Bei den Stevie Awards stehen die Menschen in den Unternehmen im Vordergrund. Alle Leistungen, die mit einem Stevie Award geehrt werden, wurden entweder allein oder in Teams und Abteilungen erbracht. In unserer neuen Serie Gewinner-Portraits stellen wir die Menschen hinter den Nominierungen vor. Den Anfang machen wir mit Martin Grosse, CEO von KÖNIGSKLASSE#1. 

KÖNIGSKLASSE#1? Zweifelsfrei ein außergewöhnlicher Name für eine Premium Social-Media-Agentur und Videoproduktionsfirma in München. Kreativ! Ja, aber auch mit einem gewissen Selbstbewusstsein! Also alles genauso wie ihr CEO Martin Grosse ...

Musikmachen war und ist seine große Leidenschaft. Auf seinem musikalischen Höhepunkt nahm er 2004 sogar mit den Bon Jovi- und U2-Produzenten in Hollywood seine Musik auf...

Doch irgendwann erkannte Grosse, dass das Rockstarleben für ihn nicht sein sollte. Also studierte er Jura, machte ein Praktikum bei The Walt Disney Company in München und arbeitete knapp fünf Jahre in Software-Unternehmen, bis er wieder seiner Neigung um die Kunst nachgehen wollte. 

LinkedIn hatte ihn als Vertriebler entdeckt und 2017 zum TOP Social Seller München ernannt. Durch seine langjährige Prägung von Social Media Plattformen und täglichen Aktivitäten auf LinkedIn entwickelte er die Idee, seine Bekanntheit an die C-Suite Deutschlands weiterzugeben, auch um den Standort Deutschland um die Thought Leader Influence weltweit zu stärken.

Das Ergebnis seiner Überlegungen war die Gründung von KÖNIGSKLASSE#1 und sein Ziel war von Anfang an, B2B-Königsklasse Nr. 1 zu werden. Dazu schuf Martin Grosse ein neues modernes Video-Format und zeitgleich einen neuen modernen Kanal für seine B2B-Kunden. Anders als Influencer auf den aktuell überrannten Plattformen Instagram/ Facebook/YouTube hat es Martin Grosse heute geschafft, sich über LinkedIn als Business Influencer mit 29.000 B2B-Followern zu positionieren.

Sein Erfolgsgeheimnis? Innovative B2B-Filme für Social Media, die aufzeigen, wie Firmen, aber vor allem deren Geschäftsführer/Topentscheider heute ticken. Denn in Zeiten der Digitalisierung zählt für Martin Grosse wieder das Menschliche. „Der Mensch steht im Vordergrund, Backstage bei der Firma“, sagt er und beschreibt seine Filme als inspirierend und vor allem so, wie es der Zuschauer von heute erwartet: „echt und ehrlich, ohne viel Schönmalerei oder high-end Postproduktion“.

Kein Wunder, dass er bereits zwei LinkedIn-Awards verliehen bekam und zum Jurymitglied der weltgrößten Social Media Awards - the SHORTY AWARDS und THE WEBBY AWARDS - berufen wurde. Der Deutsche Rat für Formgebung lobte: „Business Influencer Martin Grosse schafft es in dem neuen Social-TV-Format, Business Stars cool zu porträtieren: mit Credibility Boost. Zeitgleicher Auftritt als Vermittlungsagentur und Event.“

Sein Erfolg kommt nicht von ungefähr: Seit über 20 Jahren konsumiert Grosse unendlich viele Filme, Dokumentationen oder Trailer, darunter schon frühzeitig die U.S. Showhosts Jay Leno oder Ray Cokes, er ist leidenschaftlicher Netzwerker und Zuhörer, besucht regelmäßig Events, geht in den aktiven Austausch, blickt bei Firmen hinter die Kulissen und ist täglich stundenlang auf Social Media-Portalen unterwegs und betreibt Marktforschung.

