Node: ELIXIR Netherlands
Authors: Mijke Jetten, data stewardship liaison and deputy training coordinator
Topics: Ways of working
Do not rely on one way of involving people. Offer practical options that fit existing ways of working, such as comments in a document, discussion during a regular meeting or a separate follow-up meeting.
After the initial meeting, the data stewardship liaison prepared a summary and an action plan and shared them with the wider Node coordination team. The aim was to keep the relevant people informed and give them an opportunity to help shape the next steps.
Different ways to provide input were offered. People could add comments or tracked changes to the document, discuss the work during an existing meeting or join a separate meeting if that was more useful. Practical tasks would also be added to the shared Taiga board used to work on actions from the ELIXIR Netherlands strategy.
A remaining challenge is to find a manageable way to keep people involved, make the work a joint responsibility and still turn it into practical actions. Progress may be gradual, as this is not a priority for everyone, but starting the conversation already created a useful basis for further work.