The phrase “award winning” will always attract attention. I like to check on law departments who have received innovation awards. The winning projects are impressive and point the direction to new approaches that might be accepted elsewhere.
Imagine this: your law department implemented a groundbreaking project that not only transformed its operations but also received an innovation award. This recognition brought increased visibility, boosted team morale, and attracted top talent to your team because applicants knew about the award.
Awards matter. They enhance perceptions, showcase innovations, and validate the successful outcomes of those innovation projects. They also give credibility to the team because they provide a third-party endorsement of the project and its outcome, which can hep increase value of the department in the eyes of the business.
I was part of an innovation project at Mastercard that received an annual General Counsel award. That award paved the way for the acceptance of future projects and helped attract volunteers. The recognition was great, but the bonus on the pay stub was nice too.
Are you looking into potential award opportunities? If not, think about why not. If so, consider the advice below.
Two Types of Awards
There are two possible avenues for awards for you to consider – internal and external. Internal awards usually come from upper management (General Counsel, CEO, CFO, Chief Innovation Officer, other C-Suite members, or even Board of Directors). In companies with business resource groups or other focus groups, these groups might also give awards.
There are also external awards, which give you, your team, and your efforts industry-wide recognition and even media coverage. External awards also help promote the reputation of your company as an innovator.
Getting Started
Typically, people who give awards are not going out looking for candidates. They rely on submissions. That means you need to roll up your sleeves and do a little work. Fortunately, you can do the research in a couple of hours.
Internally, first do a quick check of your intranet. Reach out the administrative assistants for those in the C-Suite you work with to see what might be available and the deadlines and procedures. Your HR representative might also be a great resource.
Externally, it’s a similar process, but you will want to think about relevant organizations (e.g., Association for Corporate Counsel, College of Law Practice Management’s Innovaction Awards, and others) that might have categories for law departments. Check out industry newsletters, trade associations and professional groups, and Google news and press release searches.
Put together your list, understand the selection criteria, procedures, and deadlines, and then start to think strategically. Study what previous winners won for. Remember that preparing an application can be an incredibly helpful exercise in itself for you to pull together and summarize your work in a compelling way.
Overcoming Hurdles
However, it’s typically not as simple and easy as that, is it?
Many people find a number of big hurdles to get over. Aren’t there a million entries and all of them are fantastic? Is your project all that innovative? Isn’t your project something everyone else is already doing or too small? Won’t the same departments win every year? Is your department too small or too large or in a boring industry? Do you feel like an impostor? Isn’t this self-serving? Shouldn’t your work speak for itself? There are plenty more where those came from.
I’ve been an awards judge many times over the years and I have some insights. I’ll sum them up by saying, don’t assume anything. Go ahead and apply. There are many reasons for this, but the two best are that you might actually have the best project the judges consider and there may be far fewer submissions in a given year than you expect. In fact, if you see that an award submission deadline has been extended, you have a clear signal to cast aside your doubts and get a submission in. Here’s another insight: organizations do not like to give awards to the same winners again.
Now, let’s go to the remaining big issue: self-nominations. I will say that there are a few people who judge awards who don’t like self-nominations. However, a great self-nominated candidate will almost always beat an average candidate with a great third-party nominator. It’s the compelling quality of the innovation winner that matters.
One of the best things about being a law department innovator is that you should be able to easily find an outside counsel of internal business partner who will make the nomination for you. I would leave nothing to chance, though, and prepare the application form for that nominator and keep following up to make sure they submit it on time. That’s one advantage of a self-nomination but reaching out to a nominator can provide opportunities for networking, feedback, and new projects and collaborations.
Helpful Suggestions
In the AI prompt I provide at the end of this article, I show you a way to leverage AI to help you in this process. I recommend these steps:
1. Create a Great Summary. Summarize your project, the problems it addressed, the key measurable outcomes, and feedback you received. I suggest a very short and memorable description of your project to help the judges refer to it when they discuss the submissions. For example, the “deal velocity accelerator.”
2. Understand the Criteria. Carefully read the criteria for the award and map out what factors you need to meet.
3. Demonstrate Fit and Impact. Apply the factors to your project and show how you meet the criteria in persuasive ways.
4. Include Testimonials. Put in a quote or two from people who have glowing comments about the success of your project.
5. Review with Comms Team. Have someone from your communications team give it a good look and improve it with their expertise.
6. Beat the Deadline. Recheck the instructions and deadlines and send it in early. Do not let the application linger on your desk or anyone else’s.
Challenge Yourself
Applying for awards can be challenging, especially for innovators who believe that their work should speak for itself. My call to action is to change your perspective on self-promotion and recognition. Recognition is like oxygen for creative efforts, and awards can help with both personal growth and the advancement of legal innovation within organizations. You can enhance the perceived value of your team and its projects across the organization and, often, a get a nice trip to an awards ceremony.
SUGGESTED AI PROMPT TO TRY
“You are an experienced expert in law department innovation, producing compelling submissions for innovation awards, and judging innovation awards contests innovation. Assume that I am in charge of innovation in a corporate law department and want to generate a persuasive and winning draft of a submission for a law department innovation award that will focus on our project [DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT]. The criteria for the award are [AWARD CRITERIA]. Using your experience and expertise, generate a first draft of a compelling submission that is carefully-tailored to this award. Other context that might be helpful includes [ADD ANY USEFUL CONTEXT].”