RPS Quality Homes was appointed winners of the Hamilton Innovation Award and the Tompkins Wake Excellence in Service Award during a glamorous Black Tie Dinner on 18 November 2008.

The team at RPS Quality Homes would like to extend a big thank you to all our clients, suppliers, subcontractors and staff for helping and contributing to our recent success at the Westpac Business Excellence Awards.

Recognition in winning the Innovation Award and Service Award gives us an enormous amount of satisfaction and represents the strong emphasis RPS Quality Homes puts on systems, service and client satisfaction. It allows us to lead the way in residential construction.

RPS Quality Homes continues to strive for improvement throughout the building process and is looking forward to improving our relationships with all our clients, suppliers and subcontractors.

Hamilton Innovation Award

This category is for organisations which demonstrate creative, new, and innovative practices, products, or services that have made a significant contribution to the organisation’s success.

Tompkins Wake Excellence in Service Award

This category relates to those private sector organisations which consistently demonstrate the very highest levels of service to customers, clients or trading partners.

Why did we enter?

• Over a period of nine years RPS developed a range of business and project management systems and procedures. The awards provided an opportunity to focus on our business in a structured way and identify core strengths and competitive advantages as well as areas that may benefit from more focus in the future.
• Participation in the awards provides networking opportunities with other business leaders and professionals.
• Award winners receive public recognition of business excellence.
• Award winners receive extensive regional and sometimes also national media coverage.
• Entrants who make the semi-final stage receive independent assessment and feedback from experienced judges during site visits.
• The award process provides a platform on which to acknowledge the contributions made by employees to our organisation’s success.
• Award participation provides a means of engendering pride in our organisation.
• Award participation provides another dimension for show casing our services and products to a wider audience.
• Award participation provides an opportunity to engage with the Waikato Chamber of Commerce and its members.

Entrants were required to submit information on the following topics:

Executive summary

What The Judges Were Looking For?

• A brief history and description of the organisation.
• A statement outlining the distinctive character of the organisation.
• A description of what makes the organisation special and an outstanding performer.
• A summary of key business achievements and results.

Vision & Leadership

What The Judges Were Looking For?

• A strong organisation vision that is communicated clearly to staff and is closely linked to management decision making.
• Staff buy-in to the vision.
• The provision of leadership in the way the organisation is run, the way in which it seizes new opportunities and the way it deals with issues when they arise.

Planning

What The Judges Were Looking For?

• Application of the strategic planning process to enhance business performance.
• The quality of the business plan.
• Evidence that the business model is a sustainable one.

Customer Focus

What The Judges Were Looking For?

• Evidence of the use of customer and market information in decision making.
• Evidence that customer requests and complaints are dealt with responsively and effectively.
• The market position of the organisation and how it compares to others in similar industries.
• Evidence of how and in what areas change and improvement have occurred in response to changing market needs.

Quality & Systems

What The Judges Were Looking For?

• Design, implementation, management and improvement of processes for achieving better performance and quality.
• Quality management systems and processes for dealing with faulty products and/or services.
• Compliance with regulatory, legal and industry code requirements.

People Management

What The Judges Were Looking For?

• Sound human resource practices within the organisation relevant to the industry.
• A reward structure that reflects organisational values.
• Effective communication practices.
• Evidence of a commitment to training and up-skilling.
• High staff satisfaction, well-being and motivation.
• Excellent health and safety management procedures appropriate to the sector in which you operate.

Innovation

What The Judges Were Looking For?

• Use and implementation of innovation and knowledge to enhance business excellence and organisational performance.
• An environment that encourages and rewards innovative employees.
• New ideas, systems, procedures or technology that have increased efficiency and/or resulted in the introduction of improved services or products.
• Details of results gained from new ideas and innovations.

Community and Industry Contribution

What The Judges Were Looking For?

• Recognition of, communication with, and support of community stakeholders.
• How our organisation supports the industry/organisation sector(s) in which we operate.
• Evidence of the organisation’s support for staff involvement in social, community or environmental initiatives.

Business Performance

What The Judges Were Looking For?

• Sound financial and operational performance results.
• Measurement and management of performance parameters.
• Evidence of profitable business growth.