Challenge September - October 2011

011 ober 2 r / oct e b m e sept

ed in a e n e w What do mplex world? inside more coearer picture Get a cl

PLUS fill your stomach for just

$2 Pg 39

34 Cover STORY 08

GET TO THE FUTURE

Find out what skills you will need to stay relevant for 2020 and beyond

FEATURES

18

Thinking Aloud REV UP YOUR BRAIN

Exercise your brain if you want your memory to improve, says memory guru Nishant Kasibhatla

Letters to a Young Public Officer THE IMPORTANCE OF KNOWING YOUR LIFE MISSION

05

TOKYO MISSION: GETTING SINGAPOREANS TO SAFETY

27

MFA officers recount the days after Japan’s triple disaster in March

PUB Chairman Tan Gee Paw shares how he found his life mission

14

WHEN EVERYTHING SEEMS GREY…

Changing your perspective and being optimistic can improve mental wellbeing

28

A Cuppa With…

“LEARN, UNLEARN, RELEARN”

Permanent Secretary (Manpower) Loh Khum Yean explains why continuous learning is important

32

Perspectives MAKING THEM A CUT ABOVE THE REST

Challenge finds out why former hairstylist Arthur Lim quit to become a teacher

34

Word on the street BREAK OUT OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE COCOON

HR veteran Annie Yap urges public officers to network widely even if they are in for the long haul

30

One-Der Map

OneMap makes it a breeze to locate places and find information

36

CAUTION! STEALTH ACTION AHEAD

Part 3 of a series on Unsung Heroes: Pang Kwai Sun from the Land Transport Authority

HIGHLIGHTS 04

NEWS FROM THE SERVICE

VIEWPOINTS Inbox

Your views on the July/Aug issue of Challenge

32

ON THE JOB

02

03

08

September/

Your Say THE GEN Y WORKFORCE: HOW ARE THEY LIKE?

Readers share their views about them

16

THE BIG IDEA HOW TO BE A BRIGHT SPARK

Five easy steps to get ideas

38

Level Up HOW TO GET THE BEST OUT OF YOUR SERVICE STAFF

Customer service expert Seow Bee Leng shares some tips

WHAT CHU’ SAYING?

Dummies guide to youth-speak

!!!

???

NSFW: Not safe for work. ‘ This content is NSFW, click at your own risk.’

F TW: For The Win, enthusiastic emphasis at the end of a comment, sometimes used sarcastically. ‘Manchester derby tonight. Man U F TW!’ ROFL: Rolling on floor laughing, a heartier version of haha.‘lolcats so cute! Rofl!’

Still have no idea what kids are saying these days? Check out www.urbandictionary.com

LOLZ !!!

SO BAD IT’S GOOD

lifestyle

Art of Cool pages to help you feel young again

19-26 Young people have a way of making everything you knew uncool. No fear – we cover everything from high culture to pop music in this pullout just so you’ll always be ‘with it’.

VINTAGE IS COOL

Yes, vintage is in again. Check out these small independent stores stocking unique clothes, shoes and all sorts of knickknacks if you’re tired of the big chains.

icanhascheezburger.com/m

東京 ミッション

Tōkyō Misshon

39

life.style TWO DOLLARS’ WORTH

44

05

8 pages to help you feel young again

Challenge hunts down some hearty hawker fare that fills you up on $2 or less

The Irreverent Last Page OFFICER OF THE FUTURE Our very own Public Service Duck, Jonson, finds a shortcut to become one

39

tinyurl.com/beccafriday

Did you know that the government once banned rock music in favour of “serious programmes”? (Brownie points if you actually remember this) Then came Cliff Richard, whose performance in 1961 inspired countless teens to form their own bands, marking the Golden Age of Singapore music.

CONNECT WITH YOUR INNER GEEK

Lolcats: For the ladies outthere, here are pictures of cats with cutesy captions. You’ve been warned.

Rebecca Black Friday: The viral hit song that took just 63 days to hit 100 million views on YouTube, outdoing Justin Bieber’s Baby which took 67 days. It garnered more than 1.19 million dislikes.

BLAST FROM THE PAST

Check out: XKCD.com, a webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math and language.

failblog.org

The Challenge Pull Out THE ART OF COOL

2011

The

The Fail Blog: For the sort who enjoy the misfortune and stupidity of others.

19

October

Cat Socrates: Stocks notebooks, cameras, toys and all sorts of odds and ends. www.catsocrates.com.sg

Credit: www.xkcd.com.

Modparade: Stocks clothes and apparel. www.modparade.com

indie

19

Souping ourselves up – bigger ears

These days, as the world gets more complex, more is being required of us regular public officers. It ’s not enough just to be smart and to get the job done anymore. We need to be insightful analysts, skilled communicators, progressive managers, savvy social media users, empathetic service providers and more. To remain relevant as a Public Service, we need new skills. Our cover story explores what some of these might be in our rapidly evolving context.

If, like me, you’re thinking – that sounds like a perfect officer – we might not be too far wrong. On top of that, we’re also expected to have work-life harmony, go on dates and have a family. In our quest for excellence, I wonder if we’ve stopped to consider how to help ourselves achieve such ambitious goals. Perhaps it is not about every officer possessing all these skills in equal measure, but about working in teams to harness the individual talents of each team member to achieve our desired result. And if I had to distil one key skill to focus on, I would pick ‘listening’. Because if we learnt to listen more to our citizens, our stakeholders, our officers, it would help us understand better and come up with better solutions. Listen for their struggles, their aspirations. Listening goes beyond just what we hear, it is about observing and hearing what is unsaid. It is about a stance – being open, empathetic and non-judgmental. Listening unlocks real issues and gives us clues on how to address them.

If I had to distil one key skill to focus on, I would pick ‘listening’.

If all this complexity has worn you out and you’re in need of some brain food, check out our lifestyle feature on delicious $2 meals you can get, or impress your friends with a nugget or two on what ’s cool in our pop culture pullout.

Happy reading!

UST JULY/ AUG

INBOX INBOX

Publisher

PS21 Office, Public Service Division, Prime Minister’s Office

100 High Street, #07-01 The Treasury Singapore 179434 Email : psd_challenge@psd.gov.sg Web : www.challenge.gov.sg

I thought the interview with PS (Foreign Affairs) Bilahari was very

solid.

For enquiries or feedback on Challenge, please write to the Challenge Editorial Team at psd_challenge@psd.gov.sg.

Editorial Advisor

Agnes Kwek

BRAND SINGAPORE What is our brand?

How authentic is it?

Why do we need it?

Keep up the good work!

Editor

Tay Li Shing

Assistant Editor

Ong Keng Yong

Shaun Khiu

Editorial Assistant

MFA

Eric Loy

Tuber Productions Pte Ltd

298 River Valley Road Level 2 Singapore 238339 Tel : 6836-4030 Fax : 6836-4029 Email : info@tuberproductions.com Web : www.tuberproductions.com

The layout, the articles and the photographs are really well done, so different from those in the past. Keep it up, Li Shing and team.

I love the design

– it’s funky and makes the reading interesting. Usually magazines that look so good don’t do so well in terms of content (and usually vice versa), but this is one magazine that has the best of both worlds. It’s one magazine I feel actually makes me smarter after I read it.

Management Director

Lee Han Shih

Managing Director

Weiling Wong Project Director

Liew Wei Ping Project Manager

Leong May Yin

And keep Challenge a must-have magazine for all public officers!

Giam Kah Kim CPF

Kudos

Jitsy Lim

Editorial

MOE

Contributing Editor

Bridgette See

to Tuber Productions and Challenge for raising the bar for public sector publications.

Sub-editor

Tan Su Yuen Staff Writer

Chen Jingting Intern

Siti Maziah Masramli Contributors

Edwin Beh, Richard Hartung, Siddiqua Ovais & Wong Sher Maine

Creative

Creative Director

Ashik

Art Director

Yip Siew Fei

Graphic Designer

Ng Shi Wei

I really enjoyed the interviews you did with PS/MFA and Chairman/PSC in Challenge magazine July/Aug 2011. They give me insight into the thinking of other senior management –

Keep up the good job!

Jeanie Lee MOE

Nurul Malik

Staff Photog rapher Cont ributing Photog raphers

John Heng (www.daphotographer.com) Norman Ng (www.normanng.com) Challenge is published bimonthly by Tuber Productions Pte Ltd (Registration No: 200703697K) for PS21 Office, Public Service Division, Prime Minister’s Office. Copyright of the materials contained in this magazine belongs to PS21 Office. Nothing in here shall be reproduced in whole or in part without prior written consent of PS21 Office. Views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of PS21 Office or Tuber Productions Pte Ltd and no liabilities shall be attached there to.

All rights reserved.

All information correct at time of printing.

We at SPF are big fans of Challenge.

Vital

I always make it a point to set aside some time to go through Challenge leisurely so I might gain some insights or ideas. Thank you for making the magazine visually captivating, and the writing, engaging.

Do keep the interesting perspectives coming.

Felicia Kuo MOE

My bosses read the magazine quite religiously and sometimes even quote from it. (I kid you not.)

Denyse De Silva SPF

Spo t

! ted

Printed by KHL Printing Co Pte Ltd (Registration No: 197801823M) 57 Loyang Drive Singapore 508968

Susan Koh

sort of like a mini Townhall session.