Bei den German Stevie Awards 2019 gewinnt KÖNIGSKLASSE#1 Bronze in der Kategorie „Bestes Neues B2B Produkt / Dienstleistung“. Grosse ist sicher, dass sich seine Agentur auch künftig weiter entwickeln, neue Formate produzieren und Kooperationen starten wird, oder wie die Jury der German Stevie Awards es ausdrückt: „KÖNIGSKLASSE#1 bleibt disruptiv und passt sich auch künftig weiter neuen Technologien oder sich schnell verändernden Umständen an.“

Mehr über Martin Grosse und Königsklasse#1 finden Sie unter: 

https://www.facebook.com/koenigsklassenummereins

https://www.linkedin.com/in/martingrosse

www.königsklasse1.de

Few industries are as integral to well-being as health care—and by capitalizing on the globe’s exponential technological achievements, the medical field continues to advance telehealth. Much as the Internet changed how people communicate, telehealth is disrupting the status quo of health and wellness in order to improve how people live.

What Is Telehealth?

Telehealth essentially leverages technology in order to distribute health-related services and critical health-related information. Even when a clinician is in another city, state, or even country, telehealth allows that clinician to provide advice, reminders, health monitoring services, and more to his or her patients.

The field of telehealth is not necessarily new, but with burgeoning technological advances, the applications continue to expand and to change. Here are just a few ways telehealth is pushing the medical field in an innovative, positive direction:

• Two or more doctors, regardless of location, can meet via video conference to discuss a case. (Lab results and tests can also be distributed to multiple facilities across the nation or world to ensure the proper specialists analyze the results.)
• Through remote access, a surgeon can perform robotic surgery.
• A patient can complete a physical therapy regimen from home through live feeds and digital monitoring equipment.
• Transitioning health data management online can make the process more secure, accurate, up to date, and integrated with the health care system.

Benefits of Telehealth

Even as this industry evolves, the underlying benefits remain clear:

• Increased access to health care for those living in remote or rural areas.
• Increased access for those with limited or no means of transport to a medical facility.
• Increased access to care for historically vulnerable populations, including the elderly and disabled.
• Minimized health care costs.
• Consolidation of a company or organization’s resources into a single platform (e.g., a mobile app).
• Access to live health ambassadors any time, day or night.
• Ability for working parents in the medical field to perform job tasks from home. (Many nurse call centers today are moving toward a remote nursing model.)
• A modernized health care system that prioritizes convenience, communication, and wellness.

As people continue to live longer, demands on the health care system increase, but there’s often not a correlated increase in funds for those facilities. When critical resources—namely, money and staff members—are low, telehealth can fill in many of those gaps, ensuring more people get easy, affordable access to the care they need.

Recognition of Innovation

Every year, telehealth becomes an increasingly integrated part of the medical landscape. Companies at the forefront of that innovation are receiving both recognition and support for their important work.

Continuwell, a company based in Jacksonville, Florida, United States and part of the TriageLogic Group, provides telehealth software and mobile communication solutions to U.S.-based medical centers and businesses.

“Continuwell is an innovative platform with a mobile application designed to simplify the employee well-being experience,” said CEO Dr. Charu Raheja. “We keep members engaged and informed, and we empower them to access key company resources through our easy-to-use mobile app.”

For her efforts, Dr. Raheja won the 2018 Gold Stevie® Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in the Business Services category of the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, and the TriageLogic Group and Continuwell took the 2018 Silver Stevie Award for the Most Innovative Company of the Year in the same category.

“This recognition is an honor to our team,” said Raheja. “By increasing our visibility, we sincerely hope we can help other companies engage with their colleagues and prioritize health and well-being.”

As technology and artificial intelligence play increasingly large roles in the economy and as the global population increases, the question of how to manage people effectively becomes more critical. Companies evaluate their assets, refine their budgets, and audit their ROIs. Many implement premier software to manage accounting, product systems processes, customer relations, and even human resources needs. But what about managing the productivity of the greatest (and most expensive) cost of doing business—human capital?

Human capital management (HCM) is becoming more prominent as companies seek to manage assets and to allocate resources better, and business software companies, such as Asure Software, are going beyond time card tracking to do so. Through HCM, master employee records can be kept in one place. With all the data logged, managers can better allocate their workplace talent in a cost-effective way. A company can even break down the overhead cost of each employee, down to how much electricity every office uses. When streamlining systems, this kind of detail makes efficient business sense.

