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‘Pick’ is a fine old word. As a verb it’s been around since at least the 14th century. Its original meaning was ‘to pluck the strings of an instrument’, and since then it’s lived a full and satisfying life as a verb meaning ‘to select’. It’s even turned into a noun, in some rare, specific and charming usages: ‘pick of the crop’ for example, which suggests ruddy-cheeked agricultural labourers relaxing after a hard day’s harvesting fruit in a painting by Constable.

But in the last few weeks, ‘pick’ has undergone a hideous mutation, thanks to the global media coverage of US presidential hopeful John McCain’s ‘pick’ of Sarah Palin as his running mate. Suddenly every other sports commentator and travelling salesperson is talking about their daring ‘pick’ of steak at dinner or a yellow shirt for their presentation. Europe’s Ryder Cup captain, Nick Faldo, told the media: "I feel very good about those two picks." He wasn’t talking about a pair of implements normally used by builders, he was talking about his selection policy for this month’s tournament (which, incidentally, Faldo’s team lost).

It’s hideous and unnecessary. We have a rich and diverse vocabulary available to describe the process or recruitment and selection: why be seduced by one of the clunkiest and frankly rather confusing linguistic mutations to swim across the Atlantic in years? Let’s send it back whence it came – preferably along with its early adopters.
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The closing date for this year’s People Management Awards is coming up fast – 30 April, to be exact. Which means there’ll soon be a flurry of activity and a rush of last-minute entries winging their way to the awards team. As a seasoned people-watcher, I’m always fascinated to see how members of different professions behave according to type, and awards schemes like this are a perfect way of putting behaviour under the microscope.

Over the last few years I’ve judged awards for journalists, purchasing managers and HR professionals. Journalists almost all wait until the last possible moment before submitting their entries – a very small number of uber-organised editors get their forms in ahead of time, and a much larger number ring up the day after the closing date to plead for an extension, but the vast majority regard “surfing the deadline” as a matter of professional pride.

Purchasing managers all get their entries in the day after the competition opens. In triplicate. And they never include any jokes.

HR people, on the other hand, conform much more neatly to the kind of distribution you’d expect from MBTI – lots of neat SJs, conditioned by years of chasing down forms themselves, get their entries in good and early, but they are balanced by equal numbers of adrenaline junky NPs, who find lots of other, more interesting things to do until the last possible minute.

Which is a pity – because entering for the People Management Award can be a great opportunity to reflect on your organisation’s achievements and to turn a complex series of events into a coherent narrative. And along the way you might gain some new insights into what you’ve done and where you should go next.

We’ve made the PM Award a dream to enter – it really couldn’t be simpler. Why not make some time over the next few days to sit down with the form and complete it at your leisure? You might even enjoy it.

Steve Crabb sits on the panel of judges for the People Management Awards

For details visit www.cipd.co.uk/award or call 020 8612 6235

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