Production Manager

Farhan Darma

2011

A reader who liked our May/June issue so much that she used the pages to decorate her cubicle.

n Ge

Yes and No! Gen Y are Internet-savvy multi-taskers who’ve just entered the workforce and want to prove their worth! But we don’t make decisions based on emotions. Gen Y work on the principle that “older people have eaten more rice than the young”. In fact, we respect colleagues and will always seek their opinions. Due to the communication between Gen Y and the ‘aunts and uncles’, there is always office harmony!

The sight of BOSSES will make Gen Y scramble back to their seats.

June Zhou CPF

I spend ¾ of my day on the Internet, checking emails and drafting replies.

On my computer screen, there are an average of 10 tabs opened, comprising chat windows, PowerPoint documents and Excel files. My boss sits next to me – it is a great thing as I can easily ask her for her opinion on matters. I prefer this to drafting unnecessary emails.

When I get excited about something, I give my best even if my management is not keen. Unfortunately it is the same the other way around. Speaking of which, I’m actually in the middle of re-working a set of PowerPoint slides.

Looks like I got distracted again. Oops.

Joanna Hor

20% pay cut to enjoy a

four-day work week?

As a father of two Gen Y kids, I agree they ’re more Internet-savvy and capable of multi-tasking. During my time, our education was more rigid and we were discouraged from asking questions in class. Gen Y have access to the Internet and they communicate instantly with email, SMS and new media. From my personal experience, Gen Y are taskoriented but sometimes make decisions based on their immediate emotions.

They prefer to be consulted and are unafraid of speaking up. No matter which generation we are from, we must all learn to accept each other with our different needs and wants.

Tan Yian Beng

Energy Market Authority Yes, I totally agree! I thought I was a multi-tasker till I met my ‘match’ in the Gen Y workers who are very Internet-savvy, workaholic and can complete many tasks in a short frame of time. Bosses are like friends to them but sometimes they do ‘cross the line’ thinking that they are very ‘big’, and when they make mistakes, they don’t admit it. I’m still a traditional worker and believe that bosses are Number One! I just hope the number of Gen Y workers remains the same in my department. No more, no less!

Mdm Jennifer Teo

MinLaw

Would you take a

X

Congratulations Illias for sharing your views with us. We love how you’re proud of being Gen Y, and what better way to show it than to buy yourself some tech toys with $100 of Challenger vouchers!

Y

Yes, we’re i m p u l s i v e.

We can get Iq ba l Il li as M oh d u nfocused ti on s S pe ci al O pe ra at times too.

C om m an d Emotional?

Very. But we live in an age where information is pushed out and captured in a snap. Companies fight it out with their competitors with speed-of-deliver y as their weapon of choice. O ur generation is ‘Built for Speed’. The issue of us being emotional might be a case of misunderstanding. Blame it on our ability to voice out our opinions on so many platforms – they make it seem like we decide with our hearts.

But I’m certain when it comes to decision-making, we tr y to draw the line between being objective and looking out for our needs. We have been crafted to meet the needs of our time. I can assure you that upcoming Gen Z will have their differing attributes. While we’re on this topic, might I add that Gen Y are also quite the creative bunch?

n Ge

"GEN Y ARE Internet-savvy, MULTI- TASKERs WHO make decisions based on emotions. They also prefer bosses to BE LIKE FRIENDS.” We Asked readers if they aGreed.

HDB

Email us: psd_challenge@psd.gov.sg

The best entry will win an attractive prize worth up to

$100!

All other published entries will win shopping vouchers worth

$30

each. Please include your name, agency email address, agency and contact number.

All entries should reach us by September 27, 2011.

04 Highlights

NEWS from the

Coming up...

SERVICE Leaders in Governance Programme 2011

DEEPAVALI OPEN HOUSE Celebrate Deepavali this October 26 with free entry to the National Heritage Board’s seven museums, including Asian Civilisations Museum, Peranakan Museum, Memories at Old Ford Factory and Reflections at Bukit Chandu. www.nhb.gov.sg

Credit: National Library Board The 4th LGP international participants with Head of Civil Service Peter Ong (front row, sixth from left).

Source: Civil Service College

The Civil Service College’s flagship international programme, the Leaders in Governance Programme, was held from July 4-12, 2011. Into its fourth year, it drew high-level international government officials from Africa, Asia and the Middle East to Singapore. The participants distilled the latest ideas in governance, complemented these with practitioner-based insights gained from the Singapore experience, and synthesized new perspectives on the everchanging challenges of public governance.

Talking Trees Join the Talking Trees tour at the National Library building on October 15 to get acquainted with the 50 different species of trees in the vicinity. http://bit.ly/nlb_trees

eGov Global Exchange 2011

Singapore’s latest e-government master plan, eGov2015, was launched by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Teo Chee Hean in June 2011 at the eGov Global Exchange 2011. eGov2015 aims to realise the vision of a Collaborative Government by facilitating more co-creation and interaction among the Gov- Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs ernment, businesses and peo- Teo Chee Hean, delivering the keynote address at the eGov Global Exchange 2011 ple for greater value creation. Source: Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore Two new initiatives were launched at the event: mGov@SG, a first-stop mobile site of government services, and data.gov.sg, a portal to access and tap available government data for research and analysis or develop innovative products and services.

http://bit.ly/eGovmasterplan

Credit: Sentosa

Spooktacular Sentosa Singapore’s largest Asian-themed Halloween event happens on Sentosa from October 2122 and 28-30. Four haunting trails promise bone-chilling excitement to keep you well and truly spooked. www.spooktacular.com.sg

New NEA app iPhone users can now download the MyENV app for the latest weather reports, hawker centre details, feedback channels for environmental news and more.

東京 ミッション Tōkyō Misshon

Getting

Singaporeans to Safety Foreign Service Off icers in Tokyo recount the days after Japan was struck by a triple disaster in March, and what they did to account for every Singaporean in the disaster zone. by

Bridgette See

Ms Evadne Chan, an attaché at the Singapore Tokyo Mission, was on her way back to the embassy – located in the hip Roppongi district – when she was rudely jolted in the car.

It was 2:46pm on March 11, and Japan had just experienced a tremor measuring 9.0 on the Richter Scale. People began streaming out of buildings, as bridges and lamp posts swayed dangerously overhead.

Reaching the embassy, Ms Chan, 50, saw her colleagues with their helmets on as the building shook precariously.

“It was frightening,” she recalls but there was no time for panic. Amid the countless aftershocks, the Embassy staff swung into emergency mode, accounting for all staff and their dependants while checking on the building’s structural safety.

First Secretary Kwong Terk Ming, 31, was the Duty Officer that day and was manning the Embassy’s 24-hour hotline. The phone began to ring non-stop as people – including Singaporeans stranded at Disneyland – sought updates and advice.

He and his other colleagues would not rest until the next morning when others would take over.

For the next few days, the Singapore Tokyo Mission would sleep little, working 22hour days to get Singaporeans to safety.

There was no time for lengthy explanations in our emails. Evacuation instructions were Embassy’s first concern was to contact Singaporeans, to-the-point: ‘Taxi to The especially those in the affected areas of Fukushima where Yamagata, two taxi the ill-fated nuclear power plant was located. transfers and one With poor phone connections, staff used the broadband network to email Singaporeans and to advise those living train transfer to 100km of the nuclear plant to leave. A bus picked Tokyo, cost S$2,000, within up evacuee s while embass y staff kept in daily contact takes about nine hours.’ with those who chose to stay behind.

As scenes of the tsunami wreaking havoc unfolded on TV, First Secretary Khoo Seow Fong, 33, watched in disbelief. Hours later, news came of possible nuclear fallout. “Nothing you do could prepare you for this,” he says of the triple whammy. All they could do was to think on their feet, responding nimbly as the situation worsened.

It helped that both Mr Khoo and Mr Kwong had manned the Foreign Ministry’s hotline in Singapore when the Bali bombers struck in 2005. They had handled the deluge of calls, and were involved in the Ministry’s emergency response.

Crisis centre

FROM LEFT: First Secretary Kwong Terk Ming, Attaché Evadne Chan and First Secretary Khoo Seow Fong.

In order to give Singaporeans the most accurate advice, there was a daily race to collate inform ation from media and local counter parts.

“We were tired as we lacked sleep and I could feel my mind working slower, ” recalls Ms Chan. “There was no time for lengthy explanations in our emails.

Evacuation instructions were to-the-point: ‘Taxi to Yamagata, two taxi transfers and one train transfer to Tokyo, cost S$2,000, takes about nine hours.’ ”

Every day hundre ds of request s stream ed in: some Realising the severity of the situation, Ambassador Tan Chin needin g help locatin g missing relative s while many Tiong had a quick discussion with his deputy Laurence Bay, who were asking for consular assistance to leave Japan. then activated the Embassy’s 24-hour crisis management centre.

On many occasio ns, the Missio n relied on local On a wall, a huge map of Japan charted the disaster zones that counter parts for help. Ms Chan recounts the case of continued to widen. Much of northern Japan, including Tokyo, was a young Singaporean whose passpor t was held by his paralysed; power and water supplies, transport and telecommunica- school in Tokyo. The Mission issued temporary travel tions networks severely affected. documents so that he could fly home quickly but the papers were rejected by Japanese immigration officers at the airport.

