Creating an efficient sign off process

It’s always a race to meet award deadlines, so you need to plan well and create a process that ensures you meet all the objectives. This includes making sure everyone who needs to offer input has had their say, with time to check and agree any amendments – and all without compromising making the submission date!

Once you’ve developed a process, you’ll find subsequent entries much easier to manage – and everyone will be reading from the same hymn book.

Tips for creating an award submission process

Here are the golden rules for getting your submissions signed off, and sent off, in time:

Identify the owner – one person needs to take ownership of the award entry, whether you’re doing it yourself or using an award writer. They don’t necessarily have to know the detail of the project you’re highlighting, or get involved in all of the individual processes, but they doneed to co-ordinate them.
Agree involvement – from the outset, agree who needs to involved in expressing an opinion or signing off the entry. Don’t just limit this to people in your organisation: include any partners in the project and any client which may feature in the entry.
Balanced input – It’s likely you’ll have two levels of people involved – those who can provide detailed information to support the award criteria, and those who can provide a strategic view. You’ll need both groups to participate in the process of putting the entry together, and also in signing it off.
Organise senior engagement – the higher up the chain you go, the harder it can be to find time to commit to fast turnarounds. Make sure that senior managers and directors schedule time [...]