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In the last
couple of months, there was one unifying language
throughout the world, a language that requires
no words — the 2006 World Cup! Although I
am not a passionate football fan, I managed
to watch a few matches and I have made some
observations.
At the World Cup level, there is no lack of
celebrity footballers, most known for their
skills of the trade. In every team, especially
the stronger ones, we can find at least a
few such names. Each has his own ego, some
bigger than others, to deal with. No doubt,
each footballer has his own designated role
to play in the game, be it the goalkeeper,
the striker, the midfielder, the defender
and so on. Nevertheless, it must be quite
tempting for some to want to try and score
that goal himself as history usually remembers
the scorers, and less those who create the
goals. Yet, time and again, I saw the players,
even celebrity ones, who knowing that they
could not have a good chance at scoring, passing
on the ball to someone else who could. It
must have taken much trust, a great sense
of timing and judgement, perhaps humility
and most of all, a great appreciation and
understanding of the bigger picture for these
players to behave the way they did. They knew
that to win, they must play as a team, even
at times sacrificing their own personal glory.
Isn’t this too the case in our workplace?
At times, to complete a project successfully
or to achieve our desired outcome, we must
necessarily put aside our own individual ambitions
or desires and work as a team because we know
pushing on by ourselves will get us nowhere.
Sometimes, we have to put aside our own agency-centric
objective in order to achieve a bigger whole-of-government
one. This requires us to collaborate with
other agencies, even if it takes more time
or effort. Most important of all, we must
even be prepared to let others take the credit
and not be upset when they do. This is a lot
easier to accept when we are clear about our
final objective.
I recall when I was in the Ministry of Community
Development, Youth and Sports, our operating
principle was always the “Many Helping Hands”
approach. In other words, we believe that
the most effective way to achieve many of
our objectives in the social sphere is by
getting as many of the individuals and groups
in the community themselves involved in the
process. There were times when my colleagues
felt a little discouraged that much of their
hard work was not being recognised publicly.
But it has to be so because the harder they
work to get more hands involved, their hand
and therefore that of the ministry must necessarily
become smaller. But they get encouraged soon
enough once they understood that the ultimate
prize is the achievement of the objective
of the programme, just as the footballers
understand theirs is to win the match for
their team.
Ms Lim Soo Hoon
Permanent Secretary
Public Service Division |
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