Informal network helps coordinators to act quickly

Carlijn Lubbinge and Jolande ter Bekke are coordinating policy officers, at the Europe Department (DEU) and the Security Policy Department (DVB) respectively. They are responsible for coordinating all aspects of policy processes. They also supervise the training and coaching of other staff. They are the ‘go-betweens’ for the management team (MT), direct colleagues and other staff. In this role, knowing their fellow coordinators personally has added value.

During the Effective Coordinating course, Carlijn and Jolande discovered the value of exchanging ideas with other coordinators. ‘I feel supported by colleagues who do similar work and sometimes encounter the same problems as I do,’ says Carlijn. Although she and Jolande didn’t attend the training course together, their paths later often crossed when they were working on the same issue. They discovered that this direct contact helped them to do their work more effectively. And so they hit on the idea of setting up a network with other coordinators within the ministry.

Simple setup

Carlijn and Jolande now regularly organise informal networking sessions. Between 80 and 90 coordinators have joined the network, with a smaller number attending the meet ups. New coordinators are always welcome. The setup has deliberately been kept as simple as possible. Jolande comments: ‘We send out an agenda and a group message. All we ask is to let us know if you’re planning to attend, so that we can estimate how many of us there will be. This general email message and the group chat make it easier to get in touch with each other, too.’

During the meet ups, staff share some of the issues they encounter in their daily work, for example how they deal with staffing levels. A frequently asked question is whether staff only do coordinating tasks or whether they are also involved in policy matters. ‘It’s interesting to share ideas on how you interpret your job description, which is often intentionally broad,’ says Carlijn. ‘These exchanges give us an opportunity to reflect on what we’ve been doing. Almost every week l find myself thinking “Maybe I could have used that approach”.’

Swift action

Thanks to the network, coordinators can get in touch with each other faster than before. This means an enormous boost for collaborative work within BZ. ‘When you know who to talk to about issues that several departments are involved in, you can act much faster,’ says Carlijn. ‘It’s nice when you know each other informally, because then the work-related side also goes more smoothly.’

‘Our contact often relates to something urgent,’ Jolande adds. ‘You haven’t got much time, so you need to be brief and to the point. It helps enormously if you already know and trust each other. This network means we know who works where and what topics they’re working on. We no longer have to work out who’s responsible for what. And of course we also stay in touch about issues that are not directly related to our work.’

Opening up

Carlijn and Jolande are both keen to stay up to date and maintain their professional skills. Training courses and peer supervision sessions are helpful, but so is this network. ‘People and situations are never the same,’ says Jolande. ‘The course gave us the tools and now we’re using them in practice. By continuing the dialogue with other people and exchanging ideas, we remain open to other viewpoints, methods and styles of applying the theory. Because we all did the training course, we all speak the same language, so that enables us to build on what we’ve learned’.

Above all, Carlijn and Jolande want to do their work as well as possible for the benefit of their colleagues. ‘We believe in BZ and in the added value of the work that we do,’ says Jolande. ‘It’s not a nine-to-five job, so our love for BZ is what binds us. Diplomacy is a profession, and as a coordinator you also have a coaching role. If you are given the freedom and knowledge you need, and the trust of others, it’s a wonderful and connective role to have at BZ.’