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The International Management Excellence Awards
Well-managed firms are more productive and more attractive to clients
These annual Awards, in association with knowledge partners Harvard Business Review and the Financial Times, uniquely recognise the contribution of leadership and management to the business of professional services firms based worldwide.
Now in their 21st year, the Awards involve rigorous independent evaluation of initiatives that demonstrate superior business practices, support to clients, or community engagement - see Themes opposite.
The Awards attract entries from firms based in the UK, Ireland, Continental Europe, Middle East, North America and Asia Pacific. Over 200 firms have entered to date, many on multiple occasions.
Ceremony highlights
Live interviews of each winner are the centre piece of the Ceremony. Individual and highlight videos from 2022 can be accessed on the 2022 Awards page, along with citations from the judges. The Winners Book is also available - see image below.
Ceremony location
The London Skylounge is a state-of-the-art digital events venue with real networking and socialising that is extremely easy to use. You can see who is sat where, go over to join someone, message them, check out their business card and more.
Why online? Less time commitment for attendees, making the ceremony more accessible; Improved inclusiveness; Massively reduced emissions; Lower costs, particularly for those based outside the UK; Less hurried live interviews with winners, enhancing the learning transfer re their fantastic achievements.
Judging
Chaired by Andrew Hedley, Director of Hedley Consulting, the judges are leading consultants, business thinkers and experts, based in the UK, Europe, North America and Australia, selected solely on the basis of their expertise.
Shortlisted entries are allocated to suitable categories, each with a panel of four judges. After detailed evaluation, panels present their recommended winners to the other judges, followed by debate and a decision on final positions.
These are the judging criteria:
- Strategic alignment
- Active leadership engagement
- Innovation in services, markets, methods or systems
- Effective education of stakeholders
- Positive impact on the client experience, employee engagement or stakeholder performance
- Measurable impact against goals in a reasonable timescale
Eligibility and fees
Any firm can submit up to three entries per Theme per country:
- Theme 1 - Make your business more productive
- Theme 2 - Help your clients be more productive
- Theme 3 - Enable your community to flourish
Each submission involves a fee of £250 + VAT. Membership of the Managing Partners' Forum or the PM Forum is NOT a pre-requisite.
Sponsorship opportunities
Please contact Claire Mitchell
What's in it for
... Your firm: Independent evidence of your firm’s ability to provide well-managed services to its clients, combined with enhanced pride for all stakeholders in the firm.
... Your clients: Access to trustworthy information based on rigorous independent evaluation reinforces a client’s impressions of whether an advisory firm is well-managed. This should result in better quality outcomes and fewer cost overruns.
... You: Demonstrating your contribution and impact puts you at the heart of conversations, increases your influence, and strengthens people’s trust in your strategies.
Choose a Theme
Instead of shoehorning an initiative into a pre-determined category, choose the Theme that best reflects the aspirations of your initiative:
... Make your business more productive (Business Theme)
With almost everyone working from home for some of the time, a key challenge for management is how best to foster productive, healthy and sustainable working practices, and to sustain innovation.
... Help your clients be more productive (Client Theme)
The pandemic has brought clarity over the advisers who are truly client-centric. Does your front line describe themselves solely by reference to their expertise (law, accountancy, architecture, etc) or also by their contribution to their clients? Delivering the latter may involve collaboration with external specialists such as consultants and financial institutions.
... Enable your community to flourish (Community Theme)
Given finance and cash flow carry most weight in partner/director discussions, it is easy to de-prioritise community contribution. However, this remains an excellent way for firms to develop their people in terms of both individual skills and teamwork, and to enhance the firm’s employer brand for new recruits, as well as boost the engagement of current employees, while improving the community of which they are also a part.