The 2013 Peer Awards for Business Excellence
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
A publication from the Peer Awards distributed with The Independent The 2013 Peer Awards for Business Excellence Pages 2 to 3 The 2013 Peer Awards for Excellence - Introduction Celebrating inspirational There’s still time to submit your synopsis for the 2013 Peer Awards. You can attend the conference and be a corporate responsibility, Peer Awards judge. Includes a message from Business Secretary Vince Cable. customer engagement and Pages 4 to 5 The 2013 Peer Awards for Excellence in people & performance initiatives Corporate Responsibility Inspirational initiatives helping vulnerable sections of the community with In June more than 50 2013 Peer Awards education, business awareness and assistance, helping make a real difference finalists will talk candidly at a conference for the planet and the environment. in Central London about their innovative Page 6 to 7 The 2013 Peer Awards approaches to assisting their communities for Excellence in and supporting the environment, to Customer Engagement Celebrating successful strategies engaging with their customers and to for engaging with customers, for excellent customer service nurturing their own people and improving and for working with technology their performance. Everyone in attendance for customer engagement. at the conference, including the finalists Pages 8 to 9 The 2013 Peer Awards themselves, can listen to and participate for Excellence in People & Performance in the judging of each presentation. At Innovative approaches for internal the Awards ceremony we celebrate the communications, for employee engagement and staff development, initiatives that the peer community deems for recruitment and for nurturing talent, and for harnessing technology for most outstanding in terms of innovation people & performance. People and and impact, and those insights which they Performance is sponsored by the Institute personally find the most inspirational. of Leadership and Management (ILM). Pages 10 to 11 The 2012 Peer Awards for Excellence Finalists and Winners Thirty-nine finalists contested last year’s Peer Awards. See who they were and read about the entries that won the corporate responsibility and people & performance awards. Page 12 The 2013 Peer Awards for Excellence Finalists and Sponsors All the 2013 Peer Awards finalists and their partners, plus all the 2013 Peer Awards sponsors and partners, listed on one page. The Royal Horseguards Hotel in London, the venue for the 2012 Peer Awards Ceremony 2 A publication from the Peer Awards distributed with The Independent A publication from the Peer Awards distributed with The Independent 3 What’s special about the Peer Awards TIMetaBLE FOR THis Year The Peer Awards and conference are very different from most other 17 June: Last date for submitting entry synopses for the 2013 Peer Awards The 2013 Peer Awards awards and conferences because of our peer focus. 26 June: The 2013 Corporate Responsibility Peer Awards Final The Peer Awards celebrate three 27 June: The 2013 Customer Engagement Peer Awards Final The Royal Horseguards Hotel’s 1 things: Ideas. Ideas. Ideas Whitehall Place, the venue for the 2012 Peer Awards Ceremony While most awards celebrate 28 June: The 2013 People & Performance Peer Awards Final successful companies, teams and October: The 2013 Peer Awards Ceremony individuals, the Peer Awards focus on sharing the insights that underpin 2014: Results of the 2013 Peer Awards celebrated in The Independent successful initiatives. This explains our unique approach to the judging process, where instead of appointing The conference encourages con- the Community, Business The conference venue Message from the a “panel of experts” to sit in judg- versation between peers. The high- Awareness for the Community, The 2013 Peer Awards conference Rt Hon Vince Cable MP ment, we involve all the participants light of each conference day for Giving to the Community, will be kindly hosted by Bank of Message from Secretary of State for in the process. What’s great about this many is the peer circles session, Challenging Perceptions and America Merrill Lynch in their Stephen Citron Business, Innovation & Skills is that everyone that is shortlisted has where all participants have the Sustainability & the Environment. HQ building, near St Paul’s Director of the Peer Awards the chance for their ideas to shine at opportunity to reflect on the The Customer Engagement Cathedral in the heart of the City. for Excellence uch of my job as Business conference, and everyone can benefit inspirational ideas of the day and to award categories are: Customer They were finalists in the 2012 MSecretary is to focus on the from hearing directly from fellow discuss with one another how these Service, Marketing and Technology Peer Awards and are finalists he Peer Awards celebrate and big issues affecting economic practitioners, learning from the expe- could be applied in practice to their for Engagement. again this year. Tshowcase the ways in which growth: innovation, access to rience of