“But that’s exactly what we should be doing!”

Executive secretary Ninna Skafsgaard reacted spontaneously when she heard about the way other departments handle information for international researchers and PhD students. She was listening to a presentation at the first meeting of a network of departmental administrative staff.

Based on the input she gained from the meeting, she has been busy ever since redesigning the way in which international visitors are received at the Department of Bioscience in Silkeborg.

“Of course the network can’t replace the kind of expertise that’s available at the International Centre. But I think it’s great to get some inspiration about how to do things in your own department by talking to staff from other departments. Because they know that you can only provide good service if you adapt what you do to suit your own local situation,” explains Skafsgaard.

The new network has been inspired by TVÆRS, which is a corresponding network for secretariat managers at AU departments.

The needs of individual departments

Research group coordinator Dorthe Haagen Nielsen from the Department of Computer Science is one of the people who took the initiative for the new network, which held its first meeting on 12 September in Aarhus. There were participants from Silkeborg, Foulum, Herning and Roskilde as well.

“The way support is organised in the central administration doesn’t always meet the needs of our individual departments. So it’s a good idea to share our knowledge,” she says.

Cross-departmental links

The network will also seek to create links between the departments, enabling secretaries who might be the only ones in their department with a specific portfolio of tasks to benefit from the experiences of colleagues who deal with similar tasks in other departments. The network also wants to give all the administrative staff at AU the same opportunities to provide the best possible service to their researchers. This will be achieved by sharing the knowledge possessed by the network members.

Synergy across the Great Belt

Winnie Grynnerup from the Department of Science in Roskilde agrees that if you want to encourage close ties across the geographical distance that divides you from your colleagues, then networking is a great way to go.

“I used to feel that the scale of operations in Aarhus was overwhelming. But I don’t think so any more because I now know some of the people involved. I’ve been to three network meetings during the past year, so I now feel that there’s a good deal of synergy spanning the two sides of the Great Belt.”

Go to the meetings that are relevant for you

Even though Ninna Skafsgaard and Winnie Grynnerup appreciate the value of creating good contacts, they will only be attending the meetings that are relevant for their particular jobs. Each time the agenda focuses on one particular theme, and they agree that the nature of this theme will determine which member of staff should attend. As Grynnerup puts it:

“I’m very selective about what kind of network I take part in because time is always in short supply in my department. So I need to feel it’s worth my while to spend six hours on a trip to Aarhus for a meeting that lasts one and a half.”

Translated by Nicholas Wrigley