Feature07

Misshon

Embas sy staff held the plane f or 45 minute s while Mr Kwong called the Japan Foreign Minist ry urgentl y to resolve the issue. “The boy’s mother was calling me every five minutes (from Singapore) saying, ‘Make sure my son leaves’,” says Ms Chan of the pressures they faced. The boy managed to leave, but only in the nick of time.

Extra hands

By Day Three, officer s from the Singapore Tourism Board, Economic Development Board and International Enterprise Singapore based in Tokyo had joined the ranks. Working round the clock, they bunked in at the embassy’s living quarters.

Additional MFA staff were flown in to cope with the overwhelming requests for consula r assistan ce and to assist Singap oreans strande d at Narita and Haneda airports.

東京 ミッション

Mr Khoo also had to coordinate the distribution of emergency supplies from the Singapore Red Cross and Singapore Armed Forces to the affected areas.

Mr Khoo, whose wife and daughter were in Tokyo then, was particularly moved by reports of children losing their families. “It served as a motivation to do what we can to help them,” he says. “It was no longer just work, there was a sense of calling.”

B a c k i n S i n g a p o re, t h e Fo re i g n During the crisis, everyone chipped in, including the Minist ry worked closely with the staff ’s dependants. Mrs Maureen Tan, wife of AmbasHome Affairs Ministr y, National Ensador Tan, even cooked for Embassy staff who could vironment Agency, and the Environnot leave the office. ment and Water Resources Ministr y to assist the Tokyo mission. They The sense of duty and service among staff was palpable. shared information and gave advice, When asked if they were ever worried for their own especially on the nuclear disaster. safety, the typical reply was: “There was no time to think too much about myself.”

Media queries were handle d by the Singapore headquarters, freeIn fact, both Mr Kwong and Ms Chan revealed that they ing the Tokyo mission to tackle were so caught up with contacting Singaporeans that they the most urgent tasks at hand. did not call their own families until a day after the quake.

These included coordinating Singapore’s humanitarian response to “My father sent an email to the Ministry looking for his the disaster. daughter,” reveals Ms Chan sheepishly.

Helping Japan

First Secret ar y Khoo worked with local partner s to deploy a Singap ore Civil Defenc e Force rescue team upon arrival, a day after the quake. He would stay

CRISIS CALLS: The Tokyo Mission was converted into a 24-hour crisis management centre very soon after the quake struck Japan.

in touch with the team, led by Major Tan Loo Ping, who was deployed at Soma City in Fukushima, until they returned to Singapore four days later.

Collective action Six days after the quake, the Japanese Economic Minister announced that Tokyo might experience a blackout due to a lack of power. Mr Kwong saw how the Japanese collectively worked to avert the power outage. Escalators were halted, employees allowed to return home earlier, and streets were cloaked in darkness. Greatly impressed, Mr Kwong thought that the Japanese people’s behaviour exemplified a civic response to a national crisis.

Now, months after the crisis, life is back to normal at the Mission. But the lessons learnt will not be easily forgotten.

Singaporeans are now promptly registering themselves with the Embassy once they arrive in Japan.

And the Tokyo Mission – strongly bonded by their common experience – is a team ready for the next challenge.

No red tape A Singaporean wanted his Japanese wife and their one-month-old baby to be brought to Singapore due to fears of nuclear radiation. Ms Chan asked the Singapore Immigration and Checkpoints Authority for help. The ICA granted citizenship and issued a passport to the newborn all in two days.

be e c i v er S c i l nt b a u v e P l re the y n a i t e s plac quire to s? Hartung k e r i t o i w x e e r e l r s ichard eng p u r R y m t e b t o Te x e fu ill offic gc ohn H h n i t s by J s o t l o a h l P wi cre sw l t n i l a i h d k n W at s anges a h W ? like t ch s a f t amids

Cover Story09

For many years, the skills needed to succeed

recommendations. To make good decisions officers need to figure out, for example, whether a tweet or a blog post represents an outlier’s viewpoint or the start of a movement.

in the Public Service seemed little changed. Officers continually developed better technical and managerial skills, and they knew just how to acquire those capabilities.

No longer is the traditional model enough. As Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy Vice Dean Stavros Yiannouka described it some time ago, the public sector in Singapore needs to “move away from an administrative and control mindset and adopt a ‘service’ culture.”

Everything from a more demanding and diverse citizenry to social media and an ever-faster pace of change mean that officers need to develop a new approach to acquire the new skills they will need to succeed in the coming decades.

A more complex workplace

A multitude of trends have led to this rapid shift towards needing vastly different skills. There is now a far greater need to develop skills that enable more effective engagement with the citizens who are more discerning and hence, demanding of information transparency, said Ms Lynn Koh, who was the Public Service Division (PSD) Senior Assistant Director for Strategic Development at the time of the interview.

PSD Director for Capability Development Sharon Ang added that an increasingly diverse citizenry means that officers need to be sensitive and understand different needs and challenges faced by different segments of the community.

Peoples’ desires for connection and interaction aren’t necessarily new.

The Institute of Policy Studies said in its 2010 National Orientations Survey that peoples’ “desire for consultation” increased from 73 per cent in 1998 to 97 per cent in 2009. The recent general election, however, may have been the tipping point to compel far greater engagement.

Hair & makeup: Rina Sim, using Guerlain

Veteran journalist PN Balji wrote in Today that the atmosphere around the election clearly showed that “the Singaporean voter wants to engage and he wants to do so actively and energetically”. Writer Catherine Lim said afterwards that she sees “a newly empowered electorate.”

Another trend, Ms Ang said, is the increasing speed at which information gets around and the constant evolution of new kinds of media for exchanging information. Not only do officers need to be media savvy, they have to access many more sources of information, which they n e e d t o fi l t e r, m a k e sense of and decide how to incorporate in their

THE CHINA-READY GUY Edwin Goh,

29

Centre Director, Economic Development Board Guangzhou Centre Effectively bilingual, Edwin is fascinated with the rise of the Chinese economy. He works in Guangzhou where he networks with business leaders, encouraging them to establish their international operations in Singapore.

On a broader scale, Ms Koh said that “changes in the international landscape” also mean officers need an international outlook even if their work is focused domestically. As one example, she said, greater trade and connections with China mean officers need to be “China-ready.” In addition, officers may have to deal with complex issues such as climate change that require deeper expertise or specialised knowledge.

This more demanding and diverse public, the availability of information and increasing internationalisation are among the key drivers of the need for new skills.

Changes in other countries

which provides training for local councils, said “the type of management attributes that will make a difference in future are kindness, consideration and good listening skills”.

The Canadian government, for example, conducts an annual assessment to track and analyse key trends. As Privy Council clerk Wayne Wouters noted in this year’s report, “almost every issue facing government today is multi-dimensional; almost all involve many players and an overabundance of information.” As a result, he said, the Canadian public service must develop “new approaches to creative and collaborative problem solving,” to take advantage of new technologies and work with players inside and outside government who are “demanding a larger role in public policy and in the design and delivery of programmes and services.”

Identifying new skills

Singapore’s Public Service is not alone in needing new skills to stay relevant.

Other countries also see a similar growing need.

Similarly, both the national government in the United Kingdom and local councils also see a need for ne w skills. As Birmingham City Council CEO Stephen Hughes told The Guardian, leaders and managers alike need “influencing skills” and to take “a corporate view”. Jo Ellen Grzyb, founding partner of Impact Factory

With the trends clearly showing a need for change, Ministries here are working to identify exactly what officers need and how best to prepare them to work differently.

PSD’s Strategic Workforce Planning Unit, f or example, is conducting studies and engaging in inter-agency discussions to identify and address workforce capability gaps. As PSD A s s i s t a n t D i re c t o r f o r S t r a t e g i c Development Christopher Tan said, officers work in a “more complex and uncertain operating environment, both internationally and domestically” so they need to get ready for possible futures by building the skills needed.

Additionally, the Ministry of Manpower is leading a Future Skills Needs (FSN) study designed to identify skills needed in the future and to address potential gaps.

While both studies are still ongoing, preliminary results as well as analysis by public and private sector experts alike have identified several core capabilities that are likely to be especially important.

Engagement

One skill public service officers will clearly need is the ability to engage the public far more extensively and effectively than before. As Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean said

THE NETWORKER Lai Pei Hsien,

35

Assistant Director (Knowledge Management) Intellectual Property Office of Singapore Pei Hsien networks within IPOS to get all departments to adopt KM practices. Outside IPOS, she belongs to the Information and Knowledge Management Society (IKMS) where she meets industry partners regularly to keep in touch with the latest tools and systems.

How to succeed Develop “Information seeking” Skills Learn how to seek out accurate information to plug any information gaps.

Develop Learning Agility Officers will have to learn to adapt to new situations quickly.

Keep on Learning Develop a new mindset about learning and be committed to personal development.

Start Networking Effective networking is critical for learning, knowledge sharing and career advancement.

SKILLS FOR SUCCESS Technology Savvy Officers must learn how new media work and be able to reach their stakeholders through different channels.

Engagement Public officers will have to engage nonprofit, private, public and international stakeholders more extensively and effectively than before.

Communication Communicating effectively helps an officer to be better engaged and more empathetic.

It can also influence and inspire people to collaborate better.

Empathy Being able to feel with the heart and not just think with the head will be an important attribute for public officers.

