Many of the organizations that Winning Workplaces has named as Top Small Workplaces don't stop there with their accolades.  Working on their team building and employee engagement best practices has enabled them to receive "best of" city as well as state/regional employer awards, not to mention Torch awards from the Better Business Bureau.

You might think that some of these "overachieving and proud of it" firms put a disproportionate amount of effort into applying for the varous awards, but much of it is just showing up.  Mike Michalowicz, the author of The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur, underscores this in his list of four easy steps that any business can use to apply for and win awards:

• Apply For The Darn Thing
• Make It Obvious
• Include What Is Requested
• Follow Up

In the context of this year's Top Small Company Workplace award that we're doing with Inc. Magazine, while we have never provided a "how to apply and win" guide – in part because there are so many variables involved that are judged and our applicant pool is so diverse – I can tell you that Michalowicz's first through third steps, especially, go a long way toward boosting an enterprise's chances of moving forward for further consideration of the award (and in 2010, the prize of being featured in the June issue of Inc. Magazine).

There's still time for you to put your firm into consideration for our 2010 Top Small Workplace award.  Apply here by January 22.