For the past couple of weeks in the Student Council, I have been working to find a structure that could last for years to come. This will lay the foundation for all of our planning and creating activities in the future. To do this, I think I really had to reflect on what has been the council’s strengths and areas of growth in the last 3 years. By looking at this, I saw a clear lack of organisational structures like timelines, strategic plans, clear agendas and project groups. Using my previous experience organising materials as the chair of other services, I put my organisational skills in practice to create these resources to ensure the work we are doing as a council is not lost from year to year and there are some continuity and longevity within the group. I think I struggled to put these together because I often felt that it meant we were unable to focus on immediate action, and projects we were all passionate to get started on. However, after creating this strategic plan, organising everyone into project groups and setting up individual agendas, I can see that the work we’re planning to do is going to be so much more impactful than the work in previous years. This work can also be continued for years to come if we are unable to complete them all this year! I think my plans towards planning changed from an immediate approach to more of a longterm one, which would allow the group to function more effectively in the future. I think at the beginning, I didn’t respond well to the suggestions of laying down these foundational structures, as this was my last year in the STUCO and I really wanted to make immediate changes this year. However, upon considering further, I realise that this is one of the single most effective things I have done in the council to establish some structure for years to come.
Here is our strategic plan that we have also posted on our OLP page!
Here is our timeline that we have created recently that has helped us see all the tasks we are working on.