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Where do great ideas come from? The traditional answer is that great ideas come from great
thinkers: the CEO who challenges market convention, the eccentric genius who labours in the
laboratory. Success stories are often tales of individuals with great intelligence and creativity
pursuing their dreams against all odds. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs come to mind.
I would like to suggest that great ideas are not the monopoly of geniuses. Great ideas can come
from anybody. They can come from CEOs, but more often than not, they come from people on
the ground. While great ideas are hard to come by, so long as you have people thinking and
immersed in their jobs, great ideas are bound to surface. In this regard, organisations do not
suffer from a lack of great ideas.
However, great ideas do not become success stories unless they are implemented. While these
success stories often focus on the individual’s brilliance, it is often the individual’s dogged
determination behind the scenes in translating his ideas into action that makes the difference.
If that is true, every organisation needs to ask itself: How do we harvest the ideas of our workers
when they surface? Are they studied and implemented? Or are they drowned in the sea of
bureaucracy or cynicism? After the idea is approved, are there processes and systems in place
to organise the resources to make the idea happen? Does someone senior in the organisation
guide implementation so that roadblocks are removed?
ExCEL (Excellence through Continuous Enterprise and Learning) is our answer to harvesting
great ideas. For many years and in many ways, it has fulfilled the task. In FY05, the participation
rate of WITS (Work Improvement Team Scheme) stood at 88% and that of SSS (Staff Suggestion
Scheme) at 81%. These projects, which brought the ideas of public officers to fruition, have
resulted in substantial cost savings for the Government. Last year, WITS saved the Government
$252 million while SSS $183 million.
However, a recent survey on ExCEL revealed that ExCEL’s role is becoming increasingly
misunderstood. Fifty percent of officers saw innovation as outside their job scope, while 44%
said that they could only devote less than 10% of their time to exploring promising new ideas.
The rest of the time, they just get on with their work “within-the-box”.
I suspect the reason for this misunderstanding is that the implementation of ExCEL has drifted
from its core over the years. At the root, ExCEL is an expression and an enabler of our belief
that every individual in the Public Service can contribute. It is concerned about developing
each individual. It was never about numbers nor structures for the sake of change. Indeed, if
we embrace the spirit of ExCEL, the boundary between being “within the box” or thinking and
operating outside the box should not even be obvious. Innovation and improvement should be
part and parcel of the way each of us works.
Last month, we celebrated our achievements at the PS21 ExCEL Convention and the Building
Our Singapore: The Public Service in Action exhibition. We were reminded how our ideas built
and transformed Singapore over the years. We were reminded that as public servants, what we
did in the last 40 years made a difference to Singapore.
However, the pace of change in the next 10 years will probably be faster than the last 40 years
put together. Formidable competition and new opportunities are emerging in unexpected
quarters. It is imperative that we not only improve at what we do, but constantly search for new
and better ways of doing things. Far from fading into irrelevance, ExCEL is becoming increasingly
relevant. Therefore, let us go back to the basics, as we build on the achievements of the Public
Service in the last 40 years and prepare our Public Service to be always ready for change. To do
so, we need great ideas that will make a difference for Singapore.
But where do great ideas come from? My answer is: All of us.
Ms Yong Ying-I
Chairman, ExCEL Committee
Permanent Secretary (Health) |
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