Eric Garton, a Harvard Business Review contributor, discussed HCM in his 2017 article “What If Companies Managed People as Carefully as They Manage Money?”, which used talent productivity statistics to demonstrate how and why companies should manage people better. According to the article, only 15 percent of employees make a tangible difference in their workplaces. It also noted inspired employees are three times more productive than dissatisfied employees, but only one out of eight employees is inspired. Garton argues businesses should measure, invest in, monitor, and reward employees in order to improve each employee’s contribution. Essentially, Garton is lobbying for a metrics aspect to every annual review.

Asure Software offers a cloud-based system that does this. The software helps organizations measure, monitor, and analyze employee interactions and performances, providing the information necessary for managers to make strong, evidence-based decisions about everything from promotions to raises. When applicable, the software can even track compliance with government regulations (e.g., required job training). Asure Software offers expansive insights and tools in the following areas: asset and move management, benefits administration, full-service meeting room scheduling, hoteling and mobile workforce management, human capital management, payroll and tax management, talent management, time and attendance management, and workplace usage and occupancy sensors.

Asure Software won a Bronze Stevie® Award for Best New Product or Service of the Year in the Human Capital Management category of The American Business Awards®. Asure Software also took the People’s Choice Stevie Award for Favorite New Products.

The analytics provided by companies like Asure Software do more than just track time, though. By measuring employee productivity and seeing where different team members excel, a company can capitalize on strengths and improve areas that need more attention. This streamlines employee deliverables and product lines. It can even provide opportunities to improve customer relations and to reduce costly time spent in meetings.

When managers can identify star talent, that star talent can be rewarded. This motivates standout employees and, ideally, inspires other team members to achieve that status. It fosters a rewarding cycle that can resonate positively throughout the business culture.

The bottom line is this: HCM affects every organization’s bottom line. It makes practical, financial, and system-based sense to get real metrics and to manage people well because the organization and individual employees both benefit.

Am Freitag, den 3. Mai 2019, findet die Preisverleihung der 5. German Stevie® Awards im Münchener Luxushotel Vier Jahreszeiten Kempinski statt. Zahlreiche Top-Manager aus ganz Deutschland werden dabei sein und ihre Preise live auf der Bühne entgegennehmen.   

Denn nach dem Cocktailempfang und einem edlen Dinner werden den diesjährigen Preisträgern ihre Stevie Trophäen in Gold, Silber und Bronze auf der Bühne des Großen Ballsaals durch Stevie Awards Präsident Michael Gallagher persönlich überreicht.   

Eine Übersicht über alle Preisträger der German Stevie Awards 2019 nach Kategorien finden Sie hier. 

Während die Preisträger der Auszeichnungen in Gold, Silber und Bronze bereits feststehen, werden an dem Abend der Preisverleihung zusätzlich die Gewinner der beiden Grand Stevie Awards bekanntgegeben. Über die Ehrenauszeichnung dürfen sich das Unternehmen mit der insgesamt am höchsten bewerteten Nominierung des Wettbewerbs sowie das Unternehmen mit den insgesamt meisten Awardspunkten freuen. 

Während der Ticketverkauf für die Preisverleihung noch in vollem Gange ist, haben diese Unternehmen ihr Kommen bereits zugesagt:

