Coworking Burnout is Real — Here’s How To Break The Cycle

• Community building in coworking spaces is a multifaceted, emotionally demanding task requiring high emotional intelligence, flexibility, and perseverance. 
• Coworking space managers and community builders are at risk of burnout, particularly when they lack autonomy and are constrained by top-down brand directives. 
• Prioritizing long-term member experience over short-term dazzle is key to sustaining a coworking community. Supporting community managers to bring their whole selves to work and empowering them to build genuine community can prevent burnout and contribute to a thriving coworking space.

Community building is hard. It’s a high-touch, high-emotional intelligence, quick-thinking, multi-tasking, thick-skin building, comfort zone-expanding thing — that never slows down.

For 10-plus years I’ve been watching and supporting coworking space operators and community  builders as you: give tours, handle challenging members, celebrate wins, cry it out, market your space, position your brand, level-up your hospitality, learn from other spaces, establish your zone of genius, deal with the coffee maker that keeps breaking, remove the snake from your space, deal with the leak in the ceiling, the wobbly wifi, etc. 

etc.

etc.

But what I’ve heard from you, over all these years, is that the most challenging thing about building community in a coworking space is staying engaged and inspired. 

Coworking burnout is real. Some of the best in the game have stepped away. 

And as coworking morphs into a massive global industry, it’s getting trickier to find those unicorn people who have the incredible skillset and personality to create something extraordinary in your space and town.

And I believe one of the avoidable causes of burnout is that community managers don’t have enough autonomy to truly lean in and take ownership of the space. 

Top-down brands run the risk of being too restrictive in the (totally understandable) interest of maintaining a strong brand identity. 

This delegates your community managers to little more than a disengaged receptionist, which is something you do not want.

Your community managers set the tone in your space, which directly affects the member experience. And if you forget about the member experience, your brand will not thrive. 

I’m not talking about the person who spends a day or week in your space while they’re in town for work. I’m talking about the members who are in your space month after month, year after year—the ones who create the community vibe and pay the bills in your space.

Too frequently, the long-term member experience is overlooked in the interest of razzle-dazzling people whose only touchpoint with your space will be for a day or week. 

We members don’t want to be razzle dazzled every day. 

We love the hospitality and amenities and nice things, but we don’t want the white glove, hotel hospitality experience. This is our home away from home—the place we go to chase our dreams and level up our businesses.

And razzle dazzle fades. 

After a while, the amazingness of a space falls away and what’s left is what’s real: the people, the vibe, the buzz, the connections, the opportunities to grow. This is what a great community builder brings to the party — unless they’re stifled into being the totally replaceable face of a top-down coworking brand.

Ugh.

So where are you being too stifling with yourself and your team? Where are you playing it too safe? 

Where are you forgoing human connection for brand imprinting? 

How can you better support your community builders to truly build community and bring their whole selves to their work? 

Where are you giving lip service to community and connection — both with your team and in your space?

If this is ringing uncomfortably true for you, don’t worry! That’s a great place to be. You recognize there’s a problem and you want to do better.

Bravo, friend. Keep going. The work you do is so important. 

And to help support you and your team as you do this work, I wrote a book to keep you engaged and inspired. The Daily Co is a daily reader full of inspiration, insights, tips and heart for coworking community builders everywhere. 

I wrote it for you and your team with the intention that it lifts you up on the hard days and keeps you stoked on the good days. Because community building is hard.

Cheering you on always,

Cat