It’s not surprising that “openness” is listed as the second Coworking Core Value, right after “community”. It’s an important qualifier for the kind of communities we want to foster, where ideas flow freely, where knowledge and skills are shared, where people collaborate and help each other, and where authenticity and transparency build trust.

Openness is the coworking value that energizes the other values. It lets people be themselves and not worry about judgment from others. Openness goes beyond tolerance or co-existence. Ideas are freely shared. Help is freely given. People are welcomed into the community, regardless of background, ability, or industry. Openness allows coworkers to develop trustworthy relationships with each other (necessary for collaboration, another core value).

Openness is a concept that emphasizes transparency and free, unrestricted access to knowledge and information, collaborative decision-making, and cooperation. Among its synonyms are frankness, honesty, truthfulness, naturalness, candidness, tolerance, sincerity, and unreservedness.

Open Coworking and Open Source

The coworking movement began around the same time as the open source software movement, and in some cases, by the same people. By design, open-source software licenses promote collaboration and sharing because they permit other people to make modifications to source code and incorporate those changes into their own projects. They encourage computer programmers to access, view, and modify open-source software whenever they like, as long as they let others do the same when they share their work.

The folks at OpenSource.com have this (rather inspiring thing) to say,

“Approaching all aspects of life “the open source way” means expressing a willingness to share, collaborating with others in ways that are transparent (so that others can watch and join too), embracing failure as a means of improving, and expecting—even encouraging—everyone else to do the same.

It also means committing to playing an active role in improving the world, which is possible only when everyone has access to the way that world is designed.

The world is full of “source code”—blueprints, recipes, rules—that guide and shape the way we think and act in it. We believe this underlying code (whatever its form) should be open, accessible, and shared—so many people can have a hand in altering it for the better.”

Digging deeper – what is “openness”?

If you look openness up in a dictionary, you’d find something like this:

• a lack of restriction; accessibility.
• an acceptance of or receptiveness to change or new ideas.
• a lack of secrecy or concealment; frankness.
• the quality of not being covered with buildings or trees.
• (in sports) a style of play characterized by action which is spread out over the field

It’s not just about being open-minded. It’s about being open-hearted.

The first three definitions are the most common, frequently used meanings of the word and we’ve already pretty much covered those above. I like exploring the fringe, so the last two present some fun and, I think, insightful meanings.

Openness, as in not being covered with buildings or trees, brings to mind an image of being able to see for miles. The openness lets you take in a much broader, unobstructed view of the world. Nothing is hidden. You can see anything coming your way and you yourself can move in any direction without encountering an obstacle. This type of openness is about freedom. Freedom, autonomy, and independence are all part of the ongoing coworking movement. Coworkers around the globe make the personal choice to work around other people instead of in isolation.

Openness, as in a sports play spread over the field, makes me think of a football receiver “going long”. The connection made by the quarterback isn’t to the nearest person, but the one way beyond the crowd. It’s about seeing the opportunities for connection (in this case, the pass of the football) far afield, not just with those immediately around you. You look up and around and are open to opportunities near and far.

In a wonderful example of openness, the Open Coworking organization posted the following pledge for coworking communities:

• We’ll be open. What we do and how we do it will be shared, as much as we reasonably can, with those who are interested in participating and with the general public.
• We’ll be neutral. So much of the power and beauty of coworking reside in its freedom to be interpreted differently by each person who finds it. We are here to celebrate the entirety of coworking and the good it can do in the world, without limiting the scope of what it can be.
• We’ll maintain a spirit of positivity and goodwill. The movement has been built on a foundation of positivity and collaboration that must be preserved and extended as much as possible, so those who find this movement may better realize their dreams of a better world with our help.

Chris Messina, one of the early founders of the coworking movement, had this to say: “When I think of openness I also think of biology and the human body. The human body is an “open system” and thrives because of its openness. The human body is constantly exchanging things it values little for things it values more. Whether you’re talking about oxygen and CO2 or nutrients and waste, the body cycles – value in and waste excreted. It requires openness to live.” Chris and early coworking founders realized that by making coworking “open”, that it could evolve into something much larger than any one of them could control – and that would ultimately be the best thing for the idea.

By their very nature, coworking communities are constantly evolving. People come and go. Businesses grow and shrink, and fail, and new businesses are launched. Ideas>>> It’s all very normal and very common. Coworking spaces target people who want flexibility to adapt to life and business changes, who want the freedom to work when, how, and where they want.

Members of a healthy coworking community welcome this evolution. On a macro level, those “running” a coworking space operate with transparency, allow members freedom to >>, and welcome new people and new ideas. On a micro level, individual members embrace change as something that keeps the community vibrant and presents a never-ending stream of opportunity for “accelerated serendipity”. They accept the unexpected. After all, in a coworking space, you probably won’t know who you’ll work next to, the conversations that will strike up, or what you’ll learn from day to day. This openness to the unexpected is the key to getting the most value from a coworking experience.

Openness in the Coworking Movement

When coworking pioneer, Alex Hillman, wrote about coworking openness, he noted the concept of “forkability”, which he saw as important on two levels, globally across coworking communities and locally within a given community.

Paraphrasing Alex, we learn that forkability is the ability to take the source, of one project and use it to begin a new project. In software, the source is code. In coworking, the source is lessons learned, ideas executed, and core values. Coworking became a global phenomenon because the idea was “forkable”. The early founders made their lessons, ideas, and values available to others to build their own versions. And in turn, they created more possibilities for newcomers to the movement.

On a local level, forkability means that the members of a coworking space should be able to make it what they want it to be, within reason. At Cowork Frederick nearly everything about us, how the space is arranged, our amenities, how we operate, and more was “sourced” through member input and, in many cases, with direct member involvement. When we say to members that Cowork Frederick is theirs, as much as it is Glen’s or mine, we mean it. This kind of openness is what keeps us continually evolving, we think for the better.