we do focused on networking, education and learning. For example, to enhance individual skills, we ran a workshop – CoLearn where members learned from each other. A board was placed (at different locations) documenting what members wanted to learn, and what members wanted to teach. It was an upskilling endeavour. People in digital marketing came forward to teach, and members who wanted a tutorial in DM were connected”.
Startups get a fillip from mentors and learning
People make things work. CoWrks member, Samar Kapoor, CA, Haworth, a senior finance manager, led a session Decode GST and the Impact on Business in February 2019. “There were many members with queries on GST, and with my knowledge on tax, I thought it was the right time to clarify doubts,” says Kapoor. In a coworking space, startups also get an opportunity to learn.
“Getting venture capitalists to do a reverse pitch to teach startups how to pitch, or inviting mentors to talk about growth hacking or electrical mobility are among the talent-centric activities CoWrks undertakes. We conduct a thorough member analysis to find out the true need, and help connect those dots,” Mangal adds.
A beginner’s club to smoothen stumbling blocks
Coworking, unlike an ordinary office where coworkers are left to learn the ropes, has a bilateral approach which helps newbie entrepreneurs learn basics. An Early Stage Club was initiated for this. “We are experimenting with it (Early Stage Club). As seasoned companies have their basics in place, early stage companies need hand-holding on patenting, trademarking, incorporating companies, or getting the right HR talent,” explains Mangal. Putting together the CoWrks Early Stage Club, gives startups the support at an early stage. Following this foundation, startups can also apply to The CoWrks Foundry, a well-architected framework that nurtures durable and scalable businesses by investing in the ideas and the minds behind them.
“The networks we have access to would be invaluable to us in our journey. Foundry put in the effort to understand our Ayasta’s offerings and then helped remove our biases by identifying where we are underselling ourselves. The Foundry programme made us better founders which would eventually lead us to become successful entrepreneurs,” says Ravi Teja Avasarala, co-founder of Ayasta (Cohort 1, The CoWrks Foundry).
When partners work to enable each other
In an inclusive workspace, human talent can bring people from different industries together, unlike an office where the demographic is pretty uniform, and uninspiring. A synergetic partnership between the community and its members is key to “grow” people. Different mindsets, unique perspectives from employees aid this growth which an ordinary office would never enable. For example, a haphazard parking problem was solved at a few locations by an alumnus of The CoWrks Foundry, excelling in artificial intelligence and machine learning as CoWrks partner ValetEZ came to the rescue with the much-needed AI expertise. In another instance, CoWrks was able to add sustainable electricity dynamics with member expertise in automaton of air conditioning and lighting based on heat maps and density.
A beta-testing ground
For any enterprise starting out, the initial journey is rocky. Be it testing a product or being market-ready. Coworking erases that initial hurdle and gives entrepreneurs, startups and freelancers a platform to beta test products, increasing their market reach. Aparajith of Emtropylabs believes that the biggest motivators at CoWrks are its workshops. “It helps the audience learn and appreciate design better. It is also a good opportunity to help people understand the value of design, and it will help me build my personal and company brand,” says Aparajith.
Traditional Vs open
In a traditional industry, the word ‘disrupt’ could mean a Monopoly card, ‘straight to jail!’ Yet in today’s fast-paced digitally aware workday, disruption is a good thing. The one universal truth about enabling human beings is mutual respect and an ease of talking to leadership.
In traditional organisations, this is watertight, and that can delay, disconnect and divide. In a coworking space, this hurdle is done away with, as there is an ease of connecting with different hierarchies.
Retaining talent
According to PwC’s 2017 CEO survey, chief executives see the unavailability of talent and skills as the biggest threat to their business.
Further, the Society for Human Resources also revealed in a survey that employers spend approximately $4,129 on hiring per job (globally).
Hiring is proving difficult and incredibly expensive. Yet, there is a beacon shining on coworking spaces that has seen experts from different fields add to the talent base. The access to a large burgeoning pool of talent is what makes coworking such a visionary movement. “Coworking spaces are a very powerful tool to retain and hone talent. Where else can one be hand-held through all the processes available, and get mentors and a team to help you?” says a member at CoWrks.
In essence, taking an idea and honing the person behind it and giving them a blank canvas to draw upon, aided by the right processes to create a talent pool is unequivocal. And coworking does that.