THE COCREATION EVANGELIST Tan Boon Howe,

30

Senior Executive (Service Excellence and Government Organisation), Public Service Division, Prime Minister’s Office With the increasing push, both from within and outside the Public Service, to open up space for dialogue between government and citizens, Boon Howe and his coworkers are working with various agencies to promote greater co-creation so that public and private resources can be utilised to deliver even better service to citizens.

recentl y, officers need to tap the collective wisdom and knowledge of the people and stakeholders to help tackle the challenges.

Part of this engagement may come from “ser vice co-creation,” which Singapore Management University Pro f e s s o r E u g e n e Ta n e x p l a i n e d is “a government and civil society partnership, with collaboration and cooperation being the hallmarks in the delivery of public services or in the formulation of policies.” (Co-creation was discussed in the Jan/Feb 2011 issue of Challenge.)

Empathy

Another key skill is greater empathy.

At a grassroots level, as one blogger wrote on Reach (the feedback arm

of the Government), officers should learn to “relate to the poor and underprivileged” and offer “understanding and help and compassion” so they can “alleviate their problems and give them a respectable life.”

At a management level, Public Service Commission Chairman Eddie Teo said in an interview with Challenge in July 2011 that empathy is “a vital quality for our public ser vants” so officers should “feel with their heart and not just think with the head.” His comment that “the principle behind the rule is always more important than the rule itself ” indicates just how profound the shift actually is.

Communication

Empathy and engagement mean little if officers cannot communicate effectively, so becoming a better communicator is critical. At one level, this means everyone from call centre staff to top managers needs to learn to listen better and speak more clearly. In addition, PSD’s Ms Ang said, good communications means developing skills for influencing and inspiring people so that officers can “collaborate well in teams, work across borders and influence people who aren’t reporting” to them.

Technology savvy

Working differently also means officers must become proficient at using new media to engage citizens and colleagues alike. Outlining the variety of media to use, Head of Civil Service Peter O n g s a i d i n J u n e t h a t “ We b 2 . 0 technologies such as instant messaging, social networking tools, blogs, forums, and wikis will allow officers to reach out to their counterparts real-time or exchange information in a more natural way.”

Proficient social media usage does not simply mean being present on Facebook and Twitter. Executive recruitment firm Korn/Ferry International’s senior client partner Michael Bekins says that public officers need to be “technology savvy” so that they really understand how media (beyond social media) work and have the ability to “reach to their customers through different channels.”

Innovation and future thinking

And as if this vast range of skills wasn’t enough, the FSN study also identified “innovation, design and systems thinking” as key skills for officers in a future where traditional processes are no longer sufficient.

Additionally, the discipline of future thinking is seen as a necessary component of any forward-thinking government or corporation. Former Head of Civil Service Peter Ho said in 2009 that “scenario planning is now a key part of the Government’s strategic planning process, and has proven useful in surfacing otherwise hidden assumptions and mental models about the world.”

To prepare ampl y for the future, there will be an increased demand for officers who can anticipate future scenarios and think about potential

All these mean that public officers of the future will have to develop less tangible and far softer skills than they may ever have needed in the past.

SHARPEN YOUR AXE HERE A shortlist of some Civil Service College courses Suitable for managers: Coaching Staff for Breakthrough Service: Learn how coaching skills can help you to lead change, manage staff and transform your organisation’s service level to achieve service excellence.

MBTI Approach to Working More Effectively with People: Learn how to enhance personal development and organisational effectiveness by understanding diverse personality factors, using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI).

Managing a Multigenerational Team: This 2-day course helps supervisors to better understand the different approaches each generation brings to their work, hence maximising their joint contributions.

Suitable for all: Professional Certificate in New Media: This 5-day course gives you handson practice on a suite of social media platforms. It will help you to leverage them to complement communications efforts at work.

Facebook – a tool for better public engagement: This 1-day course – packed with

vital case studies from private and public sectors – focuses on techniques to generate content for better engagement with stakeholders.

Overseas Study Visits to China: Develop a global mindset and understand the developments and events happening in China and their impact on Singapore. Pick up tips on cultural diversity and nuances too.

Critical Thinking: Learn to apply the critical thinking framework and process in problemsolving and decisionmaking to enhance work performance.

Building Positive Relationships through Effective Conversational Skills: Learn how to converse effectively and to build positive relationships through this highly interactive programme. Pick up tips on managing difficult people using effective conversational techniques.

The EQ Way to Customer Care: This 1-day course is designed for managers and executives to hone their ability to use emotions effectively to achieve professionalism in solving challenging customer situations.

Managing Complexity in A Dynamic Environment: In an increasingly uncertain and complex environment, the pace, intensity and scope of change is increasing.

Our ability to cope with complexity determines how successful the organisation becomes.

Learn about the Complexity Theory in this 3-day workshop and discover pragmatic approaches to thrive under conditions of uncertainty and new ways to utilise human networks.

Cover Story13

THE NEW MEDIA GURU Desmond Yong,

27

Assistant Manager (Marketing Communications, Corporate Communications Division), Ministry of Health Desmond specialises in using the various new media platforms – Twitter, Facebook and blogs – to engage Singaporeans on Health Ministry issues.

anywhere. For many people, it might be a natural ability so they know what to do when they are thrown into the deep end. But for others, this is a skill that can be developed over time.

Coaching from supervisors can speed up successes, adds Mr Bekins, especially for executives who are thrown into challenging situations or new jobs requiring fast response. issues before they become reality.

Officers should be able to make apt policy considerations and present options to deal with these situations when they arise. Such work can be undertaken by internal groups that are specifically tasked and empowered to discover blind spots in policy-making like futures groups, “skunk works” or “red teams”.

All these mean that public officers of the future will have to develop less tangible and far softer skills than they may ever have needed in the past.

A new mindset

Preparing for this new future won’t happen simply by repeating what was done in the past. Acquiring skills like empathy and engagement are unlikely to happen just by sitting in a classroom.

As Mr Yiannouka said, the danger is that Singapore’s talent management system “built on academic and managerial proficiency has been successful for so long that it may be slow to adapt”.

So, public officers will need to acquire these new capabilities in fundamentally different ways.

Rather than being placed in classrooms, Ms Koh said officers will need to use “information seeking” skills, which means they need to know where to go to seek out accurate information.

They will also need to leverage their extensive and diverse network to fill in any information gaps.

PSD’s Ms Ang said that “a lot of the learning has to take place on the job” and it has to be driven by the officers themselves. So officers must develop an entirely new mindset towards learning, be committed to development and engage in continuous learning on their own. It may also mean being open to job postings which would expose them to new and different areas, for example, postings that are more operational in nature, to understand ground issues. Or it may mean going online to conduct policy research and learn best practices.

The common denominator, says Mr Bekins, is that officers need “learning agility” so they can adapt to entirely new situations quickly. Learning agility means an officer can figure out new ways of doing things and apply learning to new situations so that they thrive

O verall, Ms Koh said, the single most important piece of advice she would give a new officer is that they need to network widely in order to have more out-of-the-box thinking from cross-disciplinary perpectives.

Whereas officers may only have needed to receive information in the past, effective networking will be critical for learning, advancement and successfully completing tasks in the future.

In an inter view with Challenge in January, Head of Civil Service Peter Ong also expressed a desire to have more self-organised Communities of Practice that will share experience in various areas.

Grasp the future in your hands

It is clear that successful public officers will need to develop an entirely new mindset about the skills relevant for the future. Skills like networking and empathy cannot be spoon-fed to officers either.

Amidst this paradigm shift, there is much room for success. Rather than sitting back and watching, officers need to reach out and grasp the future themselves.

When

everything

seems GREY

It is easier said than done to “always look on the bright side of life”. In fact, more Singaporeans are seeking treatment for depression, anxiety and other mental disorders. So is your glass half empty or half full? It could make all the difference to your mental wellbeing. by

K I A S U I S M , A S EEM I N G LY har mless, go-getting attitude among many Singaporeans, can threaten our mental health. This is, at least, according to consultant psychiatrist Adrian Wang, who always tells his patients to “stop being so kiasu!”

Dr Wang, who runs a private clinic at the Gleneagles Medical Centre, says his patients – mostly working adults, two-thirds of whom are women – are stressed mainly

Chen Jingting

over the high cost of living and relationship problems.

Stress is inevitable and can even be beneficial as it pushes one to achieve life goals, but too much of it can be detrimental, he says.

Locally, mental meltdowns seem to be on the rise.

The year 2009 saw a r ise in suicide rates compared to 2008.

The increase was greatest among

youths aged 10-29: 40 per cent (64 in 2008, 91 in 2009). mypaper reported earlier this year a 10 per cent rise in the number of patients in their 20s seeking help for mental illnesses. Most suffer from depression and anxiety disorders due to stress from work and relationships.

The World Health Organisation predicts that by 2020, depression may be the second greatest contributor to global diseases.

Feature15

Depression Checklist

Mental health boost

The Health Promotion Board (HPB) offers the Treasure Your Mind programme – a series of talks and skillbased workshops covering topics such as self-esteem and managing change – to cultivate mental wellness in the workplace.

So far, the four-year old programme has reached 44,800 people from the private and public sectors.

Think you may be suffering from depression? Use this checklist.

A photography exhibition of mental health patients and their caregivers, held from August to September this year at Orchard Central, aimed to debunk Myth #2, that mental health is untreatable.

