Northland business owners urged to enter excellence awards in milestone year

Tony Collins, Northland Chamber of Commerce's chief executive.

NZ Chambers of Commerce Northland has been organising and co-ordinating the Northland Business Excellence Awards for the past 40 years.

For a large part of this time Westpac has been the event's major sponsor.

The awards provide an opportunity to celebrate business excellence and the role it plays in our community. To celebrate this year's milestone event the Gala Evening to be held in October will be something extra special. So we are looking for entrants and nominees to be part of this year's awards process.

Any Northland business can enter the awards free of charge.

Many entrants comment that they are initially quite daunted by the process when they first read the entry form but soon realise that much of what it contains is things that they do and can be easily answered and the team at the chamber know just what to do to make this as easy as possible for the busy business owner to complete their entry.

That's not to say it will not require some time on behalf of the entrant but that time is rewarded by the insight the entry process provides the owner into their business.
It reinforces that operating a business is a discipline that requires more than just providing a product or service.

An entrant's performance is rigorously tested against a number of key criteria and that business's vision and strategic plan. It requires the owner to truly understand how their product or service is delivered to market, how they set their goal and aspirations and how they establish who their market is and what their market needs.

Of course this success cannot be measured without a business first having set clear goals. In many cases these are closely aligned to the personal aspirations of the people and families who own these businesses.

We believe there is no wrong time to enter the awards as businesses are or should be constantly examining how they operate, monitor their results and modify their behaviour accordingly.

It is about excellent business leaders with excellent staff delivering excellent products and services to market.

More often than not this incorporates a high degree of innovation and passion that sets these organisations apart from the rest.

If you know a business that fits these criteria then we at the chamber would love to hear from you.