Three years ago we started giving out the Rosie Award at our firm. The name comes from the firm name, which happens to be my last name, and I’m still uncomfortable with the fact that we call it that. But, it’s what people wanted to call it and I’ll survive.

The award is our firm’s highest honor. It celebrates the person that, over the course of the last year, has best worked toward our firm’s purpose (I’ll explain that another day).

We have a written procedure for determining the award recipient which involves a committee coming together. They start meeting next week to consider the nominations.

Determining a winner has been pretty easy each of the past two years. Each time the committee quickly came to consensus.

The award is presented at our annual holiday party. The recipient receives $1,000 plus an additional $1,000 is donated to a charity of their choice. Additionally, the recipient receives a sculpture.

We went to a local sculpture artist when we initiated the award and asked her to design something consistent with the firm’s purpose and values and she presented a number of designs. We picked one that works as an award and is also a beautiful piece of art that can be displayed in the recipient’s home. The artist creates a new award each year an we are awaiting the third piece now.

We use the presentation as an opportunity to tell stories about the recipient and how he or she has lived the firm’s purpose. We try to illustrate how we’re acting, in our daily decision making, in a manner that’s consistent with our overall purpose and values.

It works. It helps people remember what we’re all about. It helps keep them on track. It helps them stay focused on the larger picture rather than getting bogged down in the minutia of our day to day work.

I encourage you to find a way to make something like this work for your firm. The positive energy the existence of the award has created has surpassed anything I might have expected. The award has quickly become an important tradition in our firm.