The event was jointly organised by Silver Ribbon and HPB.

If we change our perspective, we can learn to be more positive in life.

HPB’s Be Positive project channel on YouTube has a series of catchy videos that urge people to “remember that we are in control of our own thoughts and emotions… If we change our perspective, we can learn to be more positive in life.”

The site also encourages youths to upload inspiring, feel-good videos.

This year, the statutor y board is organising a communit y event to commemorate World Mental Health Day on October 10.

Myths busted

Advocacy group Silver Ribbon Singapore actively organises monthly public education events to bust myths surrounding mental health issues.

Myth #1: Mentally unwell people are possessed. This is such an entrenched belief that Silver Ribbon brings paranormal investigators and psychiatrists together annually to debate the issue and to explain the differences between psychosis and possession.

Executive director Porsche Poh says, “We always have full attendance for such talks, with many young people among the audience.”

Such myths have stigmatised mental illnesses, hindering patients from seeking help, says Ms Poh. Many are still war y of the stigma of being treated at the Institute of Mental Health. They are unaware of other mental health services available, such as H P B’s Healthline, and those off ered by the Singapore Association for Mental Health, and the Raffles Counselling Centre at Raffles Hospital.

Feel good on your own

Programmes aside, there are simple ways by which individuals can cultivate mental wellness.

Eat and rest well, because your physical health affects your mental state, says Dr Wang. And take time off to relax, get a hobby, or exercise.

Build a social network of support of people with whom we can share our problems.

Re-alignment of priorities helps too.

“Is getting that promotion or winning that argument really so important?” asks Dr Wang. “ Think about what you really want out of life.”

It might help you spot the silver lining in the dark clouds above.

Do you persistently feel sadness, anxiety or emptiness for two weeks or more?

Have you lost interest in activities you used to enjoy?

Do you feel worthless, hopeless or guilty?

Do you find it difficult to make decisions?

Do you feel fatigue often?

Do you feel irritable, restless or agitated?

Do you have thoughts of suicide or death?

Do you experience physiological changes – sleeping habits, weight and appetite?

Credit: GlaxoSmithKline

To improve mental health services, the government has invested about $88 million since 2007, with plans for another $17 million every year from 2012. Medisave has been extended to cover schizophrenia and major types of depression since October 2009.

Bring this completed self-test to a doctor or psychiatrist for a formal diagnosis. Visit http://bit.ly/hpbmental or email hpb_ mhe@hpb.gov.sg for more information on mental wellness.

Help someone out of the blues You do not have to be a medical expert to do so. Here are some tips: Hear them out: Validate the person’s feelings by listening to him/her.

Just say it: You may be doing someone a favour by simply pointing out that he or she looks more troubled or stressed than usual. Many realise they are depressed only when others tell them.

Mental Health First Aid: Join this 2-day training programme to learn to identify signs and symptoms and provide initial help, while guiding them to medical professionals. Fo r m o re i n f o r m a t i o n , g o t o w w w. t r a u m a r e c o v e r y. c o m . s g / mhfa.html

Ideas are becoming highly valued and the people behind them highly prized. by

Siddiqua Ovais

For all who have given up on ever generating a great idea, here’s a lifeline — A Technique For Producing Idea s, an informal, deceptively simple book on the process of arriving at an idea, penned by advertising guru James Webb Young back in the 1940s and undiminished in relevance over half a centur y later.

W hat does it take to produce an idea? According to Mr Young, the question is in no way naïve. He thinks that life experiences make for a storehouse of knowledge. All one needs to do is to join the dots — creatively.

He breaks down the idea process into five main steps:

Big Idea17

Little more than pocket-sized with a no-nonsense title, this handy manual is not your average how-to book. Delivered with an adman’s gift for brevity, it is a 48-page myth-buster as far as the exclusiveness of ideas goes, and 30 minutes of focused reading will have you really operating that most complex machine of all – the human mind.

18 Thinking Aloud

The more you use it, the stronger it’ll be, says memory guru Nishant Kasibhatla

Rev up your

Brain Almost everyone I HAVE spoken to agrees that they had a better memory when they were in secondary school. As days and years go by and life gets busier and more complicated, most people feel their memory and brainpower deteriorating. Is there a way in which we can get our brains into top gear and make them work better? Oh, yes!

Imagine that your brain has two pipes fitted onto it. One of these pipes is the ‘input pipe’ and the other the ‘output pipe’. Every day when you read books, magazines, billboards and marketing flyers or attend meetings, training programmes and seminars or watch TV, the input pipe of your brain is super active. Information is constantly going into your brain at a rapid pace day in and day out, whether you like it or not.

Now, let’s look at the activity of your brain’s output pipe. It is incredibly low by any standards. Have a look at these scenarios.

You want to talk about an interesting piece of research you read last week, but can’t recall some critical facts. What do you do? Go online and ‘Google’ it.

these numbers. If you can’t remember all five numbers in a day, you can remember one telephone number a day.

You can easily do that, can’t you?

In many similar situations, where we want to recall something, most people simply use Google or look into their smartphone or some other external memory device. We do not give any work to the recall faculty of our brain; instead we rely on the ‘output pipe’ of the external memory device. As a result of this, the brain’s output pipe gets clogged.

2. Write a list of the 10 critical bits of information you need to remember at work. Commit them to your memory.

You must have heard of the ‘use it or lose it’ adage when talking about brainpower. That’s so true. The more exercise you give to your brain, the sharper it gets.

Let ’s go back to your school days.

Why was your memory so good back then? Because your brain’s output pipe was very active. You had to prepare for your weekly, monthly and half-year l y tests.

During the test, you had to give work to your output pipe. Since your brain’s input and output pipes were very active, you had a good memory.

You must have heard of the ‘use it or lose it’ adage when talking about brainpower.

Your friend asks you the name of the restaurant you went to last month. You can’t recall it quickly. What do you do?

Visit a food review website and search for the name.

Someone asks you for a sales figure for the last week (or other work-related information). What do you do? You log into your computer and search for the data.

S o, how do you star t using your brain’s output pipe and thereby boost your brainpower? Simple. Here are a few ways: 1. Look at the address book in your phone and identify the five most important telephone numbers. Remember

3. Finally, give work to your ‘memory muscles’. It’s so easy to store everything on your smartphone or tablet computer these days. However, understand that if you don’t commit things to memory on a regular basis, your natural memory ability will decline. You will tend to be more absentminded and will experience mind-blocks frequently.

I am not saying you have to remember everything in your brain. That is unnecessary and will lead to stress.

However, if you become a slave to your phones and computers, your brain will become lazy.

Your memory is like a muscle. The more you exercise it, the stronger it becomes.

In other words, look for opportunities where you have to use your brain’s output pipe.

For more tips by Nishant Kasibhatla on improving memory, go to Insider’s Take at Challenge Online: www.challenge.gov.sg.

Nishant Kasibhatla is the only Grand Master o f M e m o r y i n S i n g a p o re. H e i s a n a u t h o r, speaker and trainer with more than 15 years’ e x p e r i e n ce i n t h e a re a s o f s p e e d - re a d i n g, motivation and success, and memory management. www.RememberNishant.com

Letters to aYoung Public Officer 27

by Tan Gee Paw PUB Chairman since 2001

DEAR YOUNG OFFICER, When I was invited to say a few words in this edition of Challenge, I was a bit apprehensive. There is today a proliferation of sound advice to young people on how to develop their full potential and how to manage difficult periods in their career, often peppered with personal anecdotes, and I certainly don’t wish to add another line to this.

Rather, I feel there is an urgent need to challenge you to examine something more fundamental in your working life that perhaps you may have overlooked.

Have you ever taken a day off to quieten down and ask yourself what do you really want to do in life?

I’m not suggesting that you should ask yourself what you should do to increase the prospects of a top career. Nor am I suggesting that you set yourself a target of what position you should hold in 10 years. The answers to such questions will change as circumstances change, and so they can’t be the fundamental issues. This is because thoughts along these lines revolve around you yourself.

So I suggest you take time to think outside of yourself and believe me, you will be drawn to a life mission (not a job or a career or a target position) that will challenge you and bring out the best in you. In fact you will be surprised to find that you are actually cut out for it. The key word is ‘drawn to a life mission’!

I reached a cross road early in my career in the Civil Service: Should I

stay or find my fortune in the private sector where many of my peers have successfully ventured into?

I found the answer, not in myself, but in people and water. Somehow rivers, lakes and the sea have always had a peculiar attraction, and I painted many of them during my spare time. I saw squatters living in squalid conditions next to rivers and I knew how deprived they were. I was drawn to a life mission to bring a clean living environment and water to fellow Singaporeans. So I stayed on in the Service, dealing with water most of the time in one form or another.

My early years in the Drainage Department allowed me to have intimate knowledge of every drain and canal in Singapore which was exactly what I needed in my new posting some 25 years later, when it helped me to understand how runoffs could best be collected and diverted to reservoirs.

Give your very best to the work on the table, and you could find yourself “drawn to a life mission” that is outside of yourself.

In 1967, I had joined as a civil engineer in the then Public Works Department hoping to build bridges and high-rise buildings. So I was deeply disappointed to be posted to the Drainage Department to maintain drains. But still I remained in the water and environmental sector of the Service ever since.