• A&B One Kommunikationsagentur GmbH, Berlin
• Academy for Top Business Speaking, Obersasbach
• Annekatrin-Buhl – Die Employer-Branding-Beraterin, Berlin
• artegic AG, Bonn
• Arts & Others Communication GmbH, Bad Homburg
• ASISTA Teile fürs Rad GmbH & Co. KG, Leutkirch
• Autoactiva Werbeagentur GmbH, Hanau
• Avanga Filmproduktion GmbH & Co. KG, Dresden
• Bankhaus August Lenz & Co. AG, München
• BlaBlaCar Deutschland, Hamburg
• Blacklane GmbH, Berlin
• BLUE MOON Communication Consultants GmbH, Neuss
• Bubblebridge interactive GmbH, München
• Burson Cohn & Wolfe (BCW), Hamburg
• CB Praxisberatung, Heidelberg
• Communication Consultants GmbH Engel & Heinz , Stuttgart
• CROWDCONSULTANTS 360 GmbH, Berlin 
• Deutsche Bahn AG, Frankfurt
• Deutsche Telekom Services Europe GmbH, Köln
• Detecon Innovation Institute, New York 
• DHL Express Customer Service GmbH, Monheim am Rhein
• Dierig Holding AG, Augsburg
• diva-e Digital Value Excellence GmbH, München
• DRACOON GmbH, Regensburg
• Dresden Marketing GmbH, Dresden
• Eskimos mit Kühlschränken, Hamburg
• Fauth Gundlach & Hübl GmbH, Wiesbaden
• Fidor Bank, München
• Fresenius und Arts & Others Communication, Bad Homburg
• gravity & storm GmbH, Berlin
• Havana Orange GmbH, München
• Isensee Film GmbH, Freiburg
• JAMIT LABS GmbH, Karlsruhe
• Ketchum Pleon GmbH, Dresden
• KÖNIGSKLASSE#1, München
• Link4Media, Urbar
• MAN Truck & Bus AG, München
• Marketing Consultancy GmbH, Wiesbaden
• Merck KGaA, Darmstadt
• MMK - Messmer & Meyer, Agentur für Kommunikation GmbH, München
• noris network AG, München
• NOVENTI HealthCare GmbH, München
• operational services GmbH & Co. KG, Frankfurt am Main
• Panda Pictures GmbH, München
• passcon GmbH, Hamburg
• Payolution GmbH, München
• Pfeiffer Medienfabrik GmbH & Co. KG, Hersbruck
• promio.net GmbH, Bonn
• prudsys AG, Chemnitz
• queo GmbH, Dresden
• Ruptly GmbH, Berlin
• Sarah N. Will und Dennis M. Will Immobilien GbR, Neustadt
• Schwartz Public Relations, München
• Sykes Global Services, Ltd, Bochum
• Telefónica Germany GmbH & Co. OHG, München
• The Embassy GmbH, München
• Thycotic, Washington, DC
• twosyde media GmbH, Leipzig
• Uniplan GmbH & Co.KG, Köln
• Unternehmen Gelbe Seiten Marketing Gesellschaft, Frankfurt am Main
• Vollblutwerber GmbH, Lahr
• W & S Agentur für Werbung und Produktion GmbH, Seeheim-Jugenheim
• wbpr Kommunikation, Unterföring
• Web Shield Services GmbH, Leipzig
• Werner Schmid GmbH, Fulda
• Würth Group, Künzelsau
• Z I B - Zurück in den Beruf, Brandenburg an der Havel

Vor und nach der Preisverleihung haben die Teilnehmer die Möglichkeit sich in geselliger Atmosphäre untereinander auszutauschen und zu netzwerken, Fotos im Red Carpet Bereich zu machen sowie Videostatements zu ihrem Gewinn aufzunehmen.

Eintrittskarten für die Preisverleihung können über die Webseite der German Stevie Awards erworben werden.

Mona Andrews is many things: a California, USA, resident; an entrepreneur; and the operator of a business process outsourcing firm since the early 1990s. She notes she had the flexibility to balance the demands of raising young children, but when her kids reached preschool, she noticed other moms didn’t have that same luxury.

“Either they stayed employed and missed many of the important moments of being a mother, or they dropped out of the workforce altogether,” recalls Andrews.

Many of her female friends continued working after their first child was born, she says, but when the second son or daughter came along, the financial and emotional toll became too much.

“It’s an impossible situation,” says Andrews.

With her latest venture, Stay In The Game, she attempts to eliminate the dichotomy between being a mother and having a career. The company, launched in 2017 in Los Angeles, California, United States, offers “downshifting” opportunities, where women can work part time or remotely. This allows mothers to be home with their children either all day or at least more each day. The company also works with individual employers to reintegrate a mom into the workforce after a prolonged absence.

“As the children of these women grew, I noticed a surprising phenomenon,” says Andrews. “Over and over again, I met highly educated women who previously had important careers, and now they were telling me they wanted to get back into the workforce but didn’t know how.

