Last month our team traveled to Guadalajara Mexico to run our Business Model Canvas training at the Autonomous University of Guadalajara. We were treated to working with the director of the University’s business incubator. As always during these visits, we experienced her enthusiasm as she gave us a tour of her facility and introduced us to her entrepreneurs with the pride any mother would feel for her own kids.
During this same trip we stopped by Guadalajara’s best rated coworking space “Nevermind”. We walked in unannounced, but the young lady at reception welcomed us warmly and offered us a tour. She took us around, explained how the space worked and gave us the backstory to its development. She obviously knew her members well and spoke of the space’s culture knowledgeably.
The two experiences got me thinking about community champions. The National Business Incubation Association has found that one of the keys to an incubation programs success is who heads it, and recent coworking research mirrors the finding. The community champion has to have a unique combination of qualities, which include being giving, outgoing and serviceable. But what about the skills they need to have in order to do their job properly?
- Community building – the difference between a real estate play and an entrepreneurial program is the people. Entrepreneurs can learn business skills in many different places both in person and online, paid or free. What they cannot get anywhere else is community, that group of people they interact with on a regular basis that knows what is going on in his or her life and cares. The champion has to understand how people like to work and how they interact in order to create that sense of belonging that keeps entrepreneurs engaged.
- Community curation – Making sure the members are comfortable and productive in the space means making sure new additions fit the culture. The champion needs to be able to create an intake process for new members conducive to maintaining an environment of collaboration. The champion should also try to include new members whose activities are complimentary to existing members without being competitive.
- Program management – besides the people aspect of a champion’s job is the administrative role. The champion will have to track member’s activities, whether for billing purposes in a coworking environment or for program participation in an incubation/acceleration environment. He will also have to ensure the facility is clean and operational at all times and know how to allocate time and usage in shared spaces. Finally he will be anticipating member needs through intake documentation such as lease, membership agreement, member/client manual, as well as ongoing notices of changes and updates in policies.
One way a champion can learn these skills is through an apprenticeship with an experienced manager. However, since that is not always available, many online resources are a good start. The National Business Incubation Association provides valuable training for incubator managers and the Global Coworking Conference Unconference provides learning opportunities for coworking champions. If you need more in depth training, we offer an online and in-person option for both coworking and incubation champions that is available on a continuous basis.
Becoming a champion is a very special opportunity. Not everyone working in a shared workspace has the enthusiasm and skills that it takes to accomplish the tasks of champions, who must be highly motivated individuals with great communication skills, ease in interacting with both members internally and the public externally, and a high level of organizational skills as well.
Champions are the “faces” or “points of contact” in shared workspaces–the primary people responsible for ensuring that their spaces are operating smoothly, events are well-attended, and everything related to the spaces and members unfolds as seamlessly as possible. Their mission is to create successful spaces: settings in which like-minded people are encouraged and enabled to network, learn, collaborate, and grow, and enjoy their workspace experiences.
A champion’s role may expand depending upon his or her success in setting a strategic vision with the founder(s), ensuring that this vision is implemented, and increasing the financial strength and scope of the space as a whole. The champion knows how to engage community members to foster a sense of intrinsic ownership. Motivated by the core values of the shared space, the champion inspires other members to be similarly motivated and to contribute to establishing a feeling of true community.
A trained champion is a highly self-motivated person who is excited to be working in a collaborative environment. He or she has excellent organizational skills, is able to see what needs to be done, and makes it happen without the need for daily supervision or guidance. Possessing outstanding communication skills as well, the champion interfaces internally with members, existing networks, and the space founder(s), and externally through social media and the press.
A champion’s detailed responsibilities typically include the following: acting as the point of contact for members on a daily basis; on-boarding new and existing members; conducting tours for prospective members; and developing the workspace community by ensuring that each member is doing his or her part to collaborate to make the space run seamlessly. Champions are also responsible for initiating all communication and marketing both within the space and in the larger community. The champion creates and maintains the website, newsletters, blogs, special event flyers, and performs PR outreach by using social media and the press. Finally, special event organization and production also fall within the scope of a champion’s responsibilities.
Varela Consulting, a world leader in conducting trainings for shared workspace conception, development, and ongoing maintenance will soon be offering an eight-week Champion Training program, which will include two full days of on-boarding, plus two hours per week of ongoing support for the duration of the program. The champion training may also be extended once the basic program responsibilities have been mastered.
We will use videos, one-on-one sessions, and assigned readings to transmit the necessary skills. We will evaluate each champion continuously throughout the process to ensure understanding and retention based on rubrics specially designed for each responsibility detailed above.
If you work in a shared workspace and think that you have what it takes to become a true champion, or if you own or manage such a space and have identified one or more individuals whom you feel are well suited to take on these new and exciting responsibilities, please contact Varela Consulting for more information about our upcoming trainings.