BBU Guest Blog | ‘Could I just run something past you?’ – growing a professional network in a changing work environment
By Helen Santer, Director of Build Studios
When Barclays’ boss Jes Staley announced at the end of April that big offices may be ‘a thing of the past’, many like me who are involved in the provision of workspace in the capital started to take a long hard look at our offer.
Build Studios is in no way a ‘big office’. With space for up to 50 small businesses and freelancers in the built environment sector, we pride ourselves on offering an intimate and collaborative workspace. However, the recent requirement to work from home will have persuaded many people that they can actually manage rather well outside the office - once they’ve managed to ignore the growing pile of laundry.
In the face of this ‘new normal’, we have been asking ourselves why people will want office space at all in future.
For me, the informal professional networks I developed at work were key to advancing my career, but these were almost exclusively developed in a face-to-face office environment. Observing senior colleagues, sharing challenges with peers – working out how to foster this type of informal mentoring when the team works off-site will be a major challenge for businesses. Creating an inclusive working environment where people have the confidence to share their views, ask for help and challenge received wisdom will require some creative thinking and, in my view, some in-person time away from a screen.
It is also likely that a completely new cohort of freelancers will emerge from this crisis. Talented professionals who, post furlough, decide to take the plunge and go solo.
Many such people will already have excellent social capital that they have built up during their careers and no shortage of expert contacts to turn to when they need advice. But again, the lack of in-person contact can make setting up a new business a daunting, and at times lonely experience. ‘Could I just run something past you’ is so much easier to ask when you are physically based alongside your peers, and building networks is a more comfortable experience when done gradually and in person, rather than online.
In a sector-specific workspace such as Build Studios, this sort of conversation happens frequently, as architects pick the brains of planners and engineers and the whole host of other professions based at the space. For those that visit the space less regularly in future – perhaps for occasional team meetings or project work - we will need dedicated programmes to help build this professional social capital and a practical, inclusive response to ensure remote-working colleagues and newly established freelancers are able to thrive.
There is a responsibility on all of us involved in working with start-ups, either through providing workspace or other programmes, to consider what this new way of working means to people coming through the system. How can we support them in raising their profile and accessing business opportunities, as well as providing a sounding board as their business grows?
Our role as brokers, advocates and mentors - to our members and to each other – will have to come even more to the fore. Visibility for small businesses and freelancers will be key, and we see an important part of our role in supporting entrepreneurs in raising their profile. ‘Meet the collaborator’ and professional showcase events for prospective buyers will give start-up businesses collective access to promotional opportunities that might be out of reach on an individual basis. Much in the manner of the importance of degree shows to individuals starting out in the fashion industry, we should see our role as an important part of promoting the skills of the many new businesses that are likely to emerge and bring them forward to the opportunities available.
Some of this change is likely to be short-term. Human beings are naturally social animals and it does seem likely, despite the amount of time many of us have spent on Zoom over the past 8 weeks, that more traditional means of engagement will return to prominence – meetings in person, networking events, seminars, even picking someone’s brains over a coffee. I would dearly love to meet anyone for a coffee right now. But in the meantime, let’s try to grasp some of the opportunities coming from the chaos and keep our eye out for the new talent that is bound to emerge.
