Talent development thanks to delay at UMC Utrecht
UMC Utrecht and Relevance jointly developed a talent development program for young academics. A group of 24 scientists (physician-researchers, assistant professors and post-docs) from different disciplines was selected. They were given the space to reflect on their personal ambitions, goals and development. Participants increased their personal leadership through self-knowledge and self-reflection: How do I take personal leadership? How do I figure out what my desires are for the future? What steps do I need to take to realize them?
A nice change from the day-to-day content and theory. Dwell on the personal side, the human aspect, happens little in the scientific field, says Advisor Talent Development at UMC Utrecht, Myriam van Wijk. This talent program aims to change that.
UMC Utrecht supports employees with an inward look
The organization wants to support employees in identifying their intrinsic motivation and the corresponding wishes, needs and desires through a talent development program. Myriam: "Scientists receive a lot of theoretical training, but generally have little experience with self-knowledge and self-reflection. In the delusion of the day, it's hard to find time for this. We want to help them discover what really drives them so they can strengthen themselves accordingly." In this talent-development program, participants learn to formulate their ideas and ambitions into a 'what' and a 'why'. Finally, they are supported in the 'how': what steps do you take to fulfill your ambitions?
Connection across the board
Science is changing rapidly. Large organizations like UMC Utrecht and its employees are changing with it. Besides supporting scientists' personal development, a second aim of the program is to create mutual connection across the entire breadth of the organization. This multidisciplinary aspect is very valuable for participants and organization: new insights arise thanks to combining perspectives. The talent-development program brings together scientists from different specializations. This way they share knowledge, experiences and challenges with each other. Myriam: "This is an important second goal of the talent program, especially in such a competitive world as science."
Connecting organizational and living cultures
The university and healthcare industry have (living) worlds, each with a specific culture. It is therefore of great importance that the talent development program seamlessly connects to the living environment of the participants and the organization. Myriam: "It gave a lot of confidence that Relevance already has years of experience within the scientific sector, specifically aimed at university and healthcare institutions. This gave us the courage to work with them. In our sector, employees are used to absorbing and processing knowledge at a fast pace."
Therefore, in relevant program it was necessary to slow down first. Participants are challenged to self-reflect: first stand still in order to then move forward. In the talent-development program, they go straight to work getting to know themselves better, along with their ambitions, wishes and desires. Based on that, they are able to make powerful choices and take steps.
In the program, participants focus on themselves (personal leadership through power skills) rather than their day-to-day focus on theory and scientific knowledge (hard skills). A big challenge. "The trainings and meetings had to be interesting and challenging enough on the one hand, but on the other hand not felt like a lecture to process. On the contrary, the program had to invite them to reflect. The motto therefore became 'Less is more,'" explains Myriam.
For example, the first 1.5 training days focused on personal leadership. Here, participants got to know their personal values: what they find important in life. This was done through a 'peak experience' exercise. In this exercise participants explain to each other at what moment they were really in a flow. Where it felt like everything came together, they functioned optimally and felt good. A moment they look back on with pride and satisfaction. Such a moment often says a lot about which values someone finds important. Examples include teamwork, autonomy, achieving results, cooperation and freedom. This then often says a lot about which direction someone would like to take with their work and life. That is a great basis for thinking about next steps.
Getting further together
The combined forces of Relevance's consultants and trainers and employees of UMC Utrecht ensured a great program. Because of the lockdown, this co-creation process took place entirely online. The program itself was partially conducted online and on location. This went amazingly well, says Myriam: "The training sessions mainly revolved around reflection, application and new skills. We found it very important that participants really get down to business practically. The meetings had to be concise. Theory and knowledge were posted in the online learning portal; the sessions themselves were mainly about practicing and reflecting." For example, the presentation training involved practicing telling your story in different "gears. Just as you drive a car, it is also important to change gears from time to time during a presentation: shifting from gear one to three and vice versa. Participants practiced this in small groups. With the feedback they received, they saw where their strengths and areas for improvement lie in their presentation skills.
"Participants not only got to know themselves and each other better, but also the breadth of UMC Utrecht."
Myriam van Wijk, Talent Development Advisor UMC Utrecht
What worked well according to Myriam was the combination of trainings from Relevance and components given from UMC Utrecht itself. Many power skills trainings (effective communication and presentation and negotiation skills) were combined with an expert dialogue by someone from UMC Utrecht itself. In this way the connection and expertise between the program and different parts of UMC Utrecht was established. For participants, it was valuable to hear what experiences more senior colleagues from science have and what support departments are available. Myriam: "It was a win-win situation. The participants not only got to know themselves and each other better, but also the breadth of UMC Utrecht. In this way, they created a network throughout the organization. Colleagues became sparring partners and mentors, in the field of work and well-being, because they can show each other the way but also offer a reality check when faced with challenges."
This was a nice side benefit of the talent-development program. The main thrust of the program was to provide space for participants to get to know themselves and reflect on their strengths and ambitions. They then learned to clearly define their ambitions and take the steps to achieve them. This enables them to make powerful career choices. UMC Utrecht wanted to build networks in this way, so that it spread like an oil slick across the organization. And with success: the first program is almost completed and three new groups will start soon. Myriam, the trainers and the participants are enthusiastic: "I notice that participants are enthusiastically working on themselves. They use the space they get to develop and notice: this day is about me."
The blueprint is there
Some adjustments will be made in future courses, but the basis is good, Myriam says. "The order will change somewhat, a certain thought process will be initiated earlier, we will see what works. That's just nice: the blueprint is there, we are now going to fine-tune. With more and larger groups, the emphasis changes. We absolutely make sure that the personal aspect of the program remains."
