Celebrating Success – Trophies and Beyond…a blog by Howard Burge

As I walked into the office this morning I passed our perfectly polished trophy cabinet. I have to admit that it does provoke a sense of pride knowing that the hard work of our teams across the UK has been acknowledged.

Each week the workforce of Great Britain turns up to their place of employment and dedicates their time (hopefully) to creating a better tomorrow for their organisation – of course the reward generally is a remuneration package, a salary and healthy benefits. With the exception of those that do so much for charity, there is normally financial reward.

Here in our team we are fortunate to hear the praise and appreciation for what we deliver in our teams on an on-going basis. From 1-2-1 discussions, team meetings, e-bulletins – we are all aware of the big and small successes of our colleagues. And then of course there is the trophy cabinet. A big hulk of a unit in our reception, lit up and in a prominent place for our visitors.

The trophies in that cabinet let us know that we are doing a great job for those outside of our organisation – that we are ‘getting it right’. Of course the pay check you take home at the end of the month pays your bills, affords you some luxuries from time-to-time. For our team, the awards and accolades we get feed our souls a bit…I appreciate that sounds a bit wishy washy, but it brings our entire community together and we all feel the exhilaration in celebrating success.

In little over two weeks we will be helping the Archdiocese of Liverpool schools celebrate the very best from within their community. It has been a long time in the planning and as with any major event we have employed an awful lot of effort in getting everything just right. With well over 100 nominations for the awards, we know that this is a community with a lot to celebrate. For the pupils, teaching staff, governors and all of the other nominees – we hope that they relish every minute.

In 2017 I hope that the business community across Wales, England and beyond works to support peers, to acknowledge advances, credit wins and speaks out to say ‘well done’. It is this approach to our teams that leads us to an employee satisfaction survey result that says 97% of our staff would recommend us as a place to work.