The Dialog Awards a pioneering HR engagement initiative: MTI

Monday, 5 May 2014 00:04 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Ensuring a motivated and engaged talent pool is critical for any business, more so if you are dealing with 3,000+ employees and at the cutting edge of technology.

Entering the market as the fourth player to Sri Lanka’s mobile sector in 1995, Dialog moved from ‘zero to hero’ in the telecom and technology domains, in the process building a Rs. 63 billion business – all of this in one of the most fiercely competitive industries. How Dialog has managed its HRM function has been a critical success factor. As a learning organisation that strives for continuous improvement in all it practices and process, Dialog is constantly looking for ways to improve its HRM function. It is in this context that the pioneering ‘Dialog Awards’ is considered a breakthrough best practice in Human Resource Management.

Designing The Dialog Awards

Award Categories cover the functional value chain of the business – at multiple levels
The modalities of identification and evaluation fall into three categories – Presentation, Data-based and Nomination – all based on a multiple criteria judging format.
Participants are challenged to prove their value addition and impact on organisational business performance – with the focus on continuously raising the bar
Independent judging by MTI Consulting, with co-judging by Dialog CxOs, including a line CxO and an independent CxO Internal marketing of The Dialog Awards starts long before entries are open, prospective participants attend Q&A sessions and apply online
The Group CEO acts as the ‘Project Sponsor’ – displaying commitment at the highest level and Group Chief Officers are intimately involved throughout the entire process that runs over two months.
Culminates with an award ceremony that is attended by all Dialog employees – in a single venue. The Board of Directors (travelling over from different parts of the world) are present at the event, handover the awards, interact with the winners and deliver the strategic keynotes.
Post the ceremony the winners and their cases are highlighted – as a motivation for others and for the next year
Overall, a healthy balance between achieving motivation via performance recognition and raising the performance standards.

Employee performance awards

According to research by MTI HRM Solutions, many companies recognise employee performance via awards, which can range from ‘Employee of the Month’ to ‘CEO of the Year’. And there is an increasing trend for companies to jump on this bandwagon so as to not be left out from the peers in the industry. MTI argues that most of these awards fall short on effectiveness and typically falls into one of the following ‘syndromes’: Sales Centric – where by only those who bring in the revenues are awarded Rotational ‘Flavour’ of the Month – in many cases given to service staff and rotated to keep all happy. Ego-driven - in cases where ‘BIG CEO’ awards are given with a lot of fanfare and become the centre of attention, often neglecting the base of the organisation. Opinion based – other than sales, most of the other awards tend to be opinion-based and with it comes biases and favouritism Lacks independence – whereby there is no external/neutral intervention And most importantly, where people expect to be recognised and rewarded and not willing to apply, present and make a case

Unique awards “It is in this context that we feel The Dialog Awards is unique – because it covers the entire value chain of the organisation at multiple levels and gives employees the option to apply, present, nominate, vote and /or be evaluated on numerics. Most importantly, the judging includes independent professionals, presenters are challenged and cross-functional senior management team augment the entire judging process that goes on for over 2 months,” said Hilmy Cader, CEO of MTI Consulting, who has been instrumental, along with Dialog Axiata Group Chief Executive Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya, and the company’s Senior Management Team, in conceptualising and designing this trailblazing HR initiative. “Conceptualising, detailing and launching the Dialog Awards was a pioneering as well as challenging endeavour. Over the three years since inception, The Dialog Awards Program has matured in terms of depth and coverage of Individual and Team achievement, and holds indelible significance on the Dialog Calendar. MTI Consulting has worked alongside us throughout this journey as a partner in design, research and development as well as in the capacity of an independent juror with respect to evaluation and award,” Dr. Wijayasuriya said.