To begin, don’t confuse this title with the workshop we did back in February with Steelcase and Clay Spinuzzi, although that was excellent.

Here’s a an excerpt from a Shareable blog entry titled “How Coworking Fits Into The Future Of Work“.

It’s an excerpt from a report by David Bollier called The Future of Work: What It Means for Individuals, Businesses, Markets and Governments (PDF).

The sections of Bollier’s report discussed … a few dense problems:

• The old work model is outdated, inefficient, and lacks a value structure that today’s professionals want and need.
• The old organizational structure is slow moving and mired in hierarchy, making it hard to adopt and adapt to new technology.
• 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.

It might seem overly simple, but I think coworking provides solutions to all three (and more) of these problems:

• Coworking spaces are modern, uber efficient, and based on a core set of values, just like the location-independent workers that fill them.
• Coworkers, 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).
• The collaborative nature of the coworking community embraces a project-based work model. The physical density of coworking 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.

Not overly simple at all. And what’s wrong with simple anyway?

What do you think? Leave a comment!