Joseph Sanda & Pamela Springer: Innovation Takes a Team
December 20th, 2011
By Angela Slezak
The end of the year brings television and magazine summaries of births, deaths, natural disasters and celebrity happenings. What doesn’t make the news is the quiet innovation occurring in the background, each and every day, in our local communities. In a bustling tech community like Columbus, it can be hard to keep up with all that is happening with individuals, start-ups and enterprise companies.
Enter the TechColumbus Innovation Awards. For 16 years TechColumbus has kept its finger on the pulse of the Central Ohio tech community, recognizing success through the awards. The event also serves as an opportunity to gather a diverse cross-section of the community together.
"We showcase what’s possible and, in turn, others find motivation to excel - the bigger the accomplishments, the more momentum across the region and the more dramatic the effect on the regional ecosystem," said Tim Haynes, Vice President of Membership Services and Marketing for TechColumbus.
On February 2, 2012 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center, TechColumbus will present the 2011 Innovation Awards, featuring hundreds of nominees in 13 award categories including: Outstanding Startup Business; Outstanding Product (over and under 250 employees); Outstanding Service (under and over 250 employees); Outstanding Technology Team; Green Innovation; Innovation in Non-Profit Service Delivery; Corporate Innovator of the Year; Executive of the Year (under and over 250 employees); Outstanding Woman in Technology and Inventor of the Year.
Several of the technology company nominees have participated in IT Martini events, including: Janova, DOMedia, QStartLabs, e-Cycle, Expedient Communications, Pluto Networks and eEvent.
But the innovation awards isn't just about technology. Haynes continued, "Beyond new technologies and products, organizations can innovate by changing business models, rethinking the supply chain or adopting a new approach to organizational management."
Joseph M. Sanda, CEO of Astute Solutions and 2010 Executive of the Year [over 50 employees] winner, discussed how rewarding innovation shaped his team's mission and values.
“[Winning]...reinforced the importance of leadership helping our teams accomplish our vision and mission,” Sanda said. “An executive is only as good as his or her team. It helped me to refocus on empowering our people."
Sanda went on to describe the characteristics of a successful executive.
"The top three characteristics of a successful executive are: Vision and mission – a picture of where you want to go and how you want to get there; Teambuilding – a group of people working together to achieve a goal and Execution – turning vision into reality, making it happen.”
Pamela Springer, President and CEO of Manta, and 2007 Outstanding Technology Team winner, defined what it takes to create an innovative technology team.
"Recruit ‘A’ players, position people to play to their strengths, create a culture where open communication is encouraged and rewarded, focus on understanding and being responsive to business objectives, embrace agile and iterative development methodologies, be data driven, take responsibility and always be improving."
Editor's Note: The 2011 TechColumbus Innovation Awards take place on February 2, 2012 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. Reception and networking begins at 5 p.m., dinner and reception begin at 7 p.m.
Angela Slezak