The most jarring realization was their lack of confidence. They had not been in the workforce for a while and felt insecure regarding their relevance, their ability to compete, and their skill levels.”

At the same time, she noticed employers were reluctant to interview any woman who had taken an extended leave. To Andrews, this seemed a regrettable waste of talent and energy.

A Changing Workforce

While society has progressively abandoned the idea of strict gender roles, women continue to sacrifice their careers for family to a much greater degree than men. A 2015 study by the Pew Research Center, for instance, found 42 percent of women reduced their work hours after the birth of a child, which compared to 28 percent of men.

Even more telling was the fact that 27 percent of women left their jobs to handle child-rearing duties, according to the Pew study. Only 10 percent of men did so.

Stay In The Game provides its services as a way for businesses to leverage the talent of experienced, skilled workers, who are often less expensive than lower-level temporary employees. Candidates work in a range of fields, from data entry and customer service to IT and accounting.

At the same time, employers can demonstrate their social responsibility by providing continuity for caregiving parents. For Andrews, the service is also a means to retain talented employees who might otherwise drop out of the workforce completely after having children.

“There will be an exponential increase in the demand employees have for remote and flexible work, and companies will be forced to change in order to successfully retain great employees,” says Andrews.

As her firm grows, she sees it as a way for more employers to manage that challenge.

“We can offer employers a solution that includes a talented, dispersed workforce,” the entrepreneur says.

Though the company is still in its infancy, Andrews says it’s not having any trouble finding female job candidates. In the case of one advertisement she placed for a remote position, she received 240 applications in just three hours.

“The demand for our service is huge,” she says.

For its innovative approach to helping skilled, professional mothers achieve greater work-life balance, Stay In The Game won two Bronze Stevie Awards at the 15th annual Stevie® Awards for Women in Business in November. It earned one for Best New Product or Service of the Year in the Business Services category and another for Start-Up of the Year.

“This has really reinforced the value of what we offer, and it shows our business concept resonates with many other people,” says Andrews.

Fourth Annual Awards Honoring Employers and HR Professionals is Accepting Nominations

The Stevie Awards has issued the call for entries for the fourth annual Stevie® Awards for Great Employers, which honor the world’s best companies to work for and the human resources teams, professionals, suppliers, and new products and services that help to create and drive great places to work.

All individuals and organizations worldwide—public and private, for-profit, and non-profit, large and small—may submit nominations to the Stevie Awards for Great Employers. The early-bird entry deadline, with reduced entry fees, is May 1. The final entry deadline is June 5, but late entries will be accepted through July 17 with payment of a late fee. Entry details are available at www.StevieAwards.com/HR.

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

An international judging panel of more than 50 executives will determine the Stevie Award winners. Finalists will be announced on August 15. Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award winners will be revealed and presented their awards at a gala event in New York City on September 20.

The Stevie Awards for Great Employers recognize achievement in many facets of the workplace. Categories include:

• Employer of the Year Awards
• HR Achievement Awards
• HR Individual Awards
• HR Team Categories
• Solution Provider Awards
• New Product & Service Categories
  • Software
  • Training Programs or Media
  • Curated Training Platform of the Year

There are many new categories in 2019 for HR achievements including Best CSR Strategy, Best Leadership Development Program, Best Learning & Development Strategy, Best Reward & Recognition Strategy, Best Talent Management Strategy, Best Use of People Analytics, and more. Under the HR Individual Awards the new category is Rising HR Star of the Year.

Winners in the 35 industry-specific Employer of the Year categories will be determined by a unique blend of public votes and professional ratings. Public voting will take place from July 23–August 12.

Stevie Award winners in 2018 included Allianz Partners, AstraZeneca / MedImmune, Benefax, Ceridian, Citizens Bank, Daimler AG, Deutche Telekom Services Europe GmbH, ej4, Gamelearn, Globe Telecom, Smile Brands, SweetRush, TaskUs, VESTEL, and many more.

It’s a conference room typically reserved for regimented business meetings, but on this winter day, the space transformed into a playground for a small group of sales associates. Each carefully bends and conjoins pipe cleaners in order to build a menagerie of animal figures and trees.

