Building culture
KoHub - customer feedback and engagement
Developing an authentic method of customer feedback, innovation, and engagement at a tropical coworking space.
As remote working grows in popularity the competition for the custom, attention, and loyalty of these often transitory workers is at an all time high. New coworking spaces are opening all the time, novelty office paraphernalia is used to entice, and the sense of togetherness is key.
The Challenge:
When you’re little further from the beaten track, when you can’t offer state of the art technology, and your target demographic prides itself on new experiences, new spaces, and moving on fast. How do you encourage people to stay longer, get involved, and more importantly come back time and again?
Our goal was to build on two years worth of good engagement and take this to the next level, creating the most welcoming, responsive, and engaged environment, with a great sense of community. Our space was to be the best decision you could make for your personal and professional development whilst working remotely in South East Asia. Following my review, there were three distinct areas to focus on:
1. Gaining a real understanding of your customers experience
Successes: I introduced new, more direct channels for customers to offer real-time feedback and to be involved in the solution/ positive impact of their suggestions. This resulted in new meal options being made available and more systematic cleaning schedules being created and staff were trained to implement these straight away. I also recommended implementing more regular staff meetings, building clarity of roles within the team to support the feedback process and its implementation.
2. Creating opportunities for innovation and learning
Successes: I introduced twice-weekly innovation and problem-solving sessions for the members to share their skills, ask for help with a challenge, or feel like they are giving back to the community and that they were able to have a real impact. These sessions became incredibly popular, people shared and learnt about growth hacking, cryptocurrency, the importance of accessibility in UX and web design, and people shared their own career journeys inspiring others and asking for help when required. These were great for people working away from their teams, but we also welcomed several sets of teams to the coworking space who also really enjoyed the opportunity to learn and work with new people.
3. Increasing engagement within your community
Successes: As we went into high season, I designed a fuller calendar of events. I wanted to engage to a wider variety of our members, taking into consideration different work schedules, interests, and creating opportunities that would appeal to both ends of the spectrum of people wanting to join in. Attendance at events jumped, with dinners often involving 40 of our 60 members, weekend trips becoming sold out instantly, and Christmas Day - often a quieter time as people go home to their families - attracting more than 70 people, many of whom had planned to move on by that time opting to stay and be among their “coworking family” for the holidays.
Samantha has a keen awareness of team dynamics and organisational culture. She is also a pleasure to work with. In her consultancy at Kohub, I witnessed her applying a finely tuned radar to cultural landscape. She impressed me with the care she took in engaging with people and organisational structures - in appropriate and constructive ways.
~ Michelle Soo, author and coach, customer at KoHub ~
