Nominations for the 2011 Westpac Rotorua Business Excellence Awards opened last week.
It is going to be a special occasion at the 20th anniversary of the awards.
Although many see the presentation event as the main feature, the evening is the culmination of an extended process of business development. Participating in the
awards, through the preparation and submission of an entry, brings a raft of benefits to any organisation.
Planning the entry and gathering and presenting the information is a great opportunity for team building. This can be done by allocating responsibilities to individuals or by creating small project teams. It can develop new talents and awaken latent skills.
Involving members of the team can instil a real sense of staff ownership of the finished entry.
Although there are sector-specific characteristics to businesses, there is also a set of core business principles applicable to all such organisations. Judging criteria in all categories focus on these core principles and the quality of the business practices each company follows.
Having staff involved in such an exercise can have a considerable upside. During the internal assessment they become aware of the company's performance against industry practice and this can generate recommendations for improvement from the team. They may then have a stronger commitment to any improvement process.
Have been involved in the award preparation process before beginning my time at the chamber, I am also aware of the challenges this can present. Identifying weaknesses can generate questions as to whether the organisation is ready to enter the awards. In my opinion, there should be a realisation that there is no perfect organisation. There are always improvements that can be made.
A further benefit is that every entry receives a visit from two judges. These judges, under the guidance of a convenor of judges, are drawn from the Rotorua business community. All are experienced in their individual fields and many come from leading companies that have themselves been winners of the premier Westpac Business of The Year award.
During their initial visit, judges discuss all aspects of the entry and, in many cases, dig deeper into the underlying processes.
After the awards every entrant receives formal written feedback, including recommendations for improvement and further development. Many companies use this as part of their continuous improvement process and some use each year of entry as a stepping stone to winning their category.
More than half of the category winners at last year's awards had entered in an earlier year.
The other major benefit, irrespective of being a finalist or winning a category, is the opportunity within your business to celebrate successes with your team.
So seldom do we take the opportunity to join with our staff and give ourselves a good pat on the back for a job well done. This benefit, in itself, is worth the effort of entering.
I encourage all organisations to strongly consider entering the awards this year.
- Roger Gordon is chief executive of the Rotorua Chamber of Commerce