What is Coworking? Johnson says it makes you smarter

This month Sensei Cat Johnson reports that “Coworking is Making Us Smarter”. [2]

OK, I’ll bite.  Explain that to me.

First, she refers to an old survey of coworkers to presented at GCUC in 2015. As in following years, this self-report survey finds that coworkers say they are “happier” and “less lonely” (than working alone, I assume), and that coworking “keeps them sane” (whatever that means).  I have discussed these findings in the past, and there are several chapters in my 2018 book about this topic [3] . (And see my Pecha Kucha talk.)

So how does this make us “smarter”?  This once-was-a-Psych-major wants to know.

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Johnson testifies, as many other coworkers have reported, that coworking improves professional skills and opportunities.

She also refers to a 2009 study reported by Ron Friedman, and colleagues [1] which shows that, as Johnson puts it, “emotions, such as motivation, are contagious.”  The study itself has a limited scope, but many studies find that emotions and lots of other behavior are strongly influenced by being part of a group, especially a group with which you identify.

I would say that a coworking community is certainly likely to generate this kind of “contagion”.  Workers are free to choose to join a community of “like minded peers”—people both friendly and attractive, and also recognized as a peer group, and hence socially relevant and worth emulating.  (Note to coworkers:  this means you should be careful about your “attitude”.  A bad attitude will spread as much as a good one.)

So, I can see that coworking makes workers happy, less isolated, and with the right community, might make you more successful and better motivated.  These are all potential benefits of coworking.

And I think that Sensei Cat means to say that (a) it is “smart” to get yourself some of that good stuff, and( b) these good things make you “smarter” by some definition of “smart”.

“By joining a coworking community, you do far more than simply expand your professional network.

“You expand your mind, intelligence and career.” (From [2])

I’m OK with this general idea, though I can’t say that the research supports the claim or not.  With my psychologists hat on, I really don’t know what “smart” (or “intelligent”) means in this context, so I have to leave it as Johnson’s hypothesis.

But, look:  workers like coworking, and participating in a coworking community probably has many social and psychological benefits. (At least some workers, some of the time.)  It really isn’t important whether it makes workers “smarter” or not, it’s probably good for workers, and certainly better than working alone all the time.

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1. Ron Friedman, Edward L. Deci, Andrew J. Elliot, Arlen C. Moller, and Henk Aarts, Motivational synchronicity: Priming motivational orientations with observations of others’ behaviors. Motivation and Emotion, 34 (1):34-38, 2010/03/01 2010. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-009-9151-3
2. Cat Johnson, Good News! Coworking is Making Us Smarter, in Coworking Out Loud. 2019. https://catjohnson.co/coworking-makes-us-smarter/
3. Robert E. McGrath, What is Coworking? A look at the multifaceted places where the gig economy happens and workers are happy to find community. 2018, Robert E. McGrath: Urbana. https://whatiscoworkingthebook.com/