The undertaking isn’t simply an opportunity for distraction, however. In this case, the participants, who are taking part in a workshop by the sales training firm PJ Nisbet & Associates, are getting a lesson in kinesthetic learning. The idea is to help sellers use tactile experiences in future presentations with would-be buyers.

Welcome to the world of sales performance improvement, where clients look for whatever edge they can get in order to gain an advantage over the competition. For the consultancy, which is based in Cambridge, England, United Kingdom, raising top-line numbers is mission number one.

That companies are looking to give their sales teams a leg up is, perhaps, no big surprise. The ability to generate leads and to convince customers to buy a product or service is the lifeblood of most businesses.

“It doesn’t matter how good the rest of the organization is. If the sales team is not functional, you are not generating revenue, so the rest is irrelevant,” says Nisbet, who founded the company more than a decade ago.

Often, the heart of the sales process is an interpersonal relationship between seller and potential buyer. Through workshops and e-learning modules, Nisbet’s firm tries to help professionals understand how to identify their best prospects and to get those individuals to buy into their offerings.

The company, which recently earned a Bronze Stevie® Award for Sales Training Practice of the Year, offers what it says is an easy-to-use, repeatable sales method. Clients can use this to secure more prospects at the top of the sales funnel, to qualify them in or out, and, ultimately, to close more purchases with higher profit margins.

One of the program’s core objectives is to help participants articulate their organizations’ strengths so they don’t have to put in rock-bottom quotes to seal deals.

“We enable salespeople to sell on value—not price,” says Nisbet.

New Challenges in the Selling Process

A seasoned business executive with a degree in organizational behavior, Nisbet launched the eponymous sales training firm in his native South Africa in 2006. He eventually relocated it to the United Kingdom, but he still does a lot of business back home. Presently, 50 percent of his clients are in the United Kingdom, and 10–15 percent are in Africa, with the remainder spread throughout Europe and the rest of the globe.

The company has taken on some big-name clients over the years, including Dunlop, Deloitte, and the investment giant J.P. Morgan. Instilling a companywide training philosophy at a global business presents certain logistical difficulties, but Nisbet seems to relish the challenge.

“Last year, over a nine-month period, we trained one thousand five hundred salespeople for one company at fifty-three events in twenty countries using materials in fourteen different languages,” the entrepreneur says. “The best part is that the company’s share price was the highest it’s ever been, which they attribute, in large part, to the implementation we spearheaded.”

In an age when most big companies are using one or more software platforms to manage the sales funnel, Nisbet says the flexibility of his company’s approach is a key to its success.

“When we start an engagement, we go through a discovery phase, and we learn about the automation tools our client is using,” he says. “We then methodically adapt our program to make sure we are using a common language.”

His team is also willing to use a shared risk–reward model, which reduces up-front fees in exchange for a share of the client’s future profits.

“Most sales training organizations wouldn’t do this,” Nisbet adds, “but we’re confident in our methods and enjoy having a little skin in the game, so to speak.”

In a couple of important ways, Nisbet suggests the stakes are higher than ever when it comes to training salespeople. For one, more customers are doing preliminary research online. This means they’re more knowledgeable when they first engage with sales reps. Secondly, purchase decisions have become more complex in the wake of the Great Recession, with stakeholders from finance, quality, compliance, and other parts of the organization getting more involved.

For PJ Nisbet & Associates, though, that’s also an opportunity to help those professionals adapt to a different selling climate.

“Today’s salesperson must be more consultative and better informed to guide buyers and influencers through the process and to help them to ask the right questions. It’s no longer about just showing up with a great product and pitching its attributes,” says Nisbet.

Worldwide research shows that gender bias in the workplace is improving, but there’s still a long way to go. Although perceptions of gender roles naturally change over time, many organizations and individuals want to do their part to make current conditions as fair as possible for everyone at work.

 2A Consulting is just one example of a company doing what it can to promote equality in the workplace. The marketing agency focuses on storytelling for business, striving to blend strategic and creative efforts to create assets that captivate customers. From the top down, the leadership team at 2A Consulting puts best practices in place that help improve gender equality across the company.

