2019 Optimas Award Winners for Vision

The Vision award award recognizes organizations that anticipated internal or external trends and responded creatively, effectively and proactively. Here are the winners for 2019:

Gold: Turner 

Media company Turner’s people development team is responsible for creating iniatives and strategies that put “employees first by creating relevant, easily consumable content,” while also “leveraging existing ‘core’ offerings and evolving offerings as necessary,” according to Ashley Costine, manager of learning culture at Turner, a division of WarnerMedia.

One such creation is the Make You Matter Week initiative, which follows significant changes that Turner experienced in 2014, including changes to organizational structure and reduction in its workforce. At the time, the people development team created a new strategy to address the shifting needs of the organization. It was discovered that “employees prioritized the demands of their day-to-day jobs over their own learning and development,” according to Costine.

The Turner People Development team sought both internal and external inspiration for their new program, looking to learning and development programs such as Ogilvy’s daylong personal and professional development event, as well as CNN’s “eventizing” of their on-air content during the 2016 election.

Moving forward with these ideas, they created Make You Matter Week, a global learning, inspiration, wellness and recreational event across all Turner locations, which spans Europe, Asia and North America. During the weeklong event, which is structured like a conference, employees are encouraged to engage with speakers and workshops to expand their personal and professional development while prioritizing and discussing self-care.

Each year, Make You Matter Week has a central theme that is relevant to business, including innovation, collaboration and resiliency. The creation and evolution of this event has encouraged employees across all of Turner’s locations to prioritize their personal needs and improve company wellness culture. For the Make You Matter Week initiative and strides in wellness education, Turner is the 2019 Optimas Award Gold winner for  Vision.

Make you matter week Is a global learning, inspiration, wellness and recreatonal event across all turner locations, which span Europe, Asia and North America.

Silver: Sagicor Group Jamaica Ltd.

Sagicor Group Jamaica Ltd., a full-service financial institution based in Kingston, Jamaica, offers a wide range of products and services, including pension and insurance services, real estate, banking, investment and other financial solutions.

Its Sagicor Group Jamaica Pro-Millennial Mentorship Society initiative aims to focus and customize professional development for the organization’s millennial employees through interactive training and real-world problem solving. This mentorship program embraces a more collaborative, group approach to mentorship, moving away from more traditional one-on-one programs, specifically fostering vibrant intergenerational professional relationships between employees across the four generations represented in Sagicor Group Jamaica Ltd.

For its implementation of their Pro-Millennial Mentorship Society initiative, Sagicor Group Jamaica Ltd. is the 2019 Optimas Award Silver winner for Vision.

Go here to read about the rest of the Optimas winners for 2019.