northland chamber

LEADER COLUMN MAY 2011
Last year’s Westpac Northland Business Excellence Awards provided a great opportunity for Northland businesses to celebrate what they achieved to date and to plan where they want to be in the future. They are also an important business development tool. This year in recognition of the business development component of the Awards, all entrants will be eligible and encouraged to participate in a training needs assessment undertaken by Northland Business Grow Team. Following this assessment an action plan will be prepared for that business and in some cases the individual businesses may be able eligible for funding to assist in developing their business capability.

The 2011 Westpac Northland Business Excellence Awards are now open for entrants and details of categories and timings can be viewed by visiting www.northchamber.co.nz and clicking on the Award’s link. Because we recognise the time involved in preparing for the Awards, this year we are extending the time businesses have to complete their entries. The Northland Chamber of Commerce urges all businesses within the region to seriously consider entering and we are willing to do all they can to assist businesses in the process.

Once again we will be running a series of workshops to assist potential entrants understand the evaluation process and what is required from them when completing their entry form. Following these workshops, the Chamber will also be in a position to provide additional tutoring to entrants if required. All entrants receive feedback from the judging panel focused on identifying areas of their business that may benefit from being revisited and improved.

The entrants will, be evaluated using a modified Baldrige criteria based closely on a standard developed by the New Zealand Business Excellence Foundation will be used. This system allows for the equitable comparison of businesses of unlike scale and nature based on measurable qualities. The judging process this year will be very similar to last year’s and it combines a desk-top business study followed up by on-site judging from the Westpac Northland Business Excellence Awards judging panel.

While every business person will ultimately judge the success of their own business on its bottom-line, past entrants have consistently commented that, the entry process provides real value to systematically examine their businesses and identify opportunities to improve what they do. By way of encouragement to enter the Awards this year, all category winners will receive a $6,500 media package to help them promote their businesses.