Creatives Need To Form Hubs
How coworking, collaboration, and mentorship stimulate innovative thinking
Human beings instinctively collect into groups and collaborate—it’s in our most basic nature. For millennia our survival and success has hinged on working together to preserve our health, prosperity and community. We see long term benefits to forming groups and will make the commitment to work together toward a common good. You might call this type of successful coalition a collective, hive or hub.
The fundamental needs for belonging, respect and fulfillment are known as being some of our most critical emotional needs. Abraham Maslow framed the human Hierarchy of Needs in his 1943 paper “A Theory of Human Motivation”.
Creatives have a strong, internal desire to work in hubs, giving us a stable work environment and sense of belonging—often we are inspired and propelled in the spirit of competition. I can identify with this notion because I am a creative who works in a creative hub.
Why do creative-thinker types like to form hubs? Aside from the obvious social benefits, I believe it has a lot to do with how we solve problems through generating creative loops, or channeling feedback until a solution is formed.
It’s not only designers who are attracted to creative hubs—you might also find any number of other design-thinkers or knowledge industry professionals. Good examples are entrepreneurs, people managers, researchers, writers and programmers. These people strive to outthink their challenges and problems on a daily basis.
I’ve been very fortunate to co-found, participate in, and manage a coworking environment called co+Lab over the past year and a half and witness the magnificent potential of collaborative work every day.
Finding your own hub may seem like a distant possibility as you slog away in your home office, but do not fret, it may be closer than you think. Even those who occupy full-time positions in large companies can find and build their own hubs—all it takes is the desire to do so.
Here are some different ways you can develop your own hub:
- Look out into your community. Perhaps someone has already built a hub that would suit you.
- Create a regular meetup group to join and mix with other likeminded people.
- Write about your ideas and challenges and others may gravitate towards you.
- Start an initiative in your business or workspace to tackle a challenge.
- Support others who have ideas that inspire you—everyone can be a mentor or mentee.
Are you a problem solver that has found your hub? How are you working together for success in your group?
