“I want everyone at ETH to be appreciated.”
2023 was a busy year for the Vice Presidency for Personnel Development and Leadership (VPPL), with a number of initiatives launched. Julia Dannath, Vice President for Personnel Development and Leadership, looks back on them and explains both what has pleased her and what has troubled her in recent months.
Ms Dannath, let’s start with the same opening question as that asked of employees in the new “Dialog” staff appraisal interview: looking back, what was your highlight at ETH this year?
Julia Dannath: All in all, I’ve really enjoyed 2023. I would say it was my best year so far at ETH. I define myself as a person very much via personal relationships and people. After three years, I now know a lot of people and I just really enjoy working in this environment. On top of that, the initiatives that we’ve launched have now taken shape. We can see the fruits of our work. That gives me pride.
What could have been better in the year about to end?
One of the disappointments for me is the bitter realisation that there are conflicts that cannot be solved despite all the constructive intentions and support of the persons involved and that generate an incredible amount of negative energy in the system. This affects not just the parties to the conflict but also the people who do their best to find solutions. I find witnessing this stressful and also frustrating at times.
“All our initiatives are geared to the social and leadership competencies.”Julia Dannath
A lot of initiatives have been launched in the Human Resources, Personnel Development and Leadership area since you came to ETH. A particularly large number of projects have been rolled out this year. What are the key initiatives and how are they connected with each other?
At the start of the year we introduced the social and leadership competencies as a framework project. All our initiatives are geared to this. For example, the purpose of the Lifelong Learning Hub (L3H) that we have developed to take the themes of learning and development into the digital age is precisely to strengthen these social and leadership competencies. The L3H learning platform will enable us in future alongside learning formats requiring physical presence also to offer digital formats for everyone that are independent of place and time. This way we can reach a much larger group of participants and also do justice to people’s different learning needs. Another very important project is the Leadership Feedback Process (LFP) that is addressed at full professors and will be implemented in 2024. Professors have an enormous impact on the biography of many young people. The LFP will help them to think about how they can shape this impact in the most constructive, positive and growth-oriented manner for both their environment and themselves. Furthermore, we conducted a pilot test of the new “Dialog” appraisal interview with 600 staff in the autumn and will introduce it for everyone next year...
The list appears to be endless. Could the sheer bulk of new projects not also overwhelm ETH members?
You’re right that there’s been a high intensity of newly launched projects from VPPL this year. But I don’t think ETH members are overwhelmed by them. ETH is an innovative organisation with quick-thinking people who are able to cope with this. We also frequently sense a demand for these issues within ETH – a kind of ‘pull’.
“We wish to enable people to develop their potential.”Julia Dannath
VPPL is only three years old. It was reorganised two years ago and there have also been some new staff. Do you have the feeling that it has found its feet well in the ETH universe?
This has indeed been a challenge: alongside all the new initiatives and projects, it goes without saying that we have also had to define ourselves within VPPL and further develop the existing good culture. It is for this reason that we decided to hold a VPPL workshop in the summer and jointly develop a vision across the entire area. The vision is called “Together we enable people to develop their own potential and that of others”. It’s been good to see everyone contributing to this vision and drawing energy from it so that we are now pulling together even more across all departments. In addition, we have developed a VPPL-wide strategy that brings together existing topics and new priorities against the backdrop of the Strategy and Development Plan of ETH Zurich.
On the topic of culture: how do you experience it at ETH?
There are many people here who identify strongly with ETH. They have a great urge to make a meaningful contribution and I observe a high degree of professionalism. We also fundamentally treat each other in a respectful manner. We don’t just throw in the towel if things get difficult. We seek constructive solutions to crises. I’m not trying to say that we don’t also have room for improvement here. The key thing for me is that everyone at ETH should be appreciated. So we’re not just talking here about those with a large amount of visibility who publish seminal research work, but there are also numerous people who make an indirect contribution to the university’s success through their high-quality work and professionalism. I would like these persons also to be seen and their performance recognised.
What is your feeling as you look ahead to 2024?
Things will certainly get quieter at the project level at VPPL next year as many of the new initiatives are already up and running and now entering the implementation phase. To be honest that’s not something I find all that easy. I enjoy thinking of and initiating new things. However, I’ve promised the team to take my foot off the accelerator a bit in order not to fly balloons that no-one can keep hold of.
Is that one of the personal development goals you’re taking away with you?
Yes indeed! I already had some ideas about all the things we could do next year. But I need to be patient and learn to accept this consolidation in the coming year. This is a growth area for me personally.
Personnel Development and Leadership
Various initiatives have been rolled out in the Personnel Development and Leadership area in 2023. The social and leadership competencies introduced at the start of the year form a framework to which all new projects are geared. These include:
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