Earlier this year I was on the road and I had a few calls scheduled, so I booked a meeting room in a coworking space. I found a room that was both the right size and looked like a cool place to spend a few hours.
What I didn’t notice was that the chairs in the meeting room were wood, and quite hard. Like, train station bench hard. Halfway through the first hour-long call, I was already regretting my room choice. By the time I had finished three hours of work on that chair, my body and I were not happy.
Stylish and cute room? Yep.
A place to do real work? Not at all.
I’ve seen this a lot in my years in coworking: when the wow factor in a space is high, but the work factor is low. Hard chairs, bad light, soft seating that looks cute but is actually awkward to sit in, noisy closet turned “podcast booth,” terrible acoustics, questionable wifi, white couches and chandeliers but no outlets (Yes, really). You get the picture.
As coworking space operators, you need to thread this needle:
Your space needs to be stylish, comfy, well-designed, and look good for members, guests, on tours, and in photos. But … and this is a huge but: The work factor should always take precedence over the wow factor.
Instagrammable corners should always come second to high-functioning work areas. Because churn is right around the corner if a member can’t actually work comfortably in your space.
It sounds so obvious, but here we are.
Feel free to go all-in on the wow factor. Who doesn’t love a great space? I know I do. But just make sure the wow factor doesn’t displace the work factor.
This first appeared in the Coworking Letter, my weekly email since 2015. Subscribe to get next week’s Letter in your inbox.
