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STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
Registrar, Supreme Court receiving the award from Mr Lim Siong Guan, Head Civil Service
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The Supreme Court was conferred the
prestigious 2004 Public Service Award for Organisational Excellence
('PS Award') on 13 October 2004, in recognition of its commitment towards
achieving and maintaining organisational excellence. This year, only 27
public sector organisations were given the PS Award.
The PS Award was established in June 2000
by then Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong as the premier organisational
excellence award open to all public service organisations. The awards, which
are given out annually, serve to recognise public service organisations that
have attained key organisational excellence standards. Under the revised PS
Award Scheme, the key standards would include the Singapore Quality Class
(SQC) and any two other qualifying standards, namely the People Developer
Standard (PDS), Singapore Innovation Class (I-Class) and ISOCertification or
its equivalent. For having attained these qualifying standards, the Ministry
of Finance would grant additional funds to the qualifying organisation for
the purposes of its staff welfare.
This year, the Supreme Court obtained the
I-Class award. We had attained the PDS in 1999, SQC in 2000 and ISO in 2001.
By striving for organisational excellence, the Supreme Court has ensured that
it will maximise its talent pool and effectively manage its resources. This
is a key factor that will facilitate the translation of vision and strategies
into effective outcomes as the public service gears itself to respond to the
challenges of an ever-changing external environment.
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Registrar, Supreme Court delivering the opening address at the Supreme Court Corporate Planning Seminar 2004
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This year’s Corporate Planning Seminar
was held on 20 February 2004 at the Aloha Loyang. It was not only a budget
venue, but also an ideal place for a retreat away from the hustle and bustle
of the city. The theme for this year’s seminar was "Making a
Difference". The Registrar, the Deputy Registrar, judicial officers,
Heads of Department and Heads of Section attended this annual event.
The Registrar kicked off the event by
sharing her vision for the year ahead with the participants. She went into
the details of immediate initiatives and projects that would make a
difference in the delivery of quality service to the public.
Following the Registrar’s opening
address, there was a presentation on the Supreme Court’s innovation
framework, objectives and targets that form part of the Supreme Court’s bid
to attain the Innovation Class award for 2004.
A video clip on
"Teams that Work" was also shown to emphasise the importance of
teamwork as a necessary step to bring the Supreme Court to the next level of
organisational excellence. To further foster a sense of camaraderie among
the participants, a teambuilding activity was added to this year’s
programme.
From the beaming faces of the
participants, there was no doubt that everybody had an enjoyable and
fruitful time bonding and sharing their experiences with one another.
Registrar, Supreme Court presenting Ms Chong-Komo with a token of appreciation
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The Supreme Court Annual Workplan
Seminar 2004 was held on 30 March 2004 at the City Hall Chamber. Carrying on
from this year’s Corporate Planning Seminar, the theme for this year’s
Workplan Seminar was similarly "Making a Difference". The
Registrar opened the seminar by encouraging each member of the Supreme Court
to seek continuous improvement and apply innovation and creativity at the
workplace, in order to collectively support the fair administration of
justice. The Registrar’s speech was followed by a multi-media video clip
setting out the momentous events for 2003. Workplans for 2004 were then made
known to the staff.
To instil the spirit of risk taking and
innovation to the staff, we had a special guest speaker, Ms Nanz Chong-Komo,
former CEO and founder of the ONE.99 retail chain, who delivered a talk on
"Making a Difference: Entrepreneurship, Innovation and
Risk-taking". The talk provided insights into Ms Chong-Komo’s own
experience in risk-taking when setting up her business. The staff clearly
enjoyed the talk and were much taken by the enthusiasm of the bubbly
entrepreneur.
Following the talk, there was an
Innovation Quiz to reinforce the tools of innovation. This activity was used
to aid our staff in preparing themselves for the Innovation Class audit. The
programme ended with a special performance by some of our staff.
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Presentation to the I-Class assessors at the on-site assessment in July
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In line with the National Innovation
Blueprint unveiled at the Ministerial Innovation Seminar in 2001, the
Singapore Innovation Class (I-Class) Program was launched to provide
organisations with a framework for achieving innovation excellence.
Recognising that innovation is a vital
element in the achievement of the Supreme Court’s goal to be a world-class
judiciary, the I-Class Working Committee was formed in July 2003 to
implement this innovation framework and help the Supreme Court embark on the
I-Class journey.
Over the course of the year, the I-Class
Working Committee stepped up the tempo and continued to systematically
introduce initiatives such as the weekly Innovation Tip on the Intranet and
the monthly Innovation Time activities to ingrain the culture of innovation
within the organisation.
With the help of the I-Class Working
Committee, an application report was prepared and submitted to the I-Class
Secretariat in March 2004. A team of experienced assessors was assigned to
conduct an assessment of our application report. Based on this evaluation,
the Supreme Court was granted an on-site assessment on 22 July 2004.
On the day of the on-site assessment,
members of the senior management and more than 15 staff were interviewed.
The assessors were also introduced to our Electronic Filing System and our
innovative E-Learning Programs. Our staff rose to the challenge and
performed remarkably well during the one-day on-site assessment.
At the closing meeting, it was
heartening to hear the assessors comment that they were impressed by the
staff ’s total commitment to innovation.
In October 2004, the Supreme Court was
awarded the Singapore Innovation Class. This certification is a culmination
of months of intense preparation by the staff and serves as a timely
affirmation of how far we have come as an organisation in terms of
innovation excellence. The journey to attaining I-Class certification has
ingrained the spirit of innovation into the Supreme Court and will serve us
well in our journey to organisational excellence.
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