The majority of respondents indicated that they have so far experienced little or no change as a result of the Recognition & Rewards programme. A distinction was made between policy, systemic and culture changes. At the moment, respondents mainly see changes in policy and are generally positive about them. Obviously, it is unfortunate that the systemic and culture changes are hardly visible at the moment, but it is not surprising. In setting up the Recognition & Rewards programme, we deliberately adopted a route towards change that initially focused on translating the position paper Room for everyone’s talent to the context of individual institutions. We actively involved academics in this process. Almost at the same time, we started to promote the development of a vision in all organisations. After all, if we had focused on developing new assessment criteria too early and without a clear vision, we would have risked changing the rules of the game but not the game itself. Moreover, in that case we would not have been able to really change the behaviours that are responsible for the excessive workload, perceived imbalances and failure to utilise talents.
The institutions are now translating their Recognition & Rewards vision into policy adjustments (e.g. in careers policy, assessment policy, annual appraisals, recruitment and selection, and strategy) and systemic adjustments (e.g. in terms of organisational structure and the composition of committees). They do so on the basis of the road map Room for everyone’s talent in practice that was published in 2023. The actions in the road map will further guide and confirm the new behaviours. Some academics are already experiencing a fairly positive change in this regard. At the same time, we are working to achieve a culture change by valuing team cooperation, focusing more specifically on the quality of academic work, providing room for personal development and ensuring effective leadership. While this is a challenging, exciting and important effort, it is anything but easy. We must be patient. A culture change takes time. Whatever the case may be, the Recognition & Rewards programme touches the heart of academia in multiple domains.
A paradigm shift like this one will only take place if our everyday discourse in these domains also changes; if we engage in a truly different kind of dialogue about research, teaching, talent development and leadership. Such changes take time. The results of the Recognition & Rewards culture barometer clearly show that the mindset is changing. However, this is not yet evident to all academics. It is up to the national programme and individual institutions alike to implement and highlight real changes. In addition, it is important to continue the dialogue on this issue within the institutions and involve academics from all job categories. After all, it appears that a large group of academics rarely, if ever, speak to colleagues about the Recognition & Rewards programme.