When it became apparent in the late 1990s that water will become a key issue, the Government grouped all water agencies into a reformed Public Utilities Board (PUB). They left me in charge to meet the water challenge of ensuring adequate water resources for all Singaporeans.

How would I have ever known this!

So never detest your postings but give your very best to the work on the table, and you could find yourself “drawn to a life mission” that is outside of yourself.

So my challenge to you is simple. Do not worry yourself trying to increase your career prospects and your chances of good positions. Rather, take time off and identify a life mission in the Service, and your career and positions will take care of themselves.

Am I too idealistic? No, you owe this to yourself. May you be drawn to a life mission in the Service, a mission that is outside of yourself and there find fulfilment in your retirement.

“Learn,

unlearn, relearn” Stressing the need for Singaporeans to keep on learning, Manpower Ministry’s Permanent Secretary Loh Khum Yean shares how he has been kept on his toes throughout his career. by

Wong Sher Maine Learn, unlearn, relearn

The message is not new and it is one he has become even more convinced of since taking over the hot seat in MOM in 2009.

Currently, the Ministry is leading a study on the most relevant skills Singaporeans would need in the future. From the preliminary findings of the Future Skills Needs study, what Mr Loh personally found most insightful was this: “The urgency for learning, unlearning and relearning is more pressing than [we] previously understood to be.”

The Government threw Mr Loh Khum Yean a curve ball when they sent the scholarship applicant to study economics in Japan over 25 years ago.

The current Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) could not speak a word of Japanese then.

“I wasn’t sure why they wanted me to go to Japan,” Mr Loh, 46, recalls, of his interview with the Public Service Commission. “I was really taken aback and I said I needed some time to think about it.”

In the end, he decided it would be a different sort of opportunity. He learnt the Japanese language from scratch and spent the next five years in Tokyo, graduating with an Economics Degree from Hitotsubashi University.

He returned to Singapore, fluent in Japanese, with a deep respect for the Japanese work culture and resilience.

If there is any lesson he hopes people would draw from this, it is that when it comes to learning, do not be afraid to be thrown into the deep end.

It is his answer to the evolving nature of the business landscape.

“As economic activities in Singapore evolve and businesses move to value-adding activities, Singaporeans’ best strategy is to maintain the right mindset and ensure their knowledge, skillsets and competencies are learnt and re-learnt to remain relevant. This will help them take on better jobs with higher incomes over time.”

But lifelong learning cannot always be driven by the thought of earning more money. “The desire to learn should be spontaneous and internalised in a positive way, rather than merely from a pragmatic utilitarian view. I don’t think we’re there yet.”

Also of increasing importance is what he calls the “soft skills”, to

A Cuppa With...29

complement hard technical knowledge. “These are skillsets like creativity and innovation, social media skills, communication and networking skills. The whole idea of integrating hard and soft skills will be pertinent.”

also reads, enjoys weekend meals with family, and has been attending Mandarin lessons.

Says the Anglo-Chinese Junior College alumnus: “I speak some Mandarin, but I feel that I have much room to brush up and improve.”

Learning on the job

The Public Service careerist ’s personal learning journey, since he joined the Administrative Service, has been deep and wide.

Instances where he was thrown into the deep end and emerged wiser started from his posting at the then-Ministry of Communications in 1991. There, as a young officer, he learnt firsthand from the public listing process of SingTel. “ We had to talk to people who had never owned shares,” he recalls. “ We also worked with banks and other agencies. Part of my learning was about putting in place the systems and processes.”

Shortly after, as an officer at the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Mr Loh had to learn quickly on the job when the 1997 Asian financial crisis struck.

“Not that I wished it upon myself !

We were not working alone, but with other Government agencies. I learnt about risk management and the role of the Government in lending confidence to the whole system.

It was a great learning experience.”

The longest stint in Mr Loh’s career was at SPRING Singapore from 2003 to 2008. As the then-Chief Executive Officer, he oversaw a corporate restructuring exercise requiring a shift of mindsets as SPRING repositioned its focus to enterprise development.

“I would say I was most proud of helping to put in place systems and capabilities to facilitate the growth of our local enterprises,” says Mr Loh. Asked if his CEO stint was the most challenging to date, he laughs: “There’s MOM now!”

Mr Loh gives an unexpected glimpse beyond his serious mien when he reveals his love for TV entertainment and movies.

The urgency for learning, unlearning and relearning is more pressing than we previously understood to be.

Hot-button issues

Hot-button topics feature on his agenda every day. When asked for his personal take, he was thoughtful in his replies.

On the findings of a recent global survey by talent management company Lumesse which found that Singapore workers least enjoyed going to work, were the least loyal and had the least supportive workplaces: “I think employers do need to improve on how they engage their employees in areas like work-life harmony, and recognise the softer dimensions of their employees’ changing aspiration for greater work flexibility, satisfaction and meaning in work.”

On the call for a weekly rest day for foreign domestic workers, Mr Loh said that the review was ongoing, but he feels that the key is to have mutually agreed arrangements that can address the concerns of individual households.

Time out

As the man helming the agency that promotes work-life harmony, Mr Loh tries to live out that principle by putting in the occasional rounds of golf whenever he can. He

“For me, it ’s really just pure entertainment,” he says twice, somewhat apologetically, “not the kind of movies where you sit and ponder.”

He enjoyed Thor recently, which he thought was “quite well done” and at the time of the interview, was looking forward to the final Harry Potter movie.

Now, if only solving the world’s (and for that matter the Ministry’s) issues were as simple as casting a few spells. Expelliarmus problemo* anyone?

What’s usually in your cuppa?

Coffee in the morning What’s your favourite type or brand of tea/coffee/beverage?

Ice cold Original Coke Where do you go for your caffeine fix or favourite drink?

At home * What a problem solving spell in the fictional Harry Potter world might sound like.

Time Taken

months

st

Tender

mo 5

nths

Development

Mar 2 ch

mo 9

010

nths

1st major SG-SPACE initiative Singapore Geospatial Collaborative Environment (SG-SPACE) is a whole-ofgovernment initiative to collaborate with private sectors and the community to create innovative applications and spaces based on geospatial data.

Launch

Money Spent

SGD 2.2 MILLION

ONEMAP A little more than a year since its launch, OneMap has pulled in more than 12 million views. by

Chen Jingting

OneMap’s growing collaborations OneMap started working with 16 agencies and now 77 have come on board.

Users can search for

themes

Family Services

Tourist Attractions

Performing Arts

Wireless Hotspots

New Service

Hawker Centres

PropertyPrices Transacted prices of private property and HDB resale flats in the past year.

Most Popular Theme (June 2011)

PropertyPrices

By Map

By Area

About

1. TO START, enter a location in “Find Location� box above.

2. Show tansacted properties within

Probably by anxious parents hunting for suitable schools for their offspring.

PropertyType

1.0km

Select

All

Transaction Period From:

JUL 10

To: JUL 11

Price Range (SGD)

Most Common Searches

From:

To:

By Clicking Search I accept the terms of use

Search

Suntec City Mall

Leisure Park Kallang

VivoCity

HDB

Clear Map Private

Feature31

-DER IN THIS INFORMATION-HUNGRY world of ours, we want everything at our fingertips. We need to know which schools are nearby, what the traffic condition is like, which buses or routes to take, or how hot the property market is right now. The beauty of OneMap (www.onemap.sg) is that it has aggregated a lot of that information – making it a one-der-ful place to start for a hunt of any kind.

12 million

900,000

page views in one year

clicks/month

11a.m. to 2p.m 50% of users came directly to onemap.sg

most users online

Most Popular Features iPhone

Search

The Spin-offs OneMap goes mobile with these applications developed using its technology:

OneMap Singapore

by SLA

Routing

New Service

Pocket OneMap

by Nanyang Polytechnic

Space2Lease Government properties available for rent

Land Query

Parks Live

by National Parks Board

Space2Lease

Search Properties Search By PropertyType

About Select

All

Price Range (SGD)

To

Property Size (SQM)

To

Location

Master Plan School Query

All

Find

Property Market Information

Clear

by URA

By Clicking Find I accept the terms of use

SLA

HDB

by URA

Public Transport Routing

Te xt by

Bridgette See Photos by

Norman Ng

Making them a

CUT above the rest ITE lecturer Luke Arthur Lim is committed to help students achieve their dreams. Challenge f inds out why the former hairstylist abandoned a glamorous career to teach.

For five years, Mr Luke Arthur Lim was owner and director at The Hairsmith, a swanky salon at Tudor Court. The clients – paying $80 or more for a cut – would entrust themselves to Arthur’s hands. He would analyse their face shapes and hair before snipping away locks and bangs to reveal new looks.

These days, Arthur transforms lives instead, at the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) College East at Simei. He shows students, keen to wield scissors as a career, how to make magic like he once did.

The 46-year-old switched from high-flying hairstylist

Perspectives33

Some of them do ‘grow up’ during their industrial attachment and realise the importance of professionalism. to try different methods” like using hair clippers instead of scissors to cut hair. “It is hard to stay focused and disciplined,” he adds, “and if I told them that they will take 10 years to master the art, they’ll give up.” to ITE lecturer in 2008. This was after a freak car accident left him trapped in his vehicle with two cracked ribs. The near-death encounter made him reconsider his life, leading him to religion.

