Scandinavia is used to be a strong region when it comes to beauty pageants but since the late 1990s and early 2000, Denmark, Sweden and Norway, has been in decline. In Norway, the original organization that selects the country’s representative – Frøken Norge – was dissolved in 2011. In 2012, Armand Bye took the helm of the brand new Miss Norway pageant.
Armand Bye is considered an expert on employee motivation, performance, engagement, recognition and rewards. He is founder and president of Motivaction AS (which was established in 1995), a management consulting company located in Oslo, Norway, that specializes in helping organizations improve their management practices, programs and systems. Mr .Bye and his team have produced sales incentive programs for Volvo, Landrover, Toyota, Electrolux, GlaxoSmithKline and many other well known companies.
He and his co-directors established the “New Miss Norway” in November 2012. One of the first steps was to produce a more or less self-running improvement system to attract, motivate, train, and engage candidates who will enable us to achieve key goals – winning international beauty pageants.
Being recognised for positive activities at all levels in the competition, is a simple and powerful tool to create and sustain a culture that engages and aligns candidates (employees) with our goals. For the fourth pageant season, on a national basis, this is proven giving us good results.
“In Miss Norway we give special attention to candidate actions, efforts, behavior and performance,” says Mr. Bye. “It meets a fundamental human need for appreciation for one’s efforts and it can support our business strategy by reinforcing behaviors that contribute to our success. Usually without predetermined goals or performance levels that the contestant is expected to achieve. What’s more: Awarding young people is easy, and can be done without high cost.”
“For me as National Director, my role in Miss Norway is all about unleashing the intelligence, energy and beauty that our participants and candidates already have inside them,” confides Mr. Bye. “In other words, I have a fantastic job and looking forward to our finale at the end of July and some of the upcoming international contests later this year.”
Norway can so far boasts one Miss Universe – Mona Grundt who won in 1990. That feat that was yet replicated. In fact, since that victory, the country managed to be in the semis of Miss Universe twice – in 2004 (Kathrine Sørland) and in 2005 (Helene Tråsavik). The finals of Miss Norway 2016 is slated on July 30.
