Award Selection Methods
So all the nominations are in. How do you determine the winners?
Who will receive the award?
The final selection methods fall into three categories: committee, a single decider, or random chance. In any scenario the criteria must clearly emphasize the importance of the behavior or performance being rewarded. This is the behavior you want repeated over and over to insure the success of your organization. That is the goal of the recognition – reward positive behaviors so they are repeated. Repeating behaviors that bring success will propel your organization into meeting goals so reward the behaviors you want repeated. List the exact reasons why an individual or team has been nominated and how they met the criteria for the award. This will make the selection process much easier and effective.
By Committee – When it comes to creating a recognition selection committee, members may consist of volunteers, they may be chosen by management, or they may consist of previous recognition winners. Members of the committee should be engaged and excited about their participation. The selection committee will need some time to review and discuss the nominations. The goal should be to review all nominations and identify an appropriate winner for each category where multiple nominations exist. The committee members should focus on the nominations, but could also consider in their final selection process those who are nominated for multiple award categories, recipients of past awards, and the overall fairness of the program.
Committee types:
Everyone Committee: This is essentially a group that can be made up of anyone within or even outside the organization that will review the nominations and determine the final recipient.
Peer Only Committee: This is a group made up specifically of non-managers who will review the nominations and determine the final recipient.
Management Team: This would be best used in the case of peer nominations where everyone is involved in the nomination process and then managers make the final call after their review of all the nominations.
Single Decider-This method, along with random chance described below, may not be the most effective way to select final awardees in a formal recognition setting, as having a group selection process can eliminate personal bias. However, in small companies having the President or CEO make the selection is perfectly acceptable and in fact more meaningful to the reciepients.
Random Chance–This method essentially takes the nominations and uses a random method such as a drawing to determine the final recipient. This method is the least preferred, because it does not provide for evaluation of specific nomination submissions. Recognition should be a tool to motivate and if the quality of the nominations is perceived as irrelevant, it will not meet that goal. That is not to say that random selection cannot be a great tool. It can be very appropriate for a more informal recognition process when combined with one of the nomination methods described above. For example, a drawing could be held from all the positive customer feedback and the winner would receive an award.
Whatever method you choose to select your recipients, the most important thing is to Harness the Power of Recognition. Highlight the behaviors that allow your organization to advance. Recognition works!