Siti Rohana Hamson, NCSS

The recent South East Asian Games gave me the opportunity to work with a bunch of highly committed public officers as Airport Managers. Although we all came from different agencies, we shared the same commitment to serve and support one another. If someone had to fetch late arrivals after shift hours, the whole team on duty would stay back to keep up the morale. We were each allocated to a terminal, but would rush to other terminals in between our assigned flights to support huge groups of arrivals, without any prompting. Our stint at the airport was a breeze because we looked out for each other and trusted that we would each play our part. Together, we handled about 12,000 arrivals and departures. We hope that we have shown a good example to the volunteers under our care, for them to be inspired to join the Public Service one day.

Congratulations Siti Rohana, you win $100 worth of vouchers for trampolining at Zoom Park Asia that you can share with your team members. Have fun “flying”!

Louis Leow, PA

Staff changes are stressful times. When an officer leaves the organisation, the work stays. The remaining officers usually have to take on the extra load until the replacement is sufficiently trained. My unit of eight once had three officers leaving within a month. Instead of complaining about taking on the additional load, the remaining five strategised for our new workload and sought new approaches to existing processes. When it was more than we could manage, we asked the other units for help and everyone was more than willing to help. What have we learned from the experience? Teams work better when each member makes the effort to open up to others. Help is out there and colleagues are usually more than willing to lend a hand; we just need to be gracious and humble enough to ask.

Mohamad Faisal Bin Jamain, MOE

In 2014, I was assigned to be an exam marker at Henry Park Primary School. There, I met a bunch of the most lively and enthusiastic teachers from other schools. From the get-go, we got comfortable with each other and readily shared our personal stories and experiences as teachers. We got along so well that by the end of the day we called ourselves Ninjas. Soon, it became mandatory that before starting on a new packet of scripts, we would do a short cheer – two claps and a proclamation of “NINJA!” It kept our spirits up and amazingly, we had very few disparities and errors in marking, and forged ahead of schedule. At the end of the marking exercise, we submitted a special request to be in the same marking team for 2015. We formed a WhatsApp group and still communicate with each other.

Preeti Rajan Natarajan, Customs

At Singapore Customs, each and every one of us is considered important, even those of us who are not attached to HQ. Though we do not work office hours at Checkpoints, activities, goodie bags and other treats come our way to make us feel equally valued. Training, courses, town hall sessions and staff rendezvous are also conducted with flexibility to accommodate us. We at Checkpoints are given equal opportunities and privileges, and thus feel appreciated. That always makes me feel that I am part of a great team.