Image by Perry Grone from Unsplash
One of my main tasks at CESSDA is to coordinate our internal communications group (CESSDA Comms Group) which is made up of staff in our service providers (data archives and services in our seventeen member countries and one observer) and in aspiring service providers (in non-member countries that aspire to membership). This is a big group where most countries have several active members in the group.
I realised when I started working here almost five years ago that there was a need for creating a group which would bring together everyone working in communications. We are spread out across Europe and people did not necessarily know much about CESSDA Main Office in Bergen or about work going on in other member country data archives. The group allowed for contact to be set up and then maintained, both between service providers and CESSDA communications and between staff working in communications in all of the archives.
So how do we work together across borders? How can we work as a team? How do you avoid communication pitfalls? How can you build a working community with people that you sometimes have never met, that may come and go before you have had a chance to?
The turn over in communications is rather high, with some archives struggling for resources and no full-time staff in communications and other larger ones with several departments. I update the members’ list of the group on almost a monthly basis. Working like this has its share of challenges.
Ideally, we would meet in person every once in a while, though logistics and resources are an issue. In the absence of face-to-face meetings, we use a range of online platforms (Basecamp, Slack, GoToMeeting, Skype, Google Hangouts) and of course email, though I am always searching for a way to not rely so heavily on emails. I find the means OK for one to one communication but quickly burdensome and impersonal when many people are involved.
In August 2016 we had our first monthly comms call (a virtual call) and the next one will be our 30th! These calls allow us to see each other (at least for those with working webcams!) once a month and meet up, be it in a virtual environment. For those few minutes each month, we can be with each other ‘live’ and this gives me at least a strong sense of working together as a team.
The calls at first tried to cover all communication activities (external and internal) of CESSDA, though they proved to be too long and in October 2018, I started organising calls focusing on one topic at a time. In November 2018, we launched a new website, together with our CESSDA Data Catalogue, so “website” was the first topic.
Since then, we have addressed the CESSDA Data Catalogue, annual reports, newsletters, social media, blogs and next time we will focus on interviews. The calls last about an hour and a half and are attended by up to nine people. Each participant has the opportunity to present their organisation’s activities on the given topic and to share their news with the group.
I choose the date based on the availability of group members using a Doodle poll. Unfortunately, with so many group members, it is impossible for everyone to be available at the same time and some people rarely make it. On the other hand, calls with more than say ten people will necessarily be either less interactive or if they are sufficiently interactive, they will end up lasting two hours and leaving everyone feeling exhausted.
Perhaps topical subgroups could be created with people signing up based on their experience in that particular area and a commitment to participate on a monthly basis. Another idea would be to have virtual trainings, with group members as co-organisers and speakers, on an agreed list of topics. These would come in addition to the monthly calls and thus give group members more opportunities to join virtual meetings.
If you would like to share your experience or ideas with me, contact me directly on LinkedIn or here.