People Focus Spring 04 NA - CIPD

National Awards for Excellencecustomer perception and business success. Thefactor which particularly impressed the judgeswas the deep involvement and commitment ofsenior management and the clear sense of funwhich ran through the change process.The CIPD Special Achievement Award went tothe Flour Confectioners and BakersAssociation for their Skillnet. The judges felt itwas a uniquely meritorious project, based onthe Small Business Sector. The Awardrecognised the foresight of a small group ofpeople who identified the potential demise of asmall business sector due to the effect ofimports, competition from retailing multiplesand the problem of retaining key staff. TheSkillnet has delivered training and developmentactivity to hundreds of small businessesscattered all over Ireland, organised andimplemented innovative competencyassessment for employees who do not have atradition of familiarity with “exams” and createdcareer structures and an enthusiasm for trainingwhere it did not exist before.The judges believedthat it created a valuable template for othersmall business sectors.Paul Donovan of Vodafone and PatLunny, CIPD Chairman present the CIPDSpecial Achievement Award to PatrickGarvey of the Flour Confectioners andBakers Association.Among the attendance at the Dinnerwere Brid O’Brien of Meteor MobileCommunications; Ger O’Dowd, HRConsultant; Ann Kelleher and AveenBatt, both of Bank of Ireland. Bridand Ger are also members of theCIPD National Committee.Two members of the distinguished judgingpanel – Breege O’Donoghue of Primark andDr. Mary Redmond of Arthur Cox, Solicitors.Pictured at the reception priorto the Awards Dinner wereAdrian Hegarty and JohnO’Dwyer of Friends First whowere finalists in the Awards.pg16 Autumn 2004Talking to Frank Brennan of CIPD were Dr. Michael O’Sullivanand Fergus O’Brien of finalists GlaxoSmithKline.