The new Christian closed his salon and went in search of a more meaningful career. After seeing an ITE advertisement in a magazine that had featured The Hairsmith, Arthur wrote in to the school, offering his expertise. A few months later, ITE contacted him to help create its new Hair Fashion and Design course that would start in January 2009.

Arthur had found his calling: he would impart skills to students – many from less privileged families – that could give them a new lease of life.

Though he is no stranger to apprentice training, he does get frustrated when students play truant or make empty promises to work harder. There are times when he does “more counselling than teaching”.

“Hairdressing is a craft that needs a lot of skill and practice but young people want instant gratification,” he says. Ways to make classes more interesting include “challenging them

“[But] some of them do ‘grow up’ during their industrial attachment and realise the importance of professionalism.

Some have found work at well-known salons and have even began recruiting their juniors.”

For Arthur – who calls himself the sheep looking after his lambs – there is no giving up. He is determined to spend extra time on any student who wants to be a cut above the rest.

For more pictures and in-depth coverage of Arthur’s work, go to Challenge Online at www.challenge.gov.sg.

Break out of the

e c i v r e S c i l Pub

Cocoon HR veteran Annie Yap urges public officers to sharpen their competitive edge and to network widely even if they plan to stay in the public service for the long-run.

by

Wong Sher Maine

A recent British survey found that private sector workers thought of their public office counterparts as “institutionalised”, “used to an easy life” and “in it for the benefits”.

Global recruitment agency Hays and the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which commissioned the survey, were quick to point out that these were misconceptions.

Public officers, the survey reasons, are just as competitive and marketable as their private sector counterparts.

Happily, HR veteran Annie Yap (left), managing director of AYP Associates, says the same applies in Singapore. If any public officer were to go up to Ms Yap and ask to join the private sector, she would say straight away: “No problem.”

“The perception amongst private sector employees is that the Singapore Government hires the very bright, even those who are not scholars,” said Ms Yap, who has spent 18 years in the HR industry and was named Entrepreneur of the Year in 2006 by the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises and the Rotary Club.

She even offers up a pithy saying which is bandied around in the recruitment industry: “The grade A student will work for the Government, while the grade B student goes to work for the grade C student who sets up a business.”

Aside from academic smarts, she said that the public officer’s rules-oriented mindset can be an asset, particularly in corporations where operations call for strict adherence to protocol, processes and standards.

“Public officers have a strong sense of integrity and fair play as they operate under strict governance,” says Ms Yap. Conversely, those in the public sector also hold misconceptions about the private sector. In the British survey, British public officers thought of the private sector as a “backstabbing”, “dog-eat-dog world”, where people are “in it for the money”. Presumably, many

Word on the Street35 did not think they would make it, or want to make it.

Similar sentiments about the private sector exist in pockets of Singapore’s Public Service. “I thought I would burn out,” says a 38-year-old public officer who had once entertained thoughts of joining the private sector in her 13-year career. “So I gave up the idea.”

To such officers, Ms Yap would say: Try to stay competitive as keeping up and improving is important even in the Public Service.

Taking risks

One way to sharpen one’s competitive edge is by being bolder in bending the rules. “Things change very fast in the private sector,” says Ms Yap. “Strive not only to adapt to and embrace change, but to be change agents.”

Even within the Service, thinking out of the box and adapting to change are catch phrases. But these can’t be easily attained by reading books or attending courses.

Instead, Ms Yap thinks a good first step is for the higher-ups to devolve decision-making to a lower level. “Empower mid-level managers to take risks and make decisions autonomously, rather than require them to escalate.”

Networking more widely

Some public officers tend to stay in the safety of the Government cocoon. They mix with fellow public officers, dutifully attend public sector events and are only concerned with what is happening locally.

While inter-agency co-operation has become more widespread, Ms Yap suggests that this networking can go beyond the walls of the Pub-

Empower mid-level managers to take risks and make decisions autonomously, rather than require them to escalate. lic Service. “They could talk to market players and other stakeholders, find out more about trends in the industry and even outside of Singapore,” she advises.

Public officers can take their own initiative to do this on a casual, social basis rather than wait for someone to organise a networking session.

Sur vival of the fittest

The competitive mindset in the private sector might perhaps prove most daunting to a public officer.

Says Ms Yap: “It is survival of the fittest. Things might happen more quickly, more urgently and it is more competitive.”

Business cycles are short, work performance is measurable and tracked and it often boils down to sales and profitability.

To those public officers who think “I joined the Public Service so that I can stop work on the dot and spend time with my family”, Ms Yap would say, “If you want to join the private sector you would have to get out of this comfort zone.” In fact, some public officers would agree that this mindset is no longer relevant in today’s public sector.

She adds: “It really depends on what you are looking for in the long-run.

If you are looking for stability and get satisfaction out of working for the good of society, then a public sector job is suitable.”

If you are considering a stint outside the Public Service for better monetary rewards and greater decision-making flexibility, be prepared to chase after bottom lines and have a possibly more hectic work pace.

e Pub lic off ice rs wil l hav

Challenge asks Singaporeans what they think are the best attributes of public officers.

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It is the ability to look beyond themselves .

They are not bounded by profit and sales and that allows them to see benefits given to the clients.

Yeung QM, 26, Assistant Manager, Southeast CDC

Sud év Sut hen dra n, 23, und erg rad uat e

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36 Unsung Heroes

warning! Stealth action ahead He’s there before you know it. This unsung hero comes to the rescue so speedily, he leaves no trace behind. by

Siti Maziah Masramli

If Mr Pang Kwai Sun were a superhero, his powers would be speed, stealth and tenacity. The construction site supervisor has directed vehicles during a blackout at a traffic junction. During a flash flood, he guided pedestrians away from knee-level waters.

Nothing escapes his sharp eyes, be it toppled traffic cones or illegally parked cars. He settles these smaller matters swiftly, without a sound.

The Senior Higher Engineering Officer is in charge of everything within the boundaries of the Beauty World MRT station construction site in Bukit Timah, ensuring that the public can find their way around path diversions safely. He has even arranged for the elderly in wheelchairs to be carried up staircases at Beauty World Plaza which lacks ramps.

Mr Pang, 46, joined the Land Transport Authority in 2003 as a supervisor for the Circle Line project at Paya Lebar MRT station. “It was a good challenge working with an existing and operational station,” he says with a tinge of pride.

By now, Mr Pang and his colleagues are used to the engineering difficulties. “It is how to handle the public

that poses the biggest challenge,” says Mr Pang’s supervisor, Senior Project Engineer Low Yew Huat, 57.

He praises Mr Pang for his “innate sense of public service”. Mr Pang regularly meets the owners of the shophouses nearby, who worry about lost customers and lower profits. “We try to adjust when we work and finish within a few hours after midnight, to avoid affecting their peak business hours (the next morning),” says Mr Pang.

In person, Mr Pang seems almost painfully shy. His speech is sparse, his face rather serious. But he offers the slightest of smiles when he mentions his two teenage children. In his own time, he enjoys listening to instrumental music and travelling.

Beneath that hard hat and steely gaze, Mr Pang finds satisfaction in simple things: “I am happy whenever every stage of work is completed without any accidents or complaints.”

This is the third in a series to celebrate those working behind the scenes to keep our daily o p e rat i o n s r u n n i n g s m o o t h l y. Fo r m o re U n s u n g Heroes stories, go to www.challenge.gov.sg

Nothing escapes his sharp eyes, be it toppled traffic cones or illegally parked cars. He settles these smaller matters swiftly, without a sound.

38 Level Up

The secret lies in effective human resource management.

by Seow Bee Leng IT IS AN OPEN SECRET. ORGANisations with a sustainable competitive advantage have a highly skilled and motivated workforce who are proactive in delivering service excellence – like the one Singapore Airlines is known for. That familiar tagline, “It’s a great way to fly” focuses on their 7,000 service employees trained to serve their customers. Such ser vice leadership strategy nurtures the type of service behaviour necessary for success.

Whatever sector you are in, it is important to engage the hearts and mind of service employees through sound human resource management. With the changing socio-economic environment, not only must the Public Service be able to anticipate its customers’ changing needs, it must also be clued in to the expectations of its service staff.

Service employees are the “face and voice” of their organisations. Researchers have found a significant correlation between service employees’ perceptions of their employer’s human resources practices and customers’ attitudes about the service received. When service employees describe their firm’s practices in positive terms, customers also report receiving superior service.

Here is how you can get the best out of your staff:

Recruitment and Selection

The first step for delivering quality service is the selection of quality staff to deliver that service. An ideal recruitment process assesses both service competencies and service inclination.

Look beyond the technical qualifications when assessing an applicant ’s service orientation. Scrutinise the functional qualities. Service employees need to know “how” to deliver quality service.

They must have an inclination towards ser vice and the right temperament to boot.

For example, the Ritz Carlton recruits employees with the customer-centric mindset of ‘ ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen’. Hiring approaches include observing behaviour, conducting personality tests, and providing potential staff with a realistic job preview.

Training

Ser vice employees must be trained to deal with customers and to satisfy their needs and expectations. Specific training in interpersonal, technical and functional skills equips the service employees with the micro-skills of tuned-in service language and nonverbal language.

Customers resent being ordered about and having no choice. Positive service language engages a customer’s goodwill for cooperation. Non-verbal language cues such as nodding, facing the customers, maintaining eye contact, leaning forward slightly, making openpalm gestures and a pleasant tone of voice, help to show that the service employees are listening intently to their customers.

