The Opportunity
The first thing the co-founders of Birch Road do when they hire a new community manager is assign homework.
“We ask all our community managers to read The Art of Gathering when they join our team,” co-founder Kim Bosse said. That’s because the role is less about managing and more about facilitating an experience at each of their locations in Chicago, Seattle, and Denver.
“We want our managers to be hosts,” Bosse said. “As the author of the book, Priya Parker says, ‘no one wants to sail on a skipper-less ship.’”
The Experience
Birch Road isn’t your typical coworking space. It’s a neighborhood social club, where coworking is just one of the options. A Chicago Food Magazine article said it’s a place where wine, work, and community intersect, and that just about nails the Venn diagram of the club’s mission.
It’s a bar without bartenders. An eatery without a kitchen. An office without a corporation.
“The space is what it is to each person,” Bosse explained. “It's all based around personalization. And one of the things that we've been able to achieve with our three and (almost) four locations is making sure each club really feels localized. Our club managers have full autonomy when it comes to services and events and things that they're providing to their member group. The club's decor and designs are totally different. And so even though there is a core operational process underneath everything that's consistent, each club is unique to its neighborhood.”
With such a unique business model and such unique locations, how do you choose a space management software?
The Results
Bosse and team use Coworks software to manage the membership across all four of their locations. Members can go from one to another, but not get lost in the events of campuses they don't use. They can invite friends to Birch Road events and their invites are tracked within the dashboard.
