Did you engage other teammembers?
Now you’ve won an award, what advice would you give to others thinking of applying? Take a look at the criteria; see how you can tell your story to best effect; talk to the champions. Have a go! You’ve nothing to lose and might even learn something new about your company during the process. How will you use your award to promote your business going forward? To continue to innovate – which is now more important than ever. We have knitted innovation into the DNA of everything we do. Investment and economic growth is a key component of the COVID-19 recovery plans of Derby and Derbyshire and our enterprising approach and proactive company values will help shape our place for the future.
Would you consider applying again in future?
Only one other senior member of the team who helped pull together some of the information for the bid. They were sworn to secrecy – even the Chairman of the company was kept in the dark on this one! I’m forgiven…. Describe any challenges you overcame in the process? The main challenge came after having been told confidentially that we had been recognised as an award-winner when the severity of the COVID-19 crisis in March 2020 was becoming apparent. In announcing the news, we wanted to acknowledge the support of our local business partners and stakeholders but we felt communications needed be handled sensitively.
Yes, why not!? We will have a whole new set of innovations to talk about after another decade! What do you consider to be the benefits of being a Queen’s Award holder? This badge of honour puts us in an elite group of businesses which are recognised globally for the quality and integrity of their products and services - and that is hard to beat. It reflects incredibly well on the work we and our wider public-private partners have done to put Derby and Derbyshire on the map for investment. Such recognition at the highest level of the strong public-private relationships driving Marketing Derby forward to support our place will be a real boost in the coming years. n
Queen’s Awards Magazine 2021
73
Made with FlippingBook Learn more on our blog