"There is no better investment than an investment in our own colleagues"
Raúl Zurita-Milla, head of ITC's department of Geo-Information Processing (GIP)
Raúl Zurita-Milla is the initiator of TIK-TOCS (Transformative and Innovative Knowledge comes from Team and Open geoComputational Sciences). This inspired development initiative aims to bring together expertise from all scientific departments within ITC in a multidisciplinary team and investigate what would be needed for individuals and teams to optimize their functioning.
Where did you get the idea for TIK-TOCS?
"The pragmatic answer to that is that it all started with a call for internal proposals to attract more students and increase our faculty's earning capacity. At that point, I thought to myself that there is no better investment than an investment in our own colleagues. If we invest in them, they will stay with us longer and make ITC stronger. That's how the TIK-TOCS proposal came about."
What is the essence of your proposal?
"In academia, many things are achieved by individuals, but addressing real-life problems requires multiple types of expertise. My idea is to combine forces within ITC, really learn from each other and start working on real-life problems. In fact, one of the principles of TIK-TOCS is to focus on real-life problems or, failing that, at least make sure that everything we produce and deliver reaches both key stakeholders and the general public in an understandable way. We have what it takes, it's just a matter of bringing people together."
What do you aim to achieve with this initiative?
"When I was teaching in the ATLAS programme a few years ago, I loved their teacher room, a meeting place where teachers interacted, prepared lectures together, etcetera. What I hope to achieve with TIK-TOCS is to create such a place – whether physical or virtual – where people come with questions and leave with, at least, a partner with whom to discuss them. I would like to create a working atmosphere in which organized peer to peer support supersedes the traditionally hierarchical structures and people feel empowered to speak out and are less afraid of failure. Failure should be regarded as a learning opportunity for the team, or a way to get help from a team member. Also, team members should not keep things to themselves but share early, collaborate and trust each other."
How did your team members react to your proposal?
"We are still in the very early stages of TIK-TOCS, but most people are moderately enthusiastic. They like the idea but also see the practical complications. We are in a culture where people work their way up, so any change in the rules of the game is a bit scary. Personally, I believe that there is too much focus on what could go wrong and not enough on what this new way of working might bring to our faculty and university. If you ask people if they are in favour of teamwork, they will always say yes. But as recognitions are not clearly defined, it is an uncertain investment. A heavy investment, too, because in TIK-TOCS we spend at least one day a week on working in a team. That is a substantial amount of time. We will need to make people understand that this will also help them to grow as individuals and work more efficiently in the future."
How does the TIK-TOCS initiative relate to the concept of recognition and rewards?
"Until now, academic recognition has mostly been based on part of the work that individuals do. Traditionally, research metrics and the number of projects – read money – brought to the university by a given staff member are leading in measuring performance. I think that we need to change that. Amongst my colleagues, I see innovators who immediately recognize the value in this new way of working, but most colleagues seem to need some kind of external motivation. A change in the reward and recognition system will certainly motivate them and convince the most pragmatic colleagues. Unfortunately, any change is hard, especially for those in power."
What type of recognition are you looking for as the initiator of TIK-TOCS?
"I'm just another colleague, this isn't about me and I don't do it for myself or to get something in exchange. I do it with the honest intention of learning what my colleagues can do and what we can achieve together. I hope that in, say, two years people will see that it wasn't that difficult after all, feel a closer relationship to their colleagues and have a clear image of their role within their team. I also hope that we will all experience personal satisfaction about having learned things and contributed to something valuable together."
Final question: team development, useful or necessary?
"Probably both. We need it, people cannot solve real-life problems on their own. Academia tends to define very narrow disciplines and put things in compartments. I believe that by breaking through these compartments we can make our work more meaningful."