It’s awards season. From the Emmys and Grammys to the Oscars, Baftas and Golden Globes, the next few weeks will see headlines about the winners, losers and increasingly emotional acceptance speeches.
And the FM sector is following in these footsteps. The IWFM awards and PFM awards – the industry’s two major award programmes – recently opened for entry, offering our industry’s leading actors the chance to be recognised.
But what are the benefits of entering awards? Is it more than just personal satisfaction? Do awards offer any strategic advantages? And how can organisations best capitalise on them – both internally and externally? Or are they just an expensive ego trip? Beyond the obvious joys of public recognition, leading organisations leverage awards for ongoing improvement in the health of their organisations. Pursuing awards has a rightful place in a strategic plans. Entering industry awards allows organisations to:
1) Enhance the quality of their work: because the work produced is representing the organisation, people are motivated to pay more attention to detail, become more innovative and perform better
2) Benchmark their business: most awards applications encourage an outside-in view and comparison with competitors. This helps people to think more constructively about areas for improvement
3) Demonstrate a point of difference: having both award nominations and award wins sets you apart from your competition. Each award entry is a valuable learning exercise in itself
4) Create a targeted showcase: award entries can be targeted in specific industry sectors – such as healthcare, education, professional services, and the public sector – and also cross sector areas of specialisms including business excellence, customer service, employee engagement, business impact, and supply chain management. This allows organisations to demonstrate their sector expertise to their specific target market
5) Boost their profile: industry awards create the opportunity to share a story with communities at a number of levels, from within the organisation to the wider industry sector, and with subject matter experts
6) Build closer teams: entering awards can reinforce the importance of everybody’s contribution to the cause. It can bring people together and get them all pulling in the same direction
If that sounds like it could benefit your business, then what are you waiting for? Choose the best category, read the requirements (and then re-read them), engage your client and get writing! And if you need a spot of inspiration, then download a free guide to writing winning award entries:
or talk to us about supporting you in the process.
On Thursday 13th February, the Magenta team is running a free workshop talking about writing winning awards entries.
