Flexwork Academy 2023

On May 8th, we had the distinct pleasure of attending the Flexwork Academy, organized by Marc Navarro and Vika Zhurbas in Valencia. The Flexwork Academy is a unique one-day masterclass aimed at professionals from the coworking industry. The event gives people the opportunity to gain valuable knowledge, skills, and also practical experience.

Cobot is very proud to have not only attended the academy, but also sponsored the event. It was a pleasure to work closely with Marc Navarro in lending expertise at the event and helping out for a second year in a row, and having the opportunity to aid participants in reviewing and streamlining their technological setups.

We are happy to share some talks and conversations that we had during the event at Wayco coworking spaces in Valencia.

Hiring done right — Nacho Cambralla Balaguer: Coworking Manager at Wayco

“There are few decisions as critical as answering the question: who is the first person I hire to manage my space?”

Nacho Cambralla, director of Wayco, has been recognized for years for his best practices in selecting and managing his team. He talks about the journey of building a team:

“From the first person, we hire to a larger team. Understanding what skills we should look for, what personal characteristics, and how these should complement or not complement our own is essential so that we don't find ourselves asking for the impossible from someone who will not continue their journey with us.’’

Nacho’s insights helped us understand the key to writing job descriptions that attract the right people for your space. The focus of Nacho’s talk was on how to build an effective and cohesive team, to that end he told us about the history of Wayco and how they developed their dream team.

Wayco told their story, how they looked for open-minded people with a strong focus on the customer and emotional intelligence. Stressing the idea of “gente del mundo” or people of the world, Wayco sought to hire people who have cultural intelligence, reflecting a cornerstone of their vision and values.

The characteristics of an effective office manager were a strong focus on customer service, office management, and someone who could and wanted to build an authentic community. As Wayco is spread across three locations, effective management required communication between these spaces to ensure effective implementation of the Wayco brand across the spaces.

Operations in 5 tips — María Montis Kramer: Director at Loom

“Maybe you think trading is boring, if so maybe you should because it means there is room for improvement.’’

Maria Montis, Director of Operations at Loom, offered an eminently practical look at operations and 5 tips to help you improve your operations without dying trying. What is the key? Create protocols, and establish ways of doing things that avoid double work.

“There are few more experienced people in our country to tell us how to undertake this process, and we have asked him to condense what he has learned over the years into five tips so that you can apply them immediately in your space and make your life easier because operations and processes are designed to do more by working less and not the other way around’’

Loom has grown rapidly in five years, from one space to fifteen. However, unlike many other brands, Loom wants to give each space its own individual character to make it stand out. Still, all the spaces do the same two things. The first is to take care of the needs of the employees, and the second is to grow rapidly in a short period of time.

María explained the factors that contributed to their success as a strong focus on technology, design, professional management, community events program, and location. As mentioned, there are also the five keys to success, which are:

• Invest in technology from the beginning, this gives a firm foundation on which to build and grow your business that will be future-proof and run efficiently.
• Focus on processes, with regular reviews to ensure that processes are efficient and are working towards the goals of the space and community.
• Ensuring the product is easily understood and marketable.
• The value of people in creating an effective business, especially when expanding to multiple locations, effective communication is key.
• Selecting good partners is key to ensuring the success of the business in the future.

Meaningful marketing for independent coworking — Óscar García Toledo: Founder and CEO of First Workplaces

Óscar García Toledo, Founder & CEO of First Workplaces, is no stranger to the coworking industry, having worked in it for over a decade. His previous experience in marketing has shaped his style and vision for his own brand. Óscar shared his keys to developing a message that fits the reality of spaces and is conducive to effective marketing:

• The market is inevitably tricky to navigate, added to that is that there are high commissions.
• Positioning is essential: find out where your space fits into the market, how does your space differ from those other spaces around, and why should people choose your space?
• Having excellent customer service, First Workplaces has the highest number of staff per coworker.
• Focus on important criteria for customers, be it location, price, services offered, or user experience.

Óscar also shared with us his key performance indicators for First Workplaces and took us through a variety of exercises to analyze the positioning and opportunities of their spaces. This provided a great chance for the space operators attending the event to reflect on their own processes and to improve where necessary.

Optimizing operations — Cobot pilot sessions at the Flexwork Academy

The Academy ended with a QA session, following this, Cobot had the pleasure to host a pilot session for any attendees interested in learning more. What’s a pilot session? A unique format offered by Cobot and the Flexwork Academy: we help spaces to kickstart their technology setup – or review their existing stack. In 1:1 consultations, we walk space operators through an in-depth review of how their coworking management setup could be optimized. Alternatively, if they are just starting up, we gave them an overview of what to consider when setting up new technology, and an onboarding session to set up their new Cobot app.

Thanks again to Marc and Vika for organizing such a great event, it was such a unique and fun opportunity to engage with so many people from the coworking industry, newcomers, and veterans alike.

We’re already looking forward to the next Academy – scheduled for September 21st at the beautiful castle-turned-coworking-space Casa de les Punxes in Barcelona. Make sure to check it out here.

If you're looking to streamline operations within your coworking community, give Cobot a try. Feel free to contact us or sign up for a demo here and get started today.

Happy Coworking!