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Workshop on effective and sustainable working methods for administrative staff at Swedish higher education institutions
Over the past five years, we have met more than 350 people who work as technical or administrative staff at universities in Skåne. Now we are bringing this popular concept to the Stockholm area!
Emails are flooding in, meetings fill all available working hours and individual work can only be done when others have gone home. You should be available by email, phone and that new communication tool that would facilitate quick questions in the group. You should be a support for the core business to be able to deliver world-class teaching and research, while saving on administration. You are expected to streamline your work, develop and progress in your own profession and feel job satisfaction in everyday life. How is this supposed to work? ​
During an active workshop day, administrative staff from different universities meet to learn more about effective and sustainable working methods and thinking models that you can directly implement in your everyday work. The goal is tangible methods for acting even more wisely and effectively and to feel meaning and job satisfaction.
A full-day workshop at Hasselbacken, Djurgården
“I heard about the Finish on Time concept for PhD students, and it's nice that this interesting theme has also been tailored for TAs. There is a shortage of continuing education without specialization for administrators.”
Project Coordinator
“For me, it has had an enormous impact on my everyday life. I get more done in my working hours and no longer have to work evenings and weekends.”
About the participants
Those who have attended our workshops for technical and administrative staff administrators have worked at all levels within the university organization and in various administrative roles. For example, participants have worked with or been: ​
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Finance
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HR
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IT
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Study administration
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Study guidance
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Project manager
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Communicator
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Grant manager
Our story
Åsa Thormählen, then employed at the HR Section at Lund University, with special responsibility for international staff and initiator of the career concept for doctoral students and postdocs at Lund University.
May. The most wonderful month in Lund, but also the most pressured. I didn't really have time to spend a whole day on something that was actually aimed at doctoral students. However, the theme for the day "Finish on Time and feel good along the way" signaled that the workshop would address something I knew was incredibly important for doctoral students.
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I remember thinking that I could take the opportunity to talk to the doctoral students there about the career concept I wanted to start, specifically for doctoral students. So I went there. 21 minutes into the workshop, I was sold. Not only was both the content and the structure just right for the target group, who were strengthened and inspired after the workshop. I wanted, within the framework of the career concept, to offer Finish on Time workshops to all doctoral students at the university. And thanks to the restructuring funds, I was able to do that! And all the workshop opportunities have been filled to the brim since then.​
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But that day in May something else happened too: I could see that the tools, methods and materials would also work for me, for an employee in the administration. ​ That very evening I made a weekly schedule and started adding 3-4 units every day of the following week. For my big project about starting a career concept, I started thinking and working as if it were a final product. And then I turned off the notifications for the emails and made sure that I didn’t start my workdays by reading (and answering) emails – I didn’t want to waste “my best time” by working with the inbox! Need I say that these small changes led to a revolution? I had more time, I produced better and I became so much happier! Of course, I wrote to Åsa Burman and asked if we couldn’t jointly develop a concept for TA staff. Just over a year later I was able to enjoy a collective “hallelujah moment” in the Finish on Time pilot workshop specifically targeted at administrative staff. And, again thanks to restructuring funds, Lund University was able to offer skills development for administrative staff – skills development that has benefited hundreds of individuals and thus the organization.
A few words from the founder
We have had the great privilege of working together with several groups of TA staff at Lund University over the past five years. Together we have worked on the "how" or the actual work process. My colleagues in Finish on Time and I have shared new approaches and well-proven techniques, built on the Finish on Time method, specifically adapted for the work environment at Swedish universities, to create a pleasurable and sustainable work environment, and to work even more effectively.
Åsa Burman
Founder Finish On Time
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