People Developer Standard Re-Certification

An organisation is only as good as its people. Without skilled and committed employees, an organisation will not thrive even with the latest technology or best practices in place.

The People Developer Standard (PDS) is an award conferred by SPRING Singapore on organisations with exceptional training and development programmes. It recognises organisations with a total framework for developing and engaging staff to achieve people excellence. The Supreme Court was the first legal institution in Singapore to attain this mark of distinction in 1999. The Supreme Court was re-certified for PDS three years later in 2002, and again in September 2005 when its award was successfully renewed.

The on-site audit took place in April 2005. As with previous years, the assessors did not have to look very far for strong evidence of a holistic people development framework, an integrated people development effort and a high level of commitment to people development from management and staff.

Maintaining the PDS award is an affirmation of the Supreme Court’s commitment to the quality of its people and organisational excellence.

Storytelling Course

Following the preview of storytelling techniques at the Corporate Planning Seminar 2005 and its warm reception there, the Managing for Excellence Committee organised a one-day storytelling workshop for Heads of Department and Heads of Section conducted by veteran trainer, Deanna Berg.

Storytelling has been a powerful tool for sharing knowledge, imparting values and creating a common experience for generations. Used by tribes and communities since antiquity, the business world is only now starting to tap on the power of storytelling and narrative techniques as a management tool to forge a common culture, improve employeremployee communication and share tacit knowledge.

During this full-day interactive session, participants learnt how to break down the elements of a story, create engaging and imaginative (yet believable) stories and bring the art and science of storytelling into the boardroom and meetings without jarring the purpose-driven atmosphere there.

“8 Habits of Highly Effective People” Workshop

On 13 October 2005, a half-day workshop on Stephen Covey’s “8 Habits of Highly Effective People” was jointly organised by the Supreme Court Managing For Excellence (MFE) Working Committee and the Administration Section, in collaboration with an external facilitator from The Training Edge. This was the first in-house workshop conducted in the new Supreme Court auditorium. The response was overwhelming and there was a strong turnout of over 70 staff members from the various departments.

During the interactive workshop, participants were constantly engaged in activities that helped them better appreciate the 8 habits and understand how they could be applied towards positive thinking, better time management and productivity, both in their personal and professional lives.

As the Deputy Registrar aptly expressed, “The MFE Committee has so far concentrated on strategies for organisational excellence such as Corporate Visioning and Systems Thinking. But in the end, it is the people who matter.”

In-House Wits Competition 2005

Four teams deservedly won the Gold Award for the presentations of their innovative projects at the annual In-House WITS Competition held on 14 November 2005. This year’s harvest of four Gold Awards for nine presented WITS projects betters the Supreme Court’s performance last year when three Gold Awards were won.

The details of the WITS projects are listed below:

With this year’s performance, we have far exceeded one of our ISO9002 Quality Objectives of attaining one to two Gold Awards for WITS Projects in 2005. When fully implemented, the projects will reap an estimated sum of $800,000 in annual cost savings for the Supreme Court.

The team Crusendo proceeded to showcase its innovative project on the Digital Transcription System at the PS21 ExCEL Convention, which was organised by the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts on 21 November 2005.

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