A common complaint heard by every RQT member has been that it’s too difficult to nominate someone for an award. The award forms were seen as overly complex and difficult to complete, causing some to throw up their hands and give up on the entire process. The results of the RQT survey conducted by the previous team only served to bring this issue to the fore.

The RQT, concerned that people might be reluctant to submit nominations, looked towards a redesign of the LINQ, QSTEP, and TOPS forms in an effort to make them easier to understand, and less daunting for the first-time nominator. This process was handled by the RQT’s Communication and Marketing sub-team.

Our first target was the TOPS form, a single page with only vague instructions vis-à-vis going about its completion. From that single page, we extrapolated a number of questions the nominator should consider, to help guide her through the process. We phrased and laid out these questions in a manner that will move the nominator through the form, from question to question, to not only help the nominator know what to write about, but also to help her think about the nomination and whether the TOPS is the right award for the job. Instead of staring down a blank page when the urge strikes her to nominate, the nominator can simply answer the leading questions designed to guide her through the form.

The QSTEP and LINQ forms had more substance to work with, but were still in need of a makeover. Their old style was to have a number of checkboxes at the top of the form, with blank space below for the nominator to write in comments and examples about the checked qualities. Our new layout takes the basic premise and lays it out differently; now there is space to give examples immediately after each checkbox, so the nominator will have an easier time knowing what to write about.

The RQT hopes that these changes will help convince potential nominators that it’s really not hard to nominate someone for an award. We look forward to seeing more great involvement and lots of things to celebrate! The new forms will be available soon. Please check your RQT station or visit our website at http://www.washington.edu/admin/finmgmt/qi/rqt.