Posted by Ruby on 24 Oct 2019
2 min read
Seeing the subject line “Congratulations you are a Finalist!” fall into your inbox is an amazing feeling. As anyone who has written an award nomination will know, putting you or your organisation out there to be judged can be an incredibly daunting task.
And it’s not daunting because you don’t believe that your company could ever win, it’s daunting because winning relies on your ability to be able to communicate why your company should win so effectively that a panel of strangers would agree with you.
Becoming a finalist is validation that a) the judges think your organisation deserves to be in the running, and might even win, and b) that you, the writer of the nomination, actually did a good job of convincing them of that and c) you’ve been invited to a snazzy hotel with champagne, nice tablecloths and hopefully a sizeable photo-booth.
A few months ago, we decided to enter the Business Culture Team Award at the Business Culture Awards, and you guessed it, we were short-listed!
For us this feels like a huge and exciting achievement, and one we want to share with you. Here is what we did to be a finalist, and our top tips for anyone thinking of taking the plunge into nomination writing...
If you look at previous winners and think “lol we are never going to win against companies like that” then you definitely won’t win. And if everyone thought that, there would be zero nominations! Remember that you’re doing this for you and your company, don’t think about what anyone else is doing.
We chose the Business Culture Team Award because we have a team of Culture Champions, which is an initiative we launched in 2017. Choosing this meant that we had a really clear initiative that we launched and had results from. Which takes me to my next point...
Data is the most effective way of presenting the results of your initiative or project. If you’re an amazing wordsmith, the numbers will back up your nomination. If you’re not as confident with writing, the numbers will make your nomination. For us, we used key metrics throughout our nomination to quantify the change we saw in our business culture.
In a world of absolutely incredible perks and benefits, beautiful offices, flexible working and being friends with your manager, sometimes it can seem difficult to think about what sets your organisation apart.
If this is the case, speak to your team and find out why they love working for your company. It might not be anything you directly use in your nomination, however it will give you some much-needed inspiration to write the best nomination you can. And remember, even if your initiative doesn’t seem that innovative or exciting, if it’s delivered results that is all that matters.
Not only will this ensure the maximum surprise of great news if you get shortlisted, it will also minimise any embarrassment you’re worried about if you don’t get shortlisted. On top of that, only letting a handful of people in on the nomination will make the writing process as streamlined as possible.
Over the past two years we have worked incredibly hard to make RMP a brilliant place to work. Happy employees equal productive employees, and we have seen incredible evidence of that through the initiatives of our Culture Champions.
Seeing increases in revenue, retention and engagement has been so rewarding, and to be recognised as a finalist at an awards like Business Culture feels fantastic. Whether we win or not, we’re proud as punch.