6 Tips To Avoid Feeling Like The New Kid At School
Congratulations on choosing your first coworking space! I’ve onboarded a lot of coworkers, and many of them are coworking for the first time. Here are some tips to get you off to a good start. If you used the Workspace Evaluation Tool, you made your coworking space choice because it met most of your workspace requirements. You should not be surprised by the chair you sit in, the culture of the community, or the speed of the Wi-Fi. These final tips will help your first day be fabulous!
1. Plan on giving your complete attention to the space’s Community Manager for the first 30 minutes. Arriving immediately prior to a conference call or webinar will rush you both, and you will not get off to a good start. This is the person who is going to help connect you to the right people for networking and collaborating. They deserve your full attention!
2. Remember the chargers for your equipment! Do a mental checklist. Do you have the charger for your laptop, phone, earbuds or headphones, docking station, etc? This is an area where even the best-equipped serviced office usually cannot help you because connectors vary greatly among makes and models. There is nothing that jettisons your first workday more than losing power on your essential equipment!
3. Especially during this Covid-19 season, bring a drinking glass and coffee cup. Your workspace may provide beautiful mugs for you to use, but this is not the time to be washing and quickly reusing eating utensils or dinnerware. Bring your own, wash your own, and keep disposable dinnerware out of the landfills!
4. Earbuds and headphones are the universal sign that you prefer no interruptions. They will probably be required for listening to Podcasts and Webinars too. When you’re ready to come up for air and connect with some people, take them off.
5. One of the Community Norms at SOAR Co-Working is this: “Don’t be a tattletale. Solve your own conflicts. Speak like you want to be spoken to.” I am quite sure every workspace operator whole-heartedly agrees with this one! You and the other coworkers are professional adults and should feel comfortable coming to an agreement on any issue that might crop up. If after talking a good resolution wasn’t reached, talk to the Community Manager about it.
6. Enjoy yourself! You will make great friends and referral partners if you put the effort into connecting with the other coworkers.
Get ready for a fruitful work season of increased productivity and better focus. Comment below with additional tips to help future readers!