This is a CTP of initiative: Impact Hub Belo Horizonte (Brazil)
The Hub member companies began to demand more from the Hub owners regarding the service, as stated by one member: "The people who worked at that time, the employees, had different goals from the hub-makers. The team should want to accompany the evolution of the Hub ( ... ) there were relationship failures with the members. I cannot say for sure, but members may have left due to that ( ... ). I started attending other co-workings in Belo Horizonte, even paying the monthly fee here, but I did not find a place with the same purpose ( ... ). When you change the team, the energy also changes . "
For this interviewee, this process was initiated by a service that the Hub itself offered to her. A partnership between the Hub and consultants enabled two member companies to use, free of charge, one couching service.
The owner of the member companies interviewed said that this was a watershed moment for her company. Her company was small and had the common difficulties of small businesses - could not find suitable partnerships, had no investment capital, etc. - the couching helped the member company to scale and structure its work: "The offer came from outside, I did not demand it. The Hub provided me with contacts that offered me services, which rebuilt processes, customer relations, quality of service, it has changed a lot ( ... ) I could align and optimize my processes better and I could only manage to have quality control . Today I am not a person who does, I'm not executing, I am a manager, it gave me some free time to find new customers, new tools, things I needed to grow. I grew up”.
For this, says the interviewee, she was the first one to want to apply what she learned in the Hub itself: "This was a critical moment. It provided the joint growth of companies. Before, the quality of the relationship with members was low, I shared this with the owner of the Hub and she started to improve. The class from the old times. Today there are a lot of new people here, but that class did it collectively. Members feel more comfortable to talk to the whole group, I chose the individual first, but then it was in the collective".
This CTP occurred with the common and internal partnerships within the Hub. The member companies were dissatisfied with the quality of services; the owners were at a moment when they began to perceive the low profitability of the business and that they would need to change it again; the employees who were the main bridges between the members and the owners, were providing low quality services; and coaching consultants, indirectly, provided a better understanding of the businesses of member companies, which made it easier for these members to begin to look at the Hub from this perspective: "We, as a member, not as owner, see that (low quality service) in a different way”.
May 2014 - Coaching services – The coaching service that was provided at the beginning of the process, made member companies realize that they were receiving low-quality services.
May 2014 – Demands of dissatisfied members - dissatisfied members looked for a communication channel with the owners to demand for higher quality services.
Since 2011 – Dissatisfaction from owners with low income - the dissatisfaction of owners receiving a low income may have facilitated their listening to their customers' problems.
2015 - Change of the local manifestation place – The problems, according to the interviewee, were solved by the change of physical space. In the largest space, the interaction opportunities have been intensified and this exchange has enabled a better harmony between people.
October 2015 - Staff Reduction – The staff reduction provided greater approximation, exchanges and common goals for the whole group.
2015 - Change in member companies - The members, with the change of the physical space and business model, have changed. The members who remained in the new space are the ones that are also aligned with the business.
There was no objection, at least not visible. The owners understood and began working to improve their services (cited by interviewee: internet that disconnected, lack of feedback on issues, lack of attention ...): "Today it is all more horizontal”.
The expectation of the interviewee was that, by demanding improvements, she would be able to grow and develop her business in a better way. She also had the expectation that the employees had changed and that the physical space had changed: "If we had not changed space and staff, my company would not have been able to develop as it did. I wanted for me and my company to make connections with other companies. If they had not changed, I would have left the Hub (...). On the other hand, one thing I did not expect and that happened was that all the members and owners have been involved in the same way. The owners have asked us for help, arguing that they could be an example of collaborative economy and engaged in the same way in changing the physical space, everyone sought space, made ??changes, got involved in everything."
For the interviewee, the biggest learning curve from this process was to understand the strength of partnerships. She says that from this process, she created many alliances: "I'm running the collaborative economy much more today than before, both within the Hub, as with external partners (...) the best definition of my learning I would summarize as sharing ideas".
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