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5th September 2012

Chairman of the BIFM awards judges Oliver Jones discusses this year's awards, held in October.
5 September 2012
At the start of the year, I reflected on the importance of setting personal and team targets in connection with the BIFM awards entry process.
Now that the entries are all in and the evaluation stage is nearing its completion, it is useful to take stock, particularly in the light of others aspiring to and fulfilling their potential!
The recent superb achievements of Team GB and the many incredibly talented
and inspiring international athletes in the Olympics Games in the past few weeks will
have made many people think more about their own achievements and focus. Few can have failed to momentarily try to put themselves in the shoes of the champions and wonder what it must be like.
When people and teams perform to their potential it is a deeply satisfying thing to be a part of and to behold. However, no one individual can really achieve extraordinary performances solely by themselves in the competitive environment of today.
The coaches, performance analysts and even the competition will all have driven the Olympic winners to greatness, but so too will the many family and friends who were there along the way.
It is the same in all performance-focused worlds - whether in corporate business, in modern politics and government, or within high-performing organisations. In a well-managed environment, the impact that leaders have on the rest is very powerful, in terms of recognising and rewarding success and enthusing all involved to seek to push themselves and their colleagues that bit further, and to achieve pride in being part of a winning team.
In FM with our own BIFM industry awards, with headline sponsor Mace, we have sought to inspire the top organisations to stand up and be recognised under rigorous judging and assessment conditions. This year we have broken new ground, as the number of entries received across the 11 BIFM awards categories was extraordinary.
We set out to raise the bar and make the BIFM awards the benchmark for excellence a few years ago and with entries up over 50 per cent this year from the very best organisations, large and small in FM, this has now definitely been achieved.
Celebrating success is a vital part of the winning formula so next month, on the evening of Monday 8 October, we will all have the opportunity of doing just that, whether as individual category winners or, for the majority, through seeing our industry take further steps in our pursuit of management excellence.
I would like thank everyone who entered and shaped such excellent submissions. You have created a very exciting and interesting set of results.
Finally, the judges have faced a challenging and demanding assessment period this year. We are all indebted to them for completing a first-class job - many thanks from us all. I look forward to seeing you at the October dinner.
To attend, email [email protected] , call 0141 206 3717 or visit www.bifm.org.uk/awards2012