We Want You! Professional Services Staff Forum, Working Groups and Conference

The PSSF, working groups, and PS conference will all be School-centric in focus and provide dedicated time outside of the usual work environment for colleagues to meet and reflect on current BBS PS practice and discuss issues, projects and initiatives affecting the service as a whole.

This will be your opportunity to positively and directly contribute to the future of PS and how we work together as colleagues.

Professional Services Staff Forum (PSSF)

The Forum, which will meet informally every three-months, will be collectively owned by all of BBS Professional Services (PS). It will provide dedicated and protected time to meet up with other colleagues in the School and engage with BBS PS related activities, initiatives and projects. 

It is hoped the Forum will engender a BBS PS Community by providing an opportunity for:

• Regular contact and networking between BSS PS colleagues;
• Dedicated time to discuss current BBS PS related priorities;
• Receipt of relevant and timely information;
• Improved flow of information between BBS teams;
• Discussion of new ideas for improved ways of working in BBS;
• Best practice sharing opportunities;
• Improved team working across BBS teams;
• Staff contribution to cross-BBS PS projects and initiatives;
• Community of practice discussions.

Although the format, agenda and chair of the first PSSF meeting will be pre-arranged, in future we would like you to own the decision-making - to consider a rotating chair, and to be responsible for suggesting and arranging agenda items. 

The PSSF is your Forum to shape, be it sharing information, working more closely with colleagues you wouldn’t usually have the opportunity to, inviting colleagues from the School and other areas of the University to present on relevant topics, or focusing on process improvement, enhanced communication and cross-team sharing. We hope it will contribute to engendering a feeling of community, with benefits for both the service as a whole and colleagues as individuals.

PSSF Working Groups

A number of PSSF ‘task and finish’ or on-going working groups will be set-up to focus on specific activities relating to BBS PS.  These will provide an opportunity for colleagues to:

• Be involved in solutions-focused cross-service projects and initiatives;
• Contribute to shaping the service we provide;
• Improve the way PS operates.

There are already a number of suggestions for groups – including planning for the PS conference – but we would welcome your ideas via PSSF.

Professional Services Conference

The Conference will be the first time BBS PS colleagues have assembled together to work as a team. We hope this dedicated time outside of the usual work environment will be a welcome opportunity for networking with colleagues and collectively celebrating successes so far. It will also provide space to reflect on current BBS practice, discuss issues and initiatives pertinent to PS, and contribute to future service improvements. 

Further information will be available in a future BBS Newsletter.

We Want You!

We hope you embrace the Forum and working groups, and the opportunity they present for networking, learning new information, and involvement in discussions and projects to enhance and shape our service.  

Inaugural PSSF meeting

The inaugural PSSF meeting will be in the Spring, at which full details regarding the Forum, working groups and conference will be available. The first meeting will also include an update on next steps relating to the recent BBS branding exercise – including some exciting proposals for University House.