Using All the Talent Available to You

Having diverse sources of talent and ideas can help a company take full advantage of significant changes happening in your market. Understanding this, Abby Breckenridge, partner at 2A Consulting, has made a point to recognize and advance women who do great work.

Two actions in particular have helped 2A Consulting nurture women as consultants and managers. The first: speaking up. Breckenridge realized that getting men and women alike to squelch gender inequality had to start with acknowledging unfair practices or mistreatment. Even a lack of information about women returning to work after pregnancy can lead to unintended bias.  

The second: being open to doing things differently. The flip side of speaking up, this best practice is all about listening and observing. Breckenridge leads by example at 2A Consulting. She shows her team how to acknowledge and accept when something isn’t working, and models a mature, collaborative path to a solution.

With advances in artificial intelligence, cloud computing, IT infrastructure, and more, companies across the globe are constantly seeking to modernize their ways of doing business. One of the best ways to ensure your company thrives during change, however, is to consider and nurture the talent at your disposal without bias. To maximize resources, a company must avoid preferential treatment and advance employees regardless of gender.

Sending the Right Message

Valuing team members has been one source of 2A Consulting’s success, while another has been the company’s approach to marketing. Many times, marketing agencies immediately jump to crafting campaigns with impactful words, but these efforts often lack broader context and, ultimately, fall flat for customers. A cohesive story, after all, is a strong framework for effective marketing.

Figuring out the best way to broadcast your core value to customers is no minor task. In competitive markets, something as simple as sending the right message can be the deciding factor in whether a customer chooses your business or someone else’s.

“We help businesses lock onto the stories they're trying to tell—whether it's for a product launch or a keynote presentation,” said Abby Breckenridge, partner at 2A Consulting. “Our consultants work with clients to formulate the message, distill it down, and then build it into assets in a way that resonates. This way, companies can make lasting connections with customers.”

As good marketers know, there’s often a large difference between what a company sells (the product) and what customers are really buying (the solution to their problem). That’s why it’s important to be as clear as possible with your messaging and to think about your audience when crafting that story.

Consider what you can do within your organization to encourage an environment that’s more inclusive, makes use of all its untapped talent, and, ultimately, brings in more successful prospects.

2A Consulting recently earned a Bronze Stevie® Award for being one of the fastest-growing companies in the United States.

Die Arbeit ist getan. Knapp 50 Jurymitglieder aus ganz Deutschland haben die fast 400 eingegangen Nominierungen der diesjährigen German Stevie Awards geprüft, bewertet und jede einzelne kommentiert, um den Teilnehmern konstruktives Feedback zu geben. Dazu wurden in diesem Jahr wieder vier Experten-Gremien mit je einer Vorsitzenden bzw. einem Vorsitzenden gebildet. 

Jetzt haben wir die vier Juryvorsitzenden um ein kurzes Feedback zu ihrer diesjährigen Jurytätigkeit gebeten. Wie haben sie die Jurytätigkeit erlebt? Was hat sie am meisten beeindruckt, was waren ihre Highlights? Wie schätzen sie die German Stevie Awards ein?

Carolin Buchardt, Juryvorsitzende des Gremiums für Unternehmen/Institutionen, Kundenservice & Support und CEO & Gründerin der CB Praxisberatung, Heidelberg 

„Von Anfang an bin ich bei den German Stevie Awards mit dabei. In diesem Jahr hatte ich die große Ehre, als eine der Juryvorsitzenden die Awards zu erleben. Auch für 2019 sind die Beiträge wieder großartig gewesen. Jede Leistung für sich genommen ist besonders. Mich persönlich beeindrucken die innovativen Entwicklungen im Rahmen der Digitalisierung ebenso, wie das gemeinnützige oder auch ehrenamtliche Engagement. Gratulation an alle Gewinner. Ich freue mich auf die Preisverleihung. Sie wird sicher wie auch in den vergangenen Jahren ein tolles Event.“ 

Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Marc-Oliver Link, Juryvorsitzender des Gremiums Neue Produkte & IT und Head of Software Development SCHUFA Holding AG, Wiesbaden:

"Die Aufgaben als Vorsitzender der Jury waren in den letzten Wochen sehr spannend für mich. Man lernt nie aus, daher habe ich mich sehr gefreut - als Mitglied der Jury - die vielen individuellen und innovativen Bewerbungen bewerten zu dürfen.Ich freue mich jetzt besonders darauf, die Preisträger im Rahmen der Preisverleihung in München auch persönlich kennenzulernen."  

