Select Page

What’s the Big Deal?

Our Core Values

One of the more experienced coworking spaces out there, Citizen Space in San Francisco, outlines it’s core values from which we continue to evolve:

Collaboration: One of the great benefits of working in a coworking space is that you will meet all sorts of people with all sorts of knowledge.

Openness: We believe in transparency and openness. In a world where people are free, but ideas are not, only a few benefit. When ideas are free, everyone benefits. Therefore, we encourage open spaces and discussions. The Creative Space is a Community of Trust.

Community: We thrive on connections and mutual support here. It is important that everyone give into, as well as benefit from, the strong (international) community coworking has become.

Accessibility: In order to be fully open, we must make the effort to be accessible to all. Diversity is core to our community’s success. This means that we endeavor to create both a financially and a physically accessible space. We are committed to this principle and welcome feedback on how we can make it even more accessible.

Sustainability: Sustainability is a two-fold mission for us: not only is the sharing of resources generally a green practice for individuals and business, but our overall business principals are based on sustainable relationships and exchanges. Every decision is measured by its ability to be sustained by the community in the long term.

What is the difference between a coworking space and any other office share?

In short, a combination of community (our eco-system) and core values (our laws of nature). The Creative Space isn’t about the desks, but about what the desks enable when a certain set of values are aligned.

We liken our space to an eco-system over any business model. Why? An eco-system is organic, adaptable and built for sustainability. It’s ALIVE!

Organic
We are living beings, not widgets being passed down the assembly-line of life. We don’t do well in boxes, forced to wear the uniforms or defined by any calculated formulas of the past. Like all living organisms we need certain key things to survive, but beyond those things, we are very unique.

Adaptable
Each person and each job must be ready to change to fit changes in the organization, and in the outside world. So the keywords would be adaptability and flexibility. The Creative Space and other coworking spaces allow for that flexibility through short term memberships, a variety of work/meeting space arrangements and the freedom to move around.

Sustainable
Just like our natural eco-system, we try to live in harmony with our environment and other organisms in order to not deplete our resources or cause the extinction of other creatures. The Creative Space and it’s philosophy on work allows for the use of resources, while not overusing. It’s about sharing and preserving to allow for the growth of the community (eco-system), rather than focusing on the individual.

Eco-System

An ecosystem is a complex set of relationships among the living resources, habitats, and residents of an area. It includes plants, trees, animals, fish, birds, microrganisms, water, soil, and people.

Ecosystems vary greatly in size and elements that make them up, but each is a functioning unit of nature. Everything that lives in an ecosystem is dependant on the other species and elements that are also part of the ecological community. If one part of an ecosystem is damamged it has an impact on everything else.

When an ecosystem is healthy, scientists say it is sustainable. This means that all the elements live in balance and are capable of reproducing themselves. There is usually biodiversity, meaning that there are a variety of living organisms and species in that environment.

The Issue

It might seem overly simple, but we think social working provides solutions to three (and more) of the historical office/company issues as described by David Bollier, an author, activist, blogger and consultant who spends a lot of time exploring the commons as a new paradigm of economics, politics and culture.

1. The old work model is outdated, inefficient, and lacks a value structure that today’s professionals want and need;

2. The old organizational structure is slow moving and mired in hierarchy, making it hard to adopt and adapt to new technology;

3. They old system of harnessing people “through full-time, exclusive employment relationships where people are paid for the amount of time they spend at a common location” harms organizations and limits their access to the right talented individuals.

A Company

A company is a complex set of relationships among business resources, work spaces, and residents of an area. It includes, tools, machines, technology, software, inspiring environment, and people.

Companies vary greatly in size and elements that make them up, but each is a functioning unit of the business world. Everyone that works in a company is dependant on the other coworkers and elements that are also part of the company community. If one part of a company is damaged it has an impact on everything else.

When a company is healthy, consultants say it is sustainable. This means that all the elements live in balance and are capable of reproducing themselves. There is usually biodiversity, meaning that there are a variety of people and types of skills in that environment.

The Solution

1. Social WORKing-modelled companies are modern, uber-efficient, and based on a core set of values, just like the location-independent workers that fill them.

2. The Workers, most of whom are freelancers, tech nomads, or small business owners, thrive, if not depend, on new technologies that make it possible to market themselves and connect with customers and clients (and compete with much larger companies).

3. The collaborative nature of the Social WORKing community embraces a project-based work model. The physical density of these spaces allows talented professionals to come together in mutually beneficial ways, and often spawns startups that bring this sharing mindset to the new global economy.

Our Manifesto

THE CHALLENGE

We believe that society is facing unprecedented economic, environmental, social and cultural challenges. We also believe that new innovations are the key to turning these challenges into opportunities to improve our communities and our planet.

THE SOLUTION

Coworking is redefining the way we do work. Inspired by the participatory culture of the open source movement and the empowering nature of IT, we are building a more sustainable future. We are a group of connected individuals and small businesses creating an economy of innovation and creativity in our communities and worldwide. We envision a new economic engine composed of collaboration and community, in contrast to the silos and secrecy of the 19th/20th century economy.

THE VALUE/THE CODE OF CONDUCT OF THE COMMUNITY

We have the talent. We just need to work together. Different environments need to overlap, to connect and to interact in order to
transform our culture. In order to create a sustainable community based on trust, we value:
* collaboration over competition
* community over agendas
* participation over observation
* doing over saying
* friendship over formality
* boldness over assurance
* learning over expertise
* people over personalities
* “value ecosystem” over “value chain”

This new economy cannot thrive without engaging the larger business, creative, entrepreneurial, governmental, non governmental and technical communities
together.

THE FUTURE

We believe that innovation breeds innovation. We will transform the world culture into one supportive of the entrepreneurial spirit, of risk taking, of pioneering into the unknown territories as the great leaders of our times. This requires education, entrepreneurship and a large network of creative workspaces.

We are reshaping the economy and the society through social entrepreneurship and  innovation. Our communities are coming together to rebuild more human scale, networked, and sustainable economies to build a better world.

We are the world coworking movement !