I came across this quote
the other day from Jack Welch, former CEO of General
Electric:
“People today look for an idea anywhere. It
is a badge of courage if I learn from Larry Bossidy,
the CEO of AlliedSignal, or Motorola or somewhere
else. It used to be a badge of weakness. Rank isn’t
important. Title isn’t important. It’s
the idea that wins. And that’s a big deal.”
When was the last time you admitted to learning
from someone else when trying to solve a problem?
Many a time, we probably feel that there is no need
to, and that we can solve the problem ourselves.
Many a time, we probably feel that doing exactly
what others have done is “copying”,
“plagiarising” and unbecoming. And if
we have to “plagiarise”, we make sure
we do not quote the source.
If we regard it as a badge of honour and courage
to learn from fellow colleagues, departments, ministries,
maybe we will have fewer headaches, fewer re-inventions
of the wheel, greater efficiency, more learning,
and better ideas all round. Well, the Public Service
Centre for Organisational Excellence (PSCOE) within
the Civil Service College tries to facilitate peer
learning and the sharing of best practices in the
Public Service. In this edition of Challenge, we
introduce to you the work of PSCOE.
Sharing of good practices and ideas helps to engender
more and better ideas. New ideas have a peculiar
way of exciting those who hear about them. If you
don’t believe, try it. Tell your colleagues
about a new idea that has never been implemented
before, that seems to be effective in resolving
an issue that perhaps both of you face. More likely
than not, your colleagues will be keenly interested
in your idea. More likely than not, more new ideas
will be spawned.
I think the Public Service will be a much more energetic
and exciting place to work in, if we share our ideas
and come up with new ideas all the time. MINDEF
started the PRIDE (PRoductivity and Innovation in
Daily Effort) movement as early as 1981. In this
issue, we feature their annual PRIDE Day this year.
If the buzz and atmosphere at the PRIDE Day is a
reflection of the culture and everyday atmosphere
in MINDEF, then MINDEF is definitely an energetic
and exciting place to work in. There were just so
many new and exciting ideas!
I think many things in life boil down to attitude.
Sharing of ideas, coming up with new ideas, innovation,
enterprise, etc. — they are but manifestation
of the basic attitude of wanting to learn and excel.
If we can all wake up in the morning every day and
ask ourselves “how can I learn today?”
or “how can I find a better way?”, I
think the Public Service will be one of the most
energising and fulfilling places to work in. And
more importantly, the Public Service will always
be in time for the future.
I think PS21 is actually that simple.
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Courtesy
of Melissa Cheah |
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Melissa Cheah Editor, Challenge |
