A week of discovery and education
I co-ordinated my first ever visit programme in SIF. The delegates are from Bhutan, of which one is a Minister from the Ministry of Labour and Human Resource. The visit was meant for the delegates to understand a bit about Singapore especially in the areas of manpower, labour and human resource. So over the past few days, we visited the various statutory boards under MOM and various training institutes dealing with HRM.
As much as the purpose was to educate and introduce the manpower policies and systems in Singapore to them, it was very much an eye opener for me too. The things presented and the current issues Singapore is facing were very much educational for me too. After going through briefings after briefing, I came to realise one thing that every organisation should learn and that is constant training to the employees and also constant upgrading for management level as well. It is crucial to continuosly upgrade our older workers to new skills so that they can find jobs, but it is equally important to train our management to understand that changing times require new management skills and also the freedom to allow employees to grow and learn. Gone are the days of the authoritative figure. If one is too pampared to constantly rely on management, then one will not grow effectively and be adaptable to sudden work environmental changes. So do management, they too have to learn that their employees need the space to explore such changes and to react to these changes effectively and correctly.
I'm glad to see how several agencies (both public and private) have introduced and emphasised the need to tap on our effective human capital. Human capital is the key resource of Singapore. And the issues we have today in Singapore are very much the problem of our human capital. We have a rising older workforce and lesser babies. More are moving out to Singapore to work elsewhere, and thus foreign workers are here to replace those leaving or those who deem construction, cleaning a low class job. This of course will lead to social problems and it ends up affect the people again. The whole cycle continues and the solution will be hard.
I feel proud in the sense that Singapore takes these issues very seriously and how such issues not only impacts the manpower movement but affecting the other parts of governance. Through this visit programme, I educated myself better to understand how certain schemes are there and what is being done to solve certain issues.
To be where we are after 40 yrs is indeed no mean feat. I guess, it only takes to see and understand such real issues that one will feel proud to know that at least things are being looked into. Whether they are solved or not is one thing, but at least it's being looked into and taken into serious consideration. It only takes a foreign observer to appreciate how things have worked so well for us. Perhaps imagine if we were not what we are, 40 yrs to built where we are now compared to others with long history, for them to reach where they are now did not happen in just 40 yrs. Though we may be small, though we;re easy to manage, but this does not present smaller issues or less important issues, the issues are still the same and perhaps in terms of ratio, our issues may be far greater worse than those of bigger countries.
For my delegates, I feel they have gained alot from us. I felt their sincere longing to understand the success we have gained over the years and that we are good examples for them. Like one agency mentioned, this period will be an exciting period for them as they have an open book for them to write about. and that is true, Bhutan will definately be a country to look out for.
A bit about my delegates: They are very courteous people. Gracious and polite, patient and contended. Such simplicity and respect they have are really something we can learn from too. Bhutan is a country in between India and China and modernisation is something very new to them. They preserve their culture and community is still close to their hearts. They are indeed a country of preservation and of simplicity. I loved the way how soft spoken they are and how respectful they are. Indeed the buddhist teachings are evident in their everyday life. I feel honoured and priviledge to have met them. This week, though tiring and tough, i enjoyed the cultural exchanges and the meeting of new friends.
Looks like Bhutan would be a must-go destination for me. :)
