Swift Kick has the privilege of working out of a coworking space. Coworking is when a bunch of small companies, freelancers, and start ups work in an office together because it is way better than working from home. New Work City is an awesome place to be, not just because of the exposed brick, but because of the community building they have sewn into the fabric of the space. And of course, as community builders ourselves, we appreciate this.
1. Dry Erase Activities
There’s a big dry erase board available for anyone’s use near the front, for brainstorming sessions and whatever else. Often, the space’s community manager or a member of the space will write a prompt, puzzle, or question and let people answer. Today, Space Captain Sarah asked the prompt shown here. A response to the question prompted someone else to shout out another member, in a silly way. (“We need Ray!”)
This fits right into Dance Floor Theory because:
- The facilitator doesn’t need to be at the “event” for it to inspire action.
- It promotes fun, outside of work, communication between the coworkers
- It’s simple to get involved!
2. Friendly Reminders to be a Friend
In any shared space, people will always need a push to remember others. At New Work City, the rules for using resources are clearly labelled around the space. Most of the time, nobody is looking to be inconsiderate to anyone else, and these reminders help us think about being fair and kind to our friends here!
3. Celebrating The Work
Since we are a coworking space, people do awesome things here! Apps are started, Swift Kick gets students engaged, floor plans are built, books are written..the list goes on and on. One way the space celebrates everyone’s hard work is the business cards put up as art in the meeting rooms.
These pretty and neat displays are a nod to past and present coworkers in our New Work City family, and inspire us to do more epic things every day.
4. Family Photos
The first thing you see when you walk in, besides the front desk with the Space Captain who greets you hello, is a slideshow on a screen. The pictures scrolling continuously throughout the day are all the members and events we have had here, or after work in the surrounding NYC areas. Two minutes of watching the images flicker past, and you have a great sense of friendship, love, and support. You understand that this isn’t just a space full of hardworking entrepreneurs, but of people who have a lot of fun together. Awwww.
5. How -To Improve the Community
Part of being a member of this space is shared responsibility. Our coffee station is for all of us to gather around and use. When you finish the coffee, it is good citizenship to make a new pot.
But what if you don’t know how? That’s okay! There’s a sign right there to help you out step by step. Again, everyone is willing to be kind to others when they know the right actions.
We all feel much more invested in our community here because we are part of the living and breathing functions that make daily activity possible!
Of course, New Work City also holds many community events, brainstorms, work sprints, and lunches. But when those things aren’t happening, any given moment is still full of the community spirit.
