The Systems That Hold Us Together
The way we've always done things doesn't necessarily work in schools anymore. Our digital ecosystem has evolved - cloud-based, connected, built for collaboration, and yet so many of our habits were formed long before it existed. Attaching a document to an email and sending it off for someone else to edit, save, and send back. Keeping our own copy, just in case. Working around the system instead of within it.
Perhaps that's not surprising. Over time, administration professionals have been handed these tools - OneDrive, SharePoint, Teams - with the assumption that we'd simply work them out. Rarely with any formal training. We've been expected to be proficient, without ever really being taught. And of course, technology moves so quickly that it isn't always possible to train for every stage of it. By the time you've learned a system, it's evolved again.
On Friday, both College Services teams at Beaconhills College came together for a professional learning session led by Marianne Tansley, Systems Strategist and Microsoft 365 Educator, on understanding the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, not just using it. What OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams are actually for. How the three work together behind the scenes. The decision tree for mine versus ours. How to make confident decisions about where our work should live, and the difference between sharing a file and sending one. It sounds practical, and it was.
But it became something more than that.
What followed genuinely delighted me. My team started talking about the system and not because I asked them to, but because the learning had actually landed. Conversations about how they might use these tools differently, where things should really live, what would make the way we work more efficient, less duplicated, less chased. It won't happen overnight - embracing new ways of working takes time, and everyone finds their way into it at their own pace. I can't wait to see what they suggest and come up with!!
But embracing it is the key.
There are so many benefits to working this way. Recently, I was unwell and away from work for several days, and because we work in this digital ecosystem, not one person needed to chase me for a document. Nothing sat waiting in my inbox, or stalled in an email thread, held up until I was well enough to reply. The work was already shared, already collaborative, already living where it needed to be. It made all the difference, being away. I work this way with my Senior Executive too, not attachments back and forth, but shared spaces we both trust. It struck me that this isn't just about the technology, but about what good systems, structured well, make possible.
When we get this right, it doesn't just make our own work easier, it ripples outward. It helps me do my job well, which helps me support my Principal, which ultimately supports the wider school community we're all here for. The work administration professionals do often happens behind the scenes, unseen by most of the school community. While not student-facing, it is pivotal. Schools would not function well without it. The systems we build, the structures we put in place, the way we choose to collaborate - these are things pivotal to holding the school together, succession planning in action.
Gone are the days when collaboration meant an attachment and a reply-all. The tools have moved on. To become better and more efficient at our roles, we need to embrace the digital space and the way we work within it.
Here's a question for you to consider: If you stepped away tomorrow, would your systems be ready to carry on without you?
