Amy Abrams and Adelaide Lancaster, the co-founders of In Good Company Workplaces, said they are pleased that the research study results appear to validate their efforts to put peer-based learning at the heart of the In Good Company membership experience. “The opportunity to learn with and from peers has been largely absent from the experiences of most of our members prior to their arrival at In Good Company,” they noted.
They also said they were pleased that the “truth-speaking” element of the In Good Company experience they had tried to cultivate at the outset seems to have taken root. “The fact that participants talked about feeling accepted for who they were, and that they absorbed, through their diverse interactions with others, the hard truths of entrepreneurship (e.g., it’s not always easy, it’s a difficult learning process, it’s OK to make mistakes, nobody knows it all from the beginning) and were able to put them in the proper perspective is really exciting for us,” Amy and Adelaide said. “Taken together, the findings suggest that all of these experiences combined are instrumental in helping women begin to see and identify themselves as entrepreneurs, which was our primary objective in starting this venture.”
Eden Abrahams, an executive coach and In Good Company member who conducted the study in partial fulfillment of her degree requirements for the BeamPines / Middlesex University Master’s program in professional development, said, “Undertaking this research has helped me become a more effective partner – not only to the entrepreneurs I coach, but to all of my clients who are experiencing major professional or personal transitions in their lives. Tunneling forward, improvisation and role-playing are strategies that are by no means unique to business owners. Everyone has, at some point in his or her career, experienced the feeling of being in over one’s head without a working compass or roadmap.
This study illustrates the tremendous importance of community in supporting the learning, network expansion, new identity formation and positive emotional outlook that successful transitions require. It also underscores the value of sharing both the highs and lows of this process with peers, mentors or coaches, who can help establish a framework for framing many of the inevitable setbacks and challenges that occur along the way as being universal, rather than personal, in nature.”
How the research was conducted
A phenomenological research approach was used to explore the study participants’ lived experiences without losing or distorting their context and subjective significance. The participants, who were selected by means of purposeful sampling, took part in three one-hour interviews that were conducted following Seidman’s qualitative interview protocol. These interviews, while largely subject-driven, were designed to engage the participants in detail-rich storytelling and reflection on formative experiences related to learning, identity, decision-making strategies and emotional state of mind at key stages of their personal and professional development. Narrative profiles were used to analyze individual participant data, followed by a group-level analysis of the themes that emerged. The completed study was accepted and approved by Middlesex University in November 2009.
About In Good Company Workplaces
In Good Company Workplaces is a community and work space in Manhattan that provides women business owners a place to work, meet, and learn about entrepreneurship. Run by Amy Abrams and Adelaide Lancaster, In Good Company pioneered a unique shared work space model and was the first co-working space of its kind to cater specifically to women business owners. Through innovative programming, peer learning, and group consultation, In Good Company helps both new and experienced entrepreneurs to build businesses that work for them. In Good Company is proud to support a diverse community that includes entrepreneurs from wide variety of industries and professional experiences. Adelaide and Amy have been recognized by numerous press outlets, including the New York Times, as entrepreneurs to watch and as creators of an innovative business model.
About Eden Abrahams
Eden Abrahams is the founder of Clear Path Executive Coaching LLC, an executive coaching firm in Manhattan. She draws on her professional development expertise, as well as nearly two decades of corporate communications and consulting experience, to help individuals and teams achieve their goals. Her clients include organizational leaders and managers, entrepreneurs, consultants, designers and creative artists. Eden also provides career development consulting services to the NYU Stern School of Business.