Julia Münster, Juryvorsitzende des Gremiums für Management & Human Resources  und Chief Human Resources Officer, diva-e Digital Value Excellence GmbH, München:

„Ich freue mich als HR-Verantwortliche der diva-e, dem Deutschland führenden Transactional Experience Partner, und als Vorsitzende des Jury-Komitees Management & HR neue zukunftsorientierte Ansätze und hervorragende Leistung von Fachleuten zu ehren. Die German Stevie Awards gehören zu den renommiertesten Wirtschaftspreisen für die deutsche Unternehmenswelt und garantieren einen spannenden Austausch mit Teilnehmern aus verschiedensten Wirtschaftszweigen auf hohem Niveau.“  

Margrit Schumacher, Juryvorsitzende des Gremiums für die Kategorien Public Relations, Marketing & Kreative und Mitglied der Geschäftsleitung und Consultant Director, Arts & Others Communication GmbH, Bad Homburg:

„Es ist sehr spannend zu sehen, wie eine Vielzahl von kommunikativen Herausforderungen in ganz unterschiedliche Kreationen übersetzt werden. Die Zusammenarbeit in der Jury hat Spaß gemacht, bestimmt werden wir das auf der Preisverleihung in München noch vertiefen. Kurz: Eine wertvolle Erfahrung – jederzeit gerne wieder!“ 

Um mehr über die Juryvorsitzenden zu erfahren, klicken Sie bitte auf die Fotos.

Mehr über die einzelnen Mitglieder der Jurygremien finden Sie hier.

Bewerben Sie sich hier, wenn auch Sie einmal aktiv an der Jury der German Stevie Awards teilnehmen möchten.


  
  

The Stevie® Awards has opened entries for The 16th Annual International Business Awards, the world's premier business awards competition, which attracts nominations from organizations in more than 70 nations and territories each year.

All individuals and organizations worldwide—public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small—may submit nominations to The International Business Awards. The early-bird entry deadline, with reduced entry fees, is 10 April. The final entry deadline is 8 May, but late entries will be accepted through 12 June with payment of a late fee. Entry details are available at www.StevieAwards.com/IBA.

Juries featuring more than 150 executives will determine the Stevie Award winners. The Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award winners will be announced pm 13 August. Stevie Award winners will be presented their awards at a gala banquet in Vienna, Austria on 19 October.

The International Business Awards recognize achievement in every facet of the workplace. Categories include:

• Management Awards 
• Entrepreneur of the Year Awards
• Company of the Year Awards
• Customer Service Awards 
• Human Resources Awards 
• Information Technology Awards
• Marketing Awards 
• New Product Awards 
• Public Relations Awards 
• Web Site Awards, Smartphone and Tablet App, and other media awards

There are many new and revised features of the IBAs for 2019:

• A variety of new categories, including the IT categories Best Technical Support Strategy and Implementation and Best Technical Support Solution. In categories for business-related media, there are many new Live Event, Publication, and Video categories.
• Entry fees have been eliminated for nominations to the Company of the Year categories. Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie winners in these these 35 by-industry categories will again be included in the worldwide public vote called the People’s Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Companies.
• In the Marketing, New Product & Service, and Public Relations categories, nominees may now submit a video of up to five minutes in length, instead of the traditional written Stevie Awards essay or case study.

Stevie Award winners in the 2018 IBAs included DHL Express (worldwide), Dubai Health Authority (United Arab Emirates), GXEVER (China), iFinance Canada, Kia Motors Corporation (South Korea), LLORENTE & CUENCA (Spain), Megaworld Foundation (Philippines), NBCUniversal (USA), Net World Sports (Wales), Shinhan Bank (South Korea), Telkom Indonesia, and many more.