The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) has won the Gold Award – the highest accolade for Leadership Development – at the inaugural Human Resources Excellence Awards Singapore 2013.

Delivering the citation for the Award, Mr Sureish Nathan, Vice-President Asia Pacific and Managing Director, Centre for Creative Leadership, lauded IDA’s leadership development approach as one being ingrained in the organisational culture rather than the one-off annual leadership development events that were typical in most organisations.

The award was an affirmation that IDA’s leadership philosophy and practices were steps in the right direction.

Mr Lau Yin Cheng, Director of the Human Resource and Organisation Development Cluster, IDA, said the Excellence in Leadership Development Award was an affirmation that IDA’s leadership philosophy and what it has done so far to build up its leadership practices were steps in the right direction.

He added, “IDA recognises that every individual is a leader and leadership is about bringing out the best in oneself. Hence, our leadership philosophy is anchored on the belief that before an individual can be effective in leading others to bring out the best in them, he/she has to be effective in leading himself/herself to bring out his/her best.” Beyond focusing on those who played a people development role within the organisation, IDA has sought to propagate self-leadership as an outcome.
With this, IDA has put in place a holistic framework to develop leadership capabilities at all levels and build leaders who are focused not just on the WHAT (delivering business results) but the HOW: the behaviour part. This is also in recognition that increasingly, there is greater emphasis on leaders in driving superior organisational performance through inspiring and engaging people: leaders who are effective and respected, and who have the ability to lead, motivate and develop our people to be the best to make a difference in the lives of people and businesses in Singapore.

IDA was also a finalist in the Excellence in Employee Engagement and the Work-Life Balance categories of the Human Resources Excellence Awards, which were presented at a black-tie ceremony at St. Regis Singapore on 22 May. The Awards were organised by the Human Resources magazine to honour and recognise outstanding HR practices while providing a platform for HR practitioners to network and celebrate their achievements.