Stop, Collaborate and Listen (the Secrets to a Super Timetabling Service)

How are your timetabling cycle plans shaping up for the new academic year?
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No matter where you are in the calendar year, getting everything tip-top ahead of each September is no small task, with:

✔️
Cycles to plan 
✔️ Deadlines to hit
✔️ Stakeholders to manage

And it’s this last one you say you can often find tricky! With this in mind we’ve put together some tips, to help you get your stakeholders on side when planning a new timetable cycle.

Collaboration = top timetables 

Mapping out timetables for the new academic year is an immense task.

And getting stakeholders on side is a big part of the process. Their input is just as vital as yours for success!

This last bit can be tricky – often, stakeholders don’t understand what’s needed from them, or what happens at each stage of the timetabling cycle.

The result? Disgruntled staff, poorly planned requests, and an impact on students.
Here’s our three-stage process, to help you avoid all of the above.

STOP

It can feel tempting to just tell your stakeholders their deadlines and get cracking, but hold your horses!

Map out your processes first, then list your stakeholders, their responsibilities (both timetabling and non-timetabling) and the deadlines you plan on giving them for achieving these actions. 

This way, everyone has clear goals to work towards, and you're confident you understand all the elements that will make your plan a success.

COLLABORATE

Meet with each stakeholder to outline their responsibilities and encourage feedback. How can you support them? Are the deadlines workable? By collaborating from the offset to identify and solve any issues together, you’ll help them buy into the process, and to understand how they’re contributing to the overall success of the timetable build.

LISTEN

Schedule regular catch ups throughout the timetable cycle. Regular communication keeps momentum going and is an ideal opportunity to discuss any issues or ideas. The best work happens when we listen to one another and work on solutions together!

Let us help you manage your stakeholders with ease…

Join our Timetabling Basecamp course and under the guidance of our experts, you’ll learn how to collaborate with stakeholders and improve your own timetable processes - and meet fellow timetablers too! Find out when the next one is coming up by checking out our list of courses.

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