The Executive Board recently adopted Radboud’s vision for recognition and rewards, which is now being designed and will be published and widely shared around the opening of the academic year. The committee that developed this vision did an outstanding job. Through dialogue with many contributors, it produced a vision that appeals to many.
Now we have to actually implement it. We have been doing our best for years, but the reality is that we have not yet succeeded in recognising and rewarding the full range of varied activities carried out on our campus.
Recognising and rewarding on a broader scale will require changes to both our organisation and our academic culture. Radboud University’s vision on recognition and rewards focuses on four principles: quality, collaboration, diversity and the human dimension. Readers of the vision will see that the four principles are in line with what we are already doing in many areas at Radboud University.
But that fact also conceals a risk. The committee rightly points out a potential pitfall: a lot is already happening, and many positive examples of recognition and rewards can be found on our campus. The result could be that we mainly focus on what is going well – what we are already doing successfully – and thus fail to address what really needs to be done.
Let us start with ourselves. Recognition and rewards are about more than prizes, grants, salaries and promotions. They are also about everyday recognition and valuing the qualities of the people around you. How well do you know the people you work with and the work they do? Things that seem to just happen automatically often involve more work from colleagues than you might think. A colleague’s course that receives high marks from students for the umpteenth year: that doesn’t just happen on its own. The VPN connection that works properly when you log in from off campus: more work goes into that than you might think. Or think of the interview that a colleague gives to a radio programme. It sounds spontaneous, but it requires more preparation than you might think, and it comes with a lot of stress.
Recognising and rewarding others begins with yourself. It starts by recognising that every personal development and career is unique, and everyone has their own qualities. By recognising that no one can do everything, and an open academic environment requires everyone's qualities. By recognising that we need many different people on our campus every day.
We still have a lot to learn; not only about others, but also about ourselves.
- Daniël Wigboldus
Daniël Wigboldus is president of Radboud University's executive board. The other members of the board are Agnes Muskens (vice president) and Han van Krieken (rector magnificus). All members of the executive board regularly write a column.