Cultivator Profile: “Radiance Award” How Two Changemakers Teamed Up To Celebrate Culture Champions
Meet Freddie + Jamie
Freddie Spotser and Jamie Walker are no strangers to innovation. To say that they are a dream team is the understatement of the year. Jamie and Freddie have collaborated on many projects during their time at Alcon, the global leader in eye care. Recently they teamed up to cohost TEDxAlconR&D, creating a stage for other changemakers to have their stories and ideas heard. They are a special kind of Cultivator, the kind that shines extra bright because they never stop shining their light on others.
It’s appropriate then that together they created the Radiance Award, an annual award to recognize colleagues who positively impact culture within Alcon. It is the first award of its kind at Alcon, specifically designed to recognize the impact of internal culture superheroes in a tangible way. I recently got to chat with Freddie and Jamie about how they did it. It started how most new ideas do: someone noticing that something is missing.
The Idea
In 2019, Freddie, a Senior Scientist and Eye Bank Specialist, noticed two things. First, there were people around her doing incredible things to foster a supportive, positive, and inclusive culture at Alcon. Second, while phrases like “culture eats strategy for breakfast” were commonly said by leadership, these culture shapers needed a bigger spotlight. Cultural impact wasn’t being rewarded in the way other values like innovation, sales, and performance were. Freddie could see a disconnect and wanted to do something about it. An idea started to form: To create a yearly award that would recognize the critical work of culture champions within the organization and demonstrate Alcon R&D’s commitment to building a positive culture.
Freddie had worked on change initiatives in the past and knew that it wasn’t always easy to make big things happen alone. She reached out to her friend and collaborator, Jamie Walker, a Project Manager within Alcon R&D, for help. “Jamie is someone who loves to celebrate others”, says Freddie, “we needed to do this together.”
Jamie says their partnership works so well because they have similar values and often think of the same problem from different perspectives. Their collaboration only strengthened the idea, with Jamie’s Project Management expertise enabling them to move forward with an intentional, strategic approach.
The Challenge
While leadership clearly knew that a positive culture was critical to the department’s success, Freddie and Jamie needed to educate their peers and leaders on the importance of recognizing culture innovation at a high level. They were also operating within the realities of a large organization, budget constraints, and standardized processes.
What Worked?
Working within the existing context: When Freddie brought her idea to Jamie, a department budget had just been finalized. With this knowledge, they decided to wait 3-4 months, using that time to create a charter and streamline their pitch rather than jumping in at a time when the idea might have been more likely to be dismissed. Instead of being deterred by a longer timeline, they harnessed it to their advantage.
Patience and persistence: The Radiance Award took over a year and a half to come into being. At one point, they were preparing to ask for nominations when it seemed like the project wouldn’t happen at all! Jamie and Freddie could have gotten discouraged, but instead remained steadfast in their belief that culture deserved to be highly recognized and continued to raise awareness through challenges and setbacks.
Strong leadership: Both Jamie and Freddie credit their leaders at Alcon for being open to hearing the idea and adjusting the existing award structure when they realized that a high-level culture award was a missing element.
Garnering community support: When they hit roadblocks and it seemed like the Radiance Award wouldn’t come to be, Freddie and Jamie collaborated with colleagues outside of R&D to make sure they had the support to have their idea heard.
Creative partnership: By blending their skill sets and unique viewpoints, Freddie and Jamie not only made their project and proposal stronger but created real support for themselves when they felt discouraged or hit roadblocks. Just as importantly, their love of working together kept things fun.
The Outcome
After over a year of pitching and planning, the award was approved and presented during the 2021 Radiance Award ceremony, considering culture champions around the globe through the following criteria:
Impact to culture
Diversity & Inclusion
Ability to inspire and engage
To inspire others to be thoughtful about culture, and to continue to recognize these accomplishments all year round, winners and their stories are prominently displayed on plaques and monitors at Alcon sites.
Jamie says, “Every day at work I walk down a hallway that has our Radiance Award winners on it and I’m like ‘We did that!’.” And they did, through perseverance, innovation, and teamwork.
Advice for Fellow Cultivators
From Jamie: Keep embracing new ideas knowing there is nothing too enormous to figure out.
From Freddie: There are always people being overlooked…Ask yourself how you can inspire others to elevate culture?
Connect with Freddie, Jamie & other changemakers like them by joining our Cultivators Community.
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