Training Journal Awards 2014
On Wednesday night it was a pleasure and a privilege to accompany the DPG team to the Training Journal Awards 2014 held in the stunning Brewery venue in London. I was one of three DPG students to be kindly invited along with fellow graduates Adam Harwood and Julia Hart. Given DPG’s leading sponsorship of the awards, we were in the prime position of top table. Also joining the DPG team were Kate Zach from the CIPD. Whilst we were not the most glamorous table apparently (we chose table 35 for DPG Bob to present that award to) we represented a blend of students, learning provider and professional body that signalled DPG’s true partnership approach.
Trophies
There were a range of categories each with bronze, silver and gold trophies up for grabs. Coaching and Mentoring, Leadership Development, Change Management, Apprenticeships and Technology in Learning were amongst the topics entrants were competing for top spot. Some organisations that had entered themselves into the categories were big brand names you would expect to be seeing up for awards whilst others were organisations I hadn’t heard of. But whoever they are and whatever their line of business, winning one of these awards is a sign of huge achievement for their leading-edge approaches to Learning and Development. You can find out more about the awards and who won what on the Training Journal Website.
Reflection
During the awards, Adam and I were talking about what winning one of these awards might mean to an organisation and the individuals within the L&D team. Reflecting on this, it’s not just about having something cool to put on the bottom of your email signature. Think about the message your L&D function winning an award sends out to your organisation. Industry experts and a panel of judges have selected YOU as being the most deserved of an award. Bang! How’s that for internal recognition and demonstrating the value your L&D team add and the great work that you do? How much respect could that potentially generate for what you and your team do inside your organisation now and how would that influence senior buy-in to future L&D innovation that you’d love to bring in? There’s also the external kudos that goes along with being an award winning team. All of a sudden you become recognised across all industries as being a trend setter and an aspiration to others. They’d surely want to know your story, what you’ve done and how they too can do the same for themselves.
One of the key learnings for me has been to make sure each year I pay close attention to L&D awards. Whether fortunate enough to head along and be present or whether it’s a case of being on the fringe following the Tweets and articles that follow I think it’s a wise move to keep abreast of what awards have been presented, to whom and ideally why. After all learning from the best of the best can’t be a bad thing can it?
Elastic Bands
On a final and most important reflective note, I’m going to make sure that each time I pack my bag and Dinner Jacket for these swanky events, I am going to promise myself that I won’t forget my cuff-links. Note to self, elastic bands make great cuff-link replacements. No-one ever noticed a thing and keeping my sleeves pinned out the way was a wise move. After all it wasn't my sleeves that were responsible for knocking over the red wine.
Thanks DPG, Thanks TJ Awards. Brilliant event and a pleasure to be there.
Comments
Here are more pictures of the evening :)
Wonderful write up Ady and thanks for sharing your experiences Alison.
It was a fantastic evening celebrating L&D excellence and everyone who was there deserved to be recognised for the great work they had done.
PS. Thanks for sharing the picture of the spillage ;)
Brilliant write up Ady, and very quick off the mark too!
Training Journal Awards 2014
My lovely team and I (5 of us) were also lucky enough to be at the event, having been shortlisted in the "Best operational programme" category. We were on a great table on the mezzanine, from where we had a good view and were also close to the bar! Joining us on our table were representatives from two other short listed businesses, and it was a great pleasure to meet them all and hear about the amazing L&D programmes they had delivered. We were pleased to hear we were all in different categories and agreed we'd crack open the champagne if any of our teams won an award. (As well as the wine we had 2 bottles of champagne on our table.)
Trophies
Our category was the first (of the 3 teams on our table) to be announced, but sadly the champagne had to remain in the bucket as we weren't chosen for an award. In our category the lovely St Monica's Trust won their second award of the evening, so my boss decided we had better enter as St. Lucozade and Ribena next year. (Interestingly, and as an aside, they and 2 other of the finalists buy their e learning packages from the same provider as us!)
The next team in suspense on our table were the building company, but again the champers had to stay in the bucket. Finally it was the turn of the 3rd team on our table, the NHS, and they won a bronze award in their category, which was very exciting...and definitely deserved the bottle opening that ensued as well as the very excited whooping.
After the trophy presentations the dancing started.
Reflection
By entering the competition, our senior leadership team became aware of how serious we are about providing the best learning interventions that we can for our site, and that we aim to be up with the best, and hopefully providing a world class service. It was very exciting to then be invited to an interview in London to present our work and to find we had been shortlisted as finalists in our category.
Once we had been shortlisted I then had a job to manage expectations, and on the night my poor boss was especially disappointed that we weren't chosen for anything. The next day he decided I would be expected to provide a winning entry next year and the requirement would be written into my pdp!
Elastic Bands
You'll be interested to know you weren't alone forgetting your cuff links, Ady ... my boss also left his at home! Maybe TJ missed a sales opportunity there - they could have sold TJ Award cuff links at the door! The other sales opportunity might have been professional photos for those teams that hadn't got a camera between them!
We all really enjoyed our night out, so thank you to Mike for posting about the competition on the forum, and to Training Journal and DPG for putting together the Awards, and to the other sponsors of the evening. Everyone involved can be very proud of all their hard work. Well done all.