Guidance for writing a high-quality Employee Award nomination

The Employee Awards Committee wants to help you prepare the best award nomination possible. So we’ve asked former nominators and winners if we could share their nominations with you. Please find a winning nomination for the Administrative Staff Award as well as one for the Team Award.

Learn more about the awards and how you can submit a nomination here.

Here’s a winning nomination for the Administrative Staff Award:

Q. Elaborate on how the nominee made a significant contribution to the College.

A. I would like to nominate Chris Hahn for the Administrative Staff of the Year award for the exemplary leadership he has shown in becoming the Dean of Perth Campus. Chris has successfully transitioned from the role of Chair to Dean and has had an enormous yet quiet impact in his role by leading a reinvigoration of the students, faculty and staff and general happiness at the Perth campus.

Chris is a tireless advocate for the skilled trades and apprenticeship programs offered at the College. Over the course of the last few years, we have worked with Chris to organize, host and attend a vast number of skilled trades’ related events and always notice that he tries to attend the events and where ever possible he actively participates by staffing a table, providing tours or giving presentations to visitors.

Whether working with internal or external groups, Chris looks to find the best outcome for all involved and truly exemplifies the core values of the College.

Chris Hahn has and continues to take an active role in the success of all of the students he oversees. He welcomes them through orientation and class visits in the first few weeks or school, sharing his favorite study tips and encourages them to collaborate with each other and support each other through the program.

Q. Elaborate on how the nominee demonstrated outstanding commitment and professionalism.

A. Chris brings a considered and thoughtful approach to leadership but equally a willingness to learn. Not one to be rushed, I have both interacted with him and observed him working with peers, faculty and direct reports. He takes the time to listen and make sure everyone is included in the conversation then returns with a thoughtful and inclusive decision. Yet when it is time take the initiative, he does with gusto and determination. His honesty, friendly and considerate nature a qualities that make him a natural leader.

He always sees the good side of people and encourages other staff members to do the same. Chris has an open door policy and has time for everyone who comes to his door and he works tirelessly well beyond a normal work week.

In the two years since Chris has assumed the position of Dean, his affable nature, clear insight and guiding vision has garnered the respect and admiration of staff, students and the community alike. Students feel more welcomed, involved and self-assured of their success. Staff at all levels feel more supported, respected, engaged and confident of the Campus’ future growth. The community has become more enriched by the diversity and inclusivity of programs which were a result of meaningful consultation with a broader range of stakeholders.

Q. Elaborate on how the nominee is considered by colleagues to be an excellent role model in an educational institution.

A. In understand the depth of the challenges Chris faces with the enrolment at a regional college, he has made it his mission to engage the Perth community and surrounding area. He tirelessly promote the campus at every opportunity. During the Festival of Small Halls initiative, he took it upon himself to attend all of the events in order in the local area like Clayton, Balderson etc. to promote Algonquin College and program offerings, often times at expense of his free time.

Chris leads by example. He does not shy away the tough challenges. For Strategic Enrolment Management, he has work tirelessly to both raise his level of knowledge of a complex problem but has taken the time to bring his colleagues with him in the journey so that all will benefit.

I cannot express within the limits of this short description all of the attributes that Chris Hahn possesses to qualify his nomination for Algonquin College’s Administrative Staff Award. Rest assured that the list would be too exhaustive. If I had to distill the description to its essence, it would include those tangibles: intelligence, vision, tact, diplomacy, leadership, decisiveness and responsibility. However, of greater importance would be the list of intangibles that make up the fabric of a true leader of any organization: caring, respect, humility, commitment, dedication, humor, honesty, integrity, empathy, transparency, hard work and resiliency.

During his tenure Dean Hahn has established a renewed and reinvigorated spirit of cooperation and collaboration. He has captured through effort and consensus building the imagination of many who envision now a brighter and more stable future for the Campus and the community as a whole. It is without hesitation and with much pride that I support Chris Hahn’s nomination for Algonquin College’s Administrative Staff Award.

Here’s a winning nomination for the Team Staff Award:

Q. Demonstrated ability to work effectively as a team.

A. I would like to nominate the Automated Grade Entry folks for the Team Award.

The implementation of this college-wide initiative was highly effective and smooth. What was my favourite part? The experience was devoid of complaints! It is my hope that this will become the model for other college-wide initiatives. The automated final grade entry project has been, without a doubt, the smoothest roll-out of any college-wide initiative I can recall. It was so smooth that it was almost a non-event; it was very refreshing that the Department Academic Chair was not gating to the implementation.

Communications, both internal and external, can be indicative of effective teamwork. The “team” consisted of twenty-six (26) participants. Including the User Acceptance Testers (UAT), that would have pushed it to over eighty (80). The team demonstrated their advocacy by constantly soliciting feedback and it felt like they really listened to the end users.

Q. Recognized as outstanding advocates for the College.

A. This accomplishment has all the hallmarks of effective teamwork and very much focused upon the end user community. For example, in my department, the former process required entering the grades six times! The current process has reduced this to two times. Grades are now less prone to error and are available quicker with less effort. This accomplishment is undoubtedly due to the collaboration between four (4) areas of the college. That is not to mention over 60 faculty, support and admin from across the college who participated in the pilots for the early releases and provided feedback, which was critical for it being ready for college-wide implementation in 2015-fall. The very effective consultation and resulting feedback was converted into release-by-release improvements and a near flawless roll-out last semester. Faculty, Support Staff and Admin love it.

Q. Demonstrated outstanding innovation.

A. Saying that the implementation / roll-out went relatively smoothly might be a bit of an understatement. From the first release, the application was user-friendly to the point of being intuitive. For most users, the only needed instruction was, “Enter / approve final grades on ACSIS”. For a small minority, a second needed message was, “If you forgot your ACSIS password, please contact ITS @ 5555”.

Innovation often manifests itself in the details. As the chair, another aspect I appreciated was the default format of the spreadsheet download; it did not require any modification to run Evaluation and Progression (E&P) meetings.

Q. Demonstrated a significant contribution to the success of the College.

A. What was my favourite part? The experience was devoid of complaints! It is my hope that this will become the model for other college-wide initiatives. The automated final grade entry project has been, without a doubt, the smoothest roll-out of any college-wide initiative I can recall. It was so smooth that it was almost a non-event; it was very refreshing that the Department Academic Chair was not gating to the implementation.

I would like the broader college to join me in celebrating the accomplishments of this team. Their significant contribution bodes well for success of future automation exercises.

Learn more about the awards and how you can submit a nomination here. Nominations are due Friday, April 28!