Dyson’s top tips for entering the DWG Awards

In 2025, Dyson received an Honourable Mention in the DWG Awards for its Innovative Meeting Room Experience. We sat down with Tarun Atoria, Global Operations Manager – Workplace Technologies & AV Engineering, to ask him what impact this recognition has had on Dyson and his team.

What did receiving an Honourable Mention in the DWG Awards mean for your team at Dyson, and how did it help validate or shape the work you’ve been doing?

First of all, I would like to sincerely thank the Digital Workplace Group team for creating such an excellent platform that brings together organizations to share insights, exchange ideas and celebrate innovation in the digital workplace space.

Receiving an Honourable Mention at the Digital Workplace Group Awards was a significant milestone for our Workplace Technology Services (WTS) team at Dyson. It provided strong external validation of the work we had been driving over the past few years to transform meeting room experiences at a global scale. Internally, it also served as a powerful morale boost for the teams involved, reinforcing a culture of ownership, collaboration and continuous improvement. It was a reminder that the work we do behind the scenes has a tangible impact on how Dyson teams collaborate, innovate and operate every day.

More importantly, it helped shape our forward direction. Rather than treating this as a point-in-time success, we used it as a benchmark to raise our standards further – continuing to invest in innovation, strengthen governance practices and scale consistent experiences across our global estate.

Looking back, how did the process of putting together your awards entry help you reflect on your progress – whether in clarifying your story, surfacing impact or aligning the team?

Putting together the awards entry was one of those rare moments when we were able to pause and really look back at everything we had achieved as a team. In day-to-day operations, we’re constantly focused on fixing issues, improving systems and moving forward – but we don’t often stop to connect all the dots.

As we started drafting the submission, going through multiple versions, we realized that we hadn’t just solved a set of technical problems – we had actually transformed how collaboration happens at Dyson. It helped us step back and turn a series of incremental improvements into a clear, meaningful story: what the challenges were, how we approached them and why it mattered.

The process also naturally brought people together. Drafts were reviewed, refined and shaped with input from leadership, communications and different teams across the organization – and that created a shared sense of ownership. In many ways, the submission became more than an entry – it became a moment of clarity for the team. It gave us a chance to recognize how far we had come, and at the same time, it challenged us to think about how we continue to raise the bar going forward.

What advice would you give to organizations that feel they are ‘almost there’ but aren’t sure if they’re ready to submit an entry?

If I’m honest, when we first started, we also felt like we were ‘almost there’ and not quite ready. There’s always that hesitation: Is our story strong enough? Have we done enough? Is this really award-worthy?

But what we realized through the process is that you don’t need a perfect story to start, you just need a real one.

When we began putting our entry together, starting with early drafts, it didn’t feel polished or complete. It was just a collection of improvements, ideas and metrics. But as we worked through it, refined it and brought feedback from different stakeholders, the story started to take shape.

Also, involve others early. For us, getting feedback from leadership and cross-functional teams during the submission and approval process really strengthened the narrative and made it more aligned and credible.

Finally, I would like to say: Don’t wait for perfection – use DWG’s simple and easy submission process to get there.

Thank you so much to Digital Workplace Group for giving us the opportunity to be part of this process. It has been a truly rewarding experience for our team to reflect on our journey, share our story and contribute to the wider digital workplace community.

Tarun’s top tips for a compelling DWG Awards entry

1. Start with a real story – not a perfect one

• Don’t wait until everything feels complete or ‘award-worthy’.
• Strong entries often begin as messy collections of ideas, improvements and metrics, and are refined over time.
• Authenticity matters more than perfection at the outset.

👉 Practical tip: Start drafting early and iterate – clarity emerges through the writing process.

2. Turn activity into a clear, meaningful narrative

• The most powerful shift Dyson described was moving from:
  • ‘a set of technical improvements’ → to
  • a coherent story about transformation.
• Judges are looking for a structured narrative:
  • What were the challenges?
  • What did you do?
  • Why did it matter?

Use DWG’s research to help you craft a compelling digital workplace story.

👉 Practical tip: Focus less on listing features and more on telling a cause–action–impact story.

3. Show impact – not just metrics

• A common weakness in entries is reporting ‘just numbers’ without context or meaning.
• Dyson’s reflection highlights the importance of connecting improvements to:
  • better collaboration
  • business outcomes
  • employee experience.

👉 Practical tip: Always answer: ‘So what?’ Explain what changed because of your work – not just what you implemented.

4. Use the process to join the dots

• Writing the entry is itself valuable:
  • The process surfaces hidden progress and cumulative impact.
  • And it helps connect incremental improvements into a bigger picture.
• Teams often realize they’ve delivered transformation, not just iteration.

👉 Practical tip: Treat the submission as a strategic reflection exercise, not just a form to complete.

5. Involve stakeholders early and widely

• Strong entries are co-created, not written in isolation.
• Dyson emphasized the importance of:
  • leadership input
  • cross-functional feedback
  • communications support.

This strengthens:

• credibility
• alignment
• quality of the narrative.

👉 Practical tip: Build in review loops and actively seek different perspectives.

6. Demonstrate alignment with wider strategy

• Weak entries often fail to link activity to organizational goals.
• Strong ones clearly show how the initiative supports:
  • business priorities
  • workforce needs
  • strategic outcomes.

👉 Practical tip: Explicitly connect your work to organizational objectives – don’t assume it’s obvious.

7. Use recognition as a benchmark, not an endpoint

• Dyson treated their Honourable Mention as:
  • validation of progress
  • a prompt to raise standards further, not stop.
• This mindset signals maturity and continuous improvement.

👉 Practical tip: Position your work as part of an ongoing journey rather than a finished success.

8. Highlight collaboration and ownership

• Entries are stronger when they show:
  • cross-team collaboration
  • shared ownership
  • cultural impact (not just technical delivery).

👉 Practical tip: Call out how people worked together – not just what was built.

In summary

A winning DWG Awards entry is a clear, evidence-backed story of meaningful transformation – co-created, impact-focused and grounded in real organizational value.

Learn more about the DWG Awards and start your entry!

Categorised in:   → Digital Workplace Group Awards