Who cares about coworking?
Part of the Coworking Confidential Series: Saying the parts unknown out loud
Walk into any coworking space on a Tuesday, sit down, open your emails, and within five minutes you’re questioning all your life choices.
The guy in the Patagonia vest pacing the corridor, AirPods in, talking about runway like he’s directing air traffic.
The AI start-up that is more buzzwords than code.
The team of marketers bullying their CFO into doing a TikTok because “it’ll make us relatable.”
Someone’s in the phone booth whispering pipeline numbers like it’s a confession.
Someone else is sitting cross-legged outside, waiting their turn, rehearsing their sins.
Someone’s just launched their £9 ube matcha over the printed compliance pack.
The air-con can’t decide if it’s January or July.
There’s a cupboard graveyard of abandoned Tupperware.
Opening it triggers an avalanche.
Someone’s just nuking their lunch in the microwave.
Someone’s dog just barked mid-pitch.
A delivery driver is waving a package around,
shouting out names like an auctioneer looking for the highest bidder.
It’s loud. It’s messy. It’s never exactly what you want. It’s human.
It’s electric. It’s the best kind of chaos.
It’s the part of work I can’t live without.
By ten the room has an energy you can feel on the back of your neck.
Energy you do not have on your own.
The café lifts the mood, the chatter lifts the pace,
and you find an extra gear because the people around you are moving.
Problems get solved faster here.
You ask one question and three answers appear.
Someone knows the shortcut.
Someone has the template.
Someone has already made the mistake you are about to make and saves you an hour.
It is built-in accountability.
You sit near people who are trying, so you try.
You say you will finish something, and you do, because someone will ask how it went.
It is free R and D.
You can test a line, a logo, a price, a pitch, in real time with real people.
No forms.
No waiting.
You see faces.
You hear the truth.
It is soft safety net and reinforced confidence.
The barista remembers your order.
The front desk knows your name.
You are not invisible here.
On bad days that counts more than you think.
It is serendipity by design.
A spare charger leads to a chat.
A whiteboard argument becomes a plan.
Two strangers share a table and end the week with a client together.
It is culture you can feel.
Not slogans.
Small acts.
Doors held.
Wi-Fi fixed for everyone.
Brownies left on the counter with no note.
The kind of kindness that makes hard work easier.
It is good for the work and good for the person doing it.
Your output is better.
Your day is lighter.
Your odds improve because you are surrounded by momentum.
That is why coworking is great.
Proximity beats perfection.
Noise beats isolation.
Real people in the same room will always create more than any one of us at home with perfect silence.
Who gives a shit about coworking ?
I do.
James Panepinto is General Manager for Clockwise Offices Manchester, England and UK Chair / UK Chair for FLOC (Future Leaders of Coworking)
We’re building something with Future Leaders of Coworking (FLOC) — for the people who care enough to change this industry from the inside out. For the next generation of leaders in Coworking.
If that sounds like you (or someone you know), reach out.