PROVIDING QUALITY SERVICE WITH CARE

To achieve greater service excellence, every Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) and Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) frontline agency will now serve citizens and customers with CARE in mind.

Mr Willie Tan, MINDEF's Deputy Secretary (Administration) and Quality Service Manager, said this at the 2012 Excellent Service Award (EXSA) ceremony, held at Kranji Camp III on 31 Jan.

Based on the service principles of the Public Service, CARE represents the service qualities of courtesy, accessibility, responsiveness and effectiveness. This includes being customer- and citizen-centric, serving with fairness and impartiality, and working with citizens to ensure the optimal use of public resources.

Mr Tan said the new principles would enable MINDEF and the SAF to move beyond efficient service delivery or just meeting minimum service standards. He added: "The new principles put citizens and customers at the centre of what we do, while we continue to nurture an attitude of service excellence in meeting the needs of the public with high standards of quality and courtesy."

To help staff better apply these principles in their work, a MINDEF Quality Service Network comprising personnel from key frontline agencies and service champions will also be set up.

The network will act as a bridge between MINDEF and the SAF and their customers. This means that, while promoting best practices in MINDEF and the SAF to ensure the consistent delivery of quality services to customers, the network will also provide feedback to policy-makers on concerns highlighted by customers.

In addition, the network will help expedite replies on challenging cases involving multiple agencies.

Awarded by SPRING Singapore, EXSA is a national award that recognises individuals who have delivered quality services in the public service as well as industries like banking, hospitality, land transport, retail, attractions and restaurants.

This year, seven Star awards, 26 gold awards and three silver awards - 36 in total - were given out to MINDEF and SAF personnel.

One such individual is Captain (CPT) Benedict Koh, a training officer at the Naval Diving Unit. He received the Star award - the highest EXSA accolade - for going beyond his duty to help and care for one of his full-time National Servicemen who was hospitalised after an incident outside of camp. CPT Koh visited his trainee frequently during the latter's stay in the hospital and encouraged him to continue to maintain his fitness.

Nominated for EXSA by his then-Commanding Officer, the 27-year-old said: "I was just being myself. I have a personal interest in training and developing people, and I take personal interest in each of my trainees. I do my best to get to know them individually, their personalities and quirks."

Another EXSA (Star) award winner is Mr Azman Bin Anuar, a counsellor with the SAF Counselling Centre (SCC). A volunteer with Mendaki in his free time, Mr Azman, who has been complimented by his clients for his empathy, respect and courtesy towards them, said: "The strength is in listening, in being able to tell the client, 'I listen, I understand, and I know what it is that you want'. It always starts where the client is."

He added: "There are others who work as hard as I do, so I appreciate the time that people took to write and say that they benefitted from the counselling. If they say they benefitted from me, then I'm the lucky one. That keeps me going."