Last week our CEO Solat Chaudhry took part in an exciting and interesting day of judging at the Construction News Awards, as well as attending the Judges Dinner, which offered a wonderful opportunity to network with and learn from the judges across all the different categories.
A leading expert in equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI), Solat was not only approached for the honour of judging one of the CN Awards’ brand new categories – the Diversity Champion of the Year; but he was also consulted by the organisers to write the criteria used to judge the new category.
Solat commented that “acting as a judge for the CN Awards was a fantastic experience. It was an opportunity to meet new people in the Construction industry, learn more about what’s going in the sector; as well as learning about the different stages that companies are at with regards to equality, diversity and inclusion.”
The judging process involved listening to a presentation from each organisation shortlisted in the category. Each judge scored the presentation against the given criteria and then they had the opportunity to discuss, and give formal feedback with their fellow judges.
Speaking about his judging experience, Solat said, “there are three main points which are at the forefront for me. Number one: even the best candidates have room for improvement and growth; number two: there is a widening gap between those on the first steps of their EDI journey and those who have been on it for a while – this gap only going to increase if organisations keep putting things off; and number three, organisations need to focus on more than just one or two protected characteristics. Construction companies need to take a holistic approach which enables them to make progress against all nine protected characteristics.
One of the key notes to take from this prestigious event is that the Construction sector is now waking up to the importance of improving their equality, diversity and inclusion practices.
Those being judged all had at least one outstanding feature, and they impressed Solat with their level of commitment, ambition, inspiration and aspiration – they want to take on new opportunities, to learn, and to share their collective knowledge to improve the sector as a whole.
With over 75 judges involved, 20 categories and five days of judging, we’re looking forward to seeing the results at the Construction News Awards ceremony in July 2016.