others, and avoiding having own businesses. The People & Performance award The building features two of companies can have a positive finance, and industrial strategy to reinvent the wheel themselves. categories are: Staff Development, the largest trading floors in impact on the wider community. to name but three. But among The awards conference Scope: themes Employee Engagement, Internal Europe and has won a number Our themes have been all this it’s crucial to never lose presentations are authentic and categories Communications, Recruitment & of significant awards, including chosen to highlight successful sight of the fact that it’s people, and candid The Corporate Responsibility Talent and Technology for People as a corporate workplace, for corporate goals and projects that their ideas, and the way they One of our judging criteria is award categories are: Education of & Performance. interiors and for design. are of a non-financial share those ideas that make a “insight”, which encourages each nature. We are interested in com- successful business. speaker to also include something panies that lead the way by exam- Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s The Peer Awards are a great about what did not work so well and London HQ, the venue for the ple and who are willing to share celebration of what can be why, or to talk about unexpected 2013 Peer Awards conference the experience and insights achieved by businesses when ideas challenges that they faced and how gained with their peers. are developed and shared, and they overcame them. Most awards, Corporate responsibility when a business focuses on its however, don’t encourage this, and considers the wider role of wider responsibilities rather than indeed entrants to other awards sim- the organisation in promoting taking a short-sighted view that the ply focus on how wonderful, amaz- the health and wellbeing of bottom line is all that matters. ing and perfect their work has been. people and the planet. One of the great successes This may be fine for other awards, Customer engagement over the past year has been the but we want to avoid a procession of celebrates best practice in enthusiasm and willingness of conference presentations that talk the stewardship of our entrepreneurs in this just about what was great and gloss companies’ most important country to turn their ideas into a over the challenges and failings. external relationships. working business. Last year, we By making this aspect a judging People & performance is had a record 4.8 million SMEs criterion in its own right, we are all all about the ways in which busi- in the UK, thanks to new able to benefit from hearing about nesses can nurture and develop businesses being established. what really happens when compa- their human resources. It is these businesses that will nies set about transforming some Although every award category drive growth in the economy, I have participated in three Peer Awards conferences, and each time I have picked up tremendous THE Peer AwarDS aspect of their own organisations, has a winner, our celebration is developing innovative products new learning, been inspired by fantastic achievements, and met some great people. How they work of their client relationships or of the of all the shortlisted entries and and services, and taking “ ntries about successful initiatives communities in which they operate. all the innovative solutions the advantage of the opportunities It’s of such value to me that it’s in the diary as soon as the dates are announced. Eare submitted. These are initiatives entrants have devised. Simply afforded by the digital economy. Jane Molloy, founder of Learning A Living, and 2010 Peer Awards finalist for which the entrants would welcome to have engaged in the process There’s plenty that the recognition and the details of which We are all able is a hugely worthwhile undertak- Government can do to help good ” they would be happy to share with ing and even being a finalist to benefit from ideas become good businesses. The people who make this year’s Peer Awards possible their fellow professionals from other without winning a Peer Award We are providing good quality organisations. The synopsis they hearing about speaks volumes of a company’s advice to those wanting to start he conference and awards run Jeremy Crouch, Camilla Fletcher, Head, EMEA submit tells why they undertook the what really happens commitment to people and to a and grow their business. I am Tas smoothly as they do thanks Team member, Philanthropy at Bank of America project in question, what has been positive future. working hard to unblock the to the support and assistance addressing the Merrill Lynch, for hosting our good about it and what they might when companies In my mind, the real achieve- flow of finance from the banks provided by our team. People in 2012 Peer Awards awards conference this year at have done differently with the benefit set about transforming ment of the Peer Awards is in Ceremony and to make sure entrepreneurs our team have been Peer Awards their HQ building in the City of hindsight.