Rewarding service excellence

Employees want recognition and a share in the benefits resulting from

their efforts. So appropriate reward p o l i c i e s c a n m o t i v a t e e m p l oye e s and reinforce behaviour that leads to desired outcome.

Supervisory support

Even if the employees know what to do, they may not be able to execute the tasks required without the necessary support. Service employees experience greater job satisfaction when their supervisors are supportive and show concern for them.

Team support from co-workers

Frontline staff who deliver ser vice directl y to customers require the full support of backroom staff for a smooth ser vice encounter. Internal marketing theorists have argued that it is impossible for businesses to provide better service to external customers than what they provide to their employees or internal customers. Service staff who feel backed up by their team are more enthusiastic and hence provide quality service.

Motivated service employees are difficult for other organisations to replicate.

Manage your human resources well.

They are the key to success!

Seow Bee Leng is the principal trainer of Continuum Learning Pte Ltd and an Associate Trainer with the Civil Service College. She focuses on customer service training competencies. Her interests lie in equipping and enabling service employees to enjoy service delivery and value-add to their customers.

Two dollars’ worth

Cheap (and rather good) eats are still out there. Challenge hunts down some hearty hawker fare that f ills you up on $2 or less.

Text by

Siti Maziah Masramli

Photos by

John Heng

Sungei Road Laksa

There are many laksa stalls with similar names but the real McCoy is at the junction of Jalan Berseh and Townshend Road. When stall founder Wong Yew Hwa opened the stall in 1956 at Sungei Road, a bowl of laksa was just 20 cents. Now, a bowl of laksa (about the size of a rice bowl) comes at $2 with bean sprouts, fish cake and very fresh cockles.

Over a large charcoal-fired pot, the killer gravy is made with fresh coconut milk instead of condensed milk for a lighter taste so it is not as “jelak” as other more popular laksa variants. Upsize for a $3 bowl or down two small bowls for an unforgettable meal.

Where: Block 27 Jalan Berseh, #01-100 Jin Shui Kopitiam, Singapore 200027 Opening hours: 9am to 6pm (Closed on first and third Wed of each month) Available for $2: Laksa Value for money:

Frenzlink Cafeteria

The array of $2 choices here is a real surprise as Frenzlink is right in the heart of downtown Singapore. The nondescript stall has been selling $2 food for 18 years, mainly to loyal customers. The wonton, fishball and laksa noodles are standard fare, but be warned that the bak chor mee isn’t quite the usual – it looks like lor mee with its dark soup, and tastes nothing like the typical. Despite moving to various locations along South Bridge Road, its prices have not changed. The wide variety of food attracts customers, leading to more bowls sold each day, helping the owner to continue selling at affordable prices. Now, Frenzlink is known in the area as the “$2 kopitiam”.

Where: 62 South Bridge Road, Singapore 058692 Opening hours: 9am to 11pm Available for $2: Fish ball noodles, bak chor mee, laksa, wonton noodles Value for money:

Life.Style41

Tiong Bahru Hainanese Boneless Chicken Rice

The portion is good, the chicken tasty, and the chilli spicy. The only grouse is that $2 will buy you only the ‘white’ chicken rice and you have to cough up an extra dollar for roasted or lemon chicken. When he opened his stall at Smith Street a decade ago, owner Zhang Rong Ji priced his chicken rice at $2 because of the elderly living nearby. “Many of them live in 1-, 2-room flats, and they can only afford cheap food,” says Mr Zhang, who learnt the art of cooking chicken rice from his younger brother.

Though he might raise the price next year due to rising food costs, he assures that the new price will still be lower than what most other stalls offer. So, chicken rice fans: make your way there and eat to your hearts’ content before that happens!

Where: 56 Smith Street, Singapore 058961 (opposite Chinatown Complex) Opening hours: 10.30am to 11pm daily Available for $2: ‘White’ chicken rice Value for money:

May Flower Roasted Meat Specialist

There are plenty of $2 choices inside Chinatown Complex. But May Flower beckons with its bright blue neon sign, shouting out its affordable menu.

Don’t expect a life-changing experience – just a fuller stomach on pretty decent fare. On why he sells food at $2, owner Kum Kah Keng says wryly: “You must look at the location; if my stall is at Orchard Road, people will be scared to eat $2 rice (as they expect food there to be more expensive).

But here in Chinatown, people can hardly afford a $3 meal.” He is referring to the elderly who live nearby, some of whom pick cupboard boxes for a living. Mr Kum dishes out extra rice for free and charges a meagre 30 cents for additional meat.

“I’m not a charity and I also need to survive, but the old people here lead hard lives and I just hope to make their lives easier by selling cheaper food.”

Where: Block 335 Smith Street, #02-44 Chinatown Complex, Singapore 050335 Opening hours: 9.30am to 9pm daily (closed two Fridays a month) Available for $2: Wonton noodles, char siew rice, roasted duck meat with rice Value for money:

Navayugathin Nalan Unavagam

Opened in March this year by the Navayugam Trust to “share good, healthy food with people”, the stall only serves a vegetarian menu and bills itself as ‘100% Freshetarian’. Thosai and other light foods like idly (steamed ‘cakes’ of rice and black lentils) and puttu (steamed rice flour with coconut) are made on the spot, while prepared food is not kept for more than four hours. Stallholder N. Madhu Sudhana Reddy explains that they believe “good food will be spoiled in four hours, and only fresh food should be eaten for good digestion and a healthy body”. Other Tekka Market food stalls offer thosai varieties for less than $2, but here, almost everything on the menu is less than two bucks.

Where: Blk 665 Buffalo Road, #01-223 Tekka Wet Market, Singapore 210665 Opening hours: 6am to 9.30pm daily Contact: 9239 3004 Available for $2: Various thosai varieties, idly and puttu Value for money:

Life.Style43

Ananas Cafe

Halal-certified Ananas Cafe outlets can be found at many MRT stations, each with varying menus, prices and service standards. The three-year-old Aljunied MRT outlet has a roomy air-conditioned seating area. The nasi lemak sets are the only items on their menu that are priced (and loudly advertised) at $2 to attract busy commuters. The generous serving of pandan-infused coconut rice comes with a piece of egg omelette and a fried chicken wing or fish fillet and sausage. The sambal chilli is satisfying, though the sets do not come with cucumber or ikan bilis.

(No, they didn’t forget to add them.)

Where: Aljunied MRT, 81 Lorong 25 Geylang, Singapore 388310 Opening hours: 6am to 11pm Available for $2: Nasi lemak and bee hoon sets Value for money:

Inspirasi Stall

Be prepared to wait as there is always a long queue.

Mdm Saonah Ahmat, daughter of stall founder Sermi Karjiwalawi, says there is “no secret ” to the stall’s popularity. “Maybe because the price is cheaper, the taste is different, or the customers enjoy our service,” she chuckles. Her mother, Mdm Sermi started the stall 30 years ago, selling food made from her late husband’s Indonesian recipes.

Hand-shredded chicken slices are generously added to the mee soto and soto ayam. Freshly made sambal chilli is laid out for customers who decide how spicy their broth should be. The award-winning stall has had its fair share of publicity, and a regular stream of customers allows the prices to be kept at $2.

Where: Blk 207 New Upper Changi Road, #01-11 Bedok Interchange Food Court, Singapore 460207 Opening hours: 11am to 11pm daily (closed on Hari Raya) Available for $2: Mee rebus, mee soto, soto ayam Value for money: Editor: Have you been to these stalls? Tell us your experience and if you know of more $2 places, email us at psd_challenge@psd.gov.sg

44 The Irreverent Last Page

Who’s the duck?

Jonson Quek is a mild-mannered duck who’s recently joined the Public Service. Follow Jonson and his adventures at www.challenge. gov.sg/tag/duck.

Need We Say More?

Here’s where we let the humour loose, and learn to laugh at ourselves a little more.

Have ideas or jokes about the Public Service? Email us: psd_challenge@psd.gov.sg

1. The system is a free service by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) that allows Singaporeans abroad to record their itinerary and whereabouts. This allows MFA to contact and give assistance during an emergency or crisis.

A. On-line Registration for Singaporeans Travelling Overseas B. iHelp-Singaporean-travellers C. Travel registration D. MFA eRegister 2. The is a compilation of occupations that support the growth of key economic sectors in Singapore. It is regularly updated by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) to factor in labour market trends.

A. Strategic and Skills-in-Demand List B. Future Skills List C. Jobs of the Future List D. Essential Skills at Work List 3. The Continuing Education and Training (CET) Masterplan was developed to prepare Singapore’s workforce for the future. In , there will be two National Continuing Education and Training (CET) Campuses to train up to 50,000 adults each year.

A. 2011 B. 2013 C. 2015 D. 2017 4. A 10-year masterplan, , was jointly developed with the people and the private sectors to grow Singapore’s infocomm sector and to use infocomm technologies to enhance the competitiveness of key economic sectors and build a well-connected society.

A. Goal2015 B. e2015 C. iN2015 D. eSingapore2015 5. The WHP Mental Health Top Up is an additional funding option by the Health Promotion Board (HPB). Its maximum top up quantum is and it is used to support organisations to sustain and augment their workplace mental health promotion and programmes.

A. $1000 B. $2000 C. $3000 D. $4000

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