VSNU General Assembly 4 June 2021- Recognition & Rewards

On Friday June 4, the annual General Assembly of the VSNU took place for all Executive Boards of Dutch universities. This year’s theme was ‘Recognition and Rewards’. UU Rector Henk Kummeling and UU Recognition and  Rewards leader Paul Boselie were asked to give a presentation on the UU way of working and the UU TRIPLE model.

The emphasis of the presentation was on the importance of culture change with an important role for leaders at the level of the university, the faculty and the department (or division). Other universities are particularly interested in the UU TRIPLE model.

Attention was paid to questions such as "what's next?", "what are the underlying principles of transformation?" and "what are the dilemmas we are facing along the way?

What's next?

The UU way of working has been outlined in the vision document and the TRIPLE model, available since January 2021. Currently, we are working on developing a template for the implementation of the TRIPLE model. This concretization should lead to tools to support faculties, departments, divisions and chair groups in the transition. Recognition and Rewards will become part of the UU leadership programs: modules in existing programs and as entirely new trajectories aimed at knowledge and skill development. The work sessions or dialogue sessions, together with 'Tough questions, honest answers' are examples of involving the UU community in the culture change.

We are not alone in this transition. We collaborate with HRM, coordinate with other UU directorates and co-create with the Faculty Open Science Teams (FOST) that shape Open Science at the decentralized level. Concretization, implementation and internalization will be central topics in the upcoming period. Utrecht is not the only one working on it: universities on a national level can learn from each other and share experiences.

Underlying principles?

  • Vision and persuasion
  • Support from the Executive Board and Deans
  • Capacity for project organization: UU Open Science & UU Recognition and Rewards
  • Building on own strengths and knowledge (academic and support staff): Team Spirit
  • Strategic embeddedness (at UU we are embedded in Open Science and the strategic plan)
  • FOST and fellows, in the UU faculties (centralized - decentralized): interaction
  • Practice what you preach in the R&R approach
  • UU initiatives to learn from each other (room for experiments)
  • Employee involvement (dialogue sessions and work sessions)
  • Leadership sessions at faculties and across the UU
  • In close cooperation with HRM (including the HRM director in the R&R Workgroup)

Dilemmas?

Examples of dilemmas discussed during the General Assembly are :

  • How do we get people in all ranks on board? People are not equally advanced in this subject and there are specific challenges at the different organizational levels.
  • How do we deal with differences between faculties and disciplines? And is there room for contextual differences and freedom in strategic choices?
  • How do we get from initial plan (policy & good intentions) to practice in terms of concrete execution and the desired outcome for all those involved?
  • How do we attract and retain talent in an international playing field?
  • How do we deal with uncertainty in the culture change, which applies to starting scientists in particular?

These points mentioned by Henk Kummeling and Paul Boselie were widely recognized and shared by those present at the General Assembly. This underlines that we have to work together, while at the same time providing sufficient room for own interpretation at university and faculty level. The discussion was closed with an emphasis on the desire and need for a culture change in the field of Recognition and Rewards. It was an inspiring meeting. To be continued!