Blog Tim van der Hagen
Blog 2:
Kick-off towards a new strategy
25/01/2017
Last week, we kicked-off our journey towards a new strategy. First on the agenda were the advisory groups: we’ve asked a number of people – 85 in total, from all over TU Delft – to form groups that can advise us on a couple of themes, such as students & education, open science and finance. And for the kick-off we allotted six of them three minutes each to give us their vision for TU Delft in ten years’ time.
I had to take to the stage first, so I welcomed everybody and tried to explain the purpose of the meeting. I’m not sure if that came across though, because the microphones were so loud, all I could hear was my own voice booming around the room. Ah well, it’s almost a tradition (not a pleasant one for sensitive ears): at TU Delft meetings, something goes wrong with the sound system.
Onwards and upwards then with our speakers. I won’t discuss all of them here, but a few things really struck me. First, how positive people are and how willing to contribute to the future of our organisation. Second, that many of the speakers did not just have a clear vision of TU Delft in 2027, but also an idea of how to get there. I guess that is the solution-thinking engineer in all of us.
“Strategic alliances are more important than ever, and interdisciplinarity is crucial”, said Philomena Bluyssen. “In ten years’ time, our university should represent our society”, voiced Felienne Hermans, focussing on diversity. “We need to involve people more in what we are doing…to show them how important it is”, argued Gary Steele. And I personally very much liked the vision of Margo Strijbosch, who claimed that “In ten years’ time, the best scientists and students will be knocking on our door to come and work or study here.”
We didn’t let the rest of those present off scot-free. They had to answer such intriguing questions as “In 2027, will a TU Delft scientist have won a Nobel Prize?” And guess what, 79% said ‘yes’. It warms the cockles of my heart. Likewise, 66% thought that by 2027 we will achieve an annual contribution of 20 million euro from sources like crowdfunding and alumni endowment. As Robin Tamak said: “If we win that Nobel prize, then yes, that will be possible.”
Finally, we asked everyone to sum up their vision for TU Delft in one or two words, and made a word cloud out of the results. Apparently, the word most often mentioned was ‘Leadership’, so I have my work cut out for me.
To be continued.
Blog 1:
Introduction
01/12/2016
Have you watched our video on our plans for writing a new strategic framework?
If you watched it, you know that I think excellence should play an important part in our future as an organisation. But I often get asked questions about that particular word: excellence. How are you going to measure excellence, people want to know. And what happens if you do not measure up? I’d like to clear up this misunderstanding. There is no yardstick for excellence. It is not a pole you have to vault over or shimmy under. Excellence is more like an atmosphere. It should be contagious, like sometimes when someone laughs and the whole room ends up laughing. And yes, it should be fun too, to excel at what you are doing.
I believe we should all treat our work like playing an instrument. You practice and practice, getting better and better at it. You move from simple practice pieces to actual works of music. You play with other people, at home or even on a stage. And then, maybe one day, you find it is time to try your hand at another instrument, for the sake of variation, or to up the challenge.
I could go on forever with this metaphor. I could even fancy myself as the Big Director of this university orchestra. But I think you get the picture so I won’t harp on about it.
Of course, it is not just about excellence, and is certainly not all about me. It is about the future of our university, and that concerns all of us. That is why in the coming months I would like to hear from all of you what you think is important for that future. Last time round, we called our strategic document the Roadmap 2020. It sounded nice and far-off, but it is now just around the corner. Time to look beyond that and see where we are heading.
This time, we’ll be going on a little Roadshow first and we’ll be coming to a place near you. I hope you join our discussions, because we do need your input. It is impossible to actually look into the future, but we should equip ourselves for it, and even help shape it.
Perhaps I should stop now, before I hit another metaphor. See you on the Roadshow?!
