Government excellence judges hope for winner

Government executives are able to attend training seminars to help organisations reach the level required in their category.

Powered by automated translation

ABU DHABI // The judges of an annual competition to reward excellence in government departments say they hope for better performances by organisations this year after being unable to find a winner in 2007. The Abu Dhabi Award for Excellence in Government Performance (ADAEP) was introduced in October last year, but no winner was named in the Excellent Government Department category after the competing departments failed to meet the minimum standards.

This year, department executives have been offered the chance to attend training seminars to help their organisations reach the standard in nine categories: leadership, policy and strategy, people, partnerships and resources, processes, customer results, people results, society results and key performance results. Khaleefa al Mansouri, of ADAEP, said he expected better results from government organisations this year, as the executives would be better trained and know what to expect.

"Last year, it was the first time for these organisations to participate in such an award and we were focusing on awareness campaigns," he said. Yaser al Naqbi, who is also from ADAEP, agreed that departments that did not reach the standards last year could reach them this year. "But that does not mean that next year the minimum score will be the same," Mr Naqbi said. It could be higher, he said, because Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and the award's patron, "raises the standards constantly. Thus, the goal of the award is continuous improvement of the organisations and individuals."

The award, he said, was "not about who wins or loses, it's more about teaching the organisations and individuals how to excel and upgrading government services in Abu Dhabi in order to achieve Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed's plan for Abu Dhabi to become one of the top five governments in the world". A one-day seminar for executives, which begins on Sunday, was intended to gain the commitment of the leaders to the award and to inform them about the required standards, Mr Mansouri said. The seminars will be supervised by senior advisers on excellence from the European Centre for Total Quality Management.

There are several sub-categories in each main category of the excellence awards, each of which is designed to ensure the departments' aims are transparent and documented. For example, the "people" category requires organisations to ensure human resources processes are outlined and in each of the "results" sub-categories, evidence must be provided that specific targets are being met. While government organisations came away empty-handed last year, there were winners for the Excellent Technical Project, Managerial Project and Excellent Employees categories.

Abu Dhabi police headquarters won the technical award, while Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority won the Excellent Managerial title. Winners of the Excellent Employees category were Moza al Muhairi from Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority, Fatima al Dhahei from Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority, Saif al Qubaisi from Abu Dhabi's health authority and Capt Dr Nawal al Katheeri from Abu Dhabi police.

@Email:hdajani@thenational.ae