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SINGAPORE – Industry disruptions and the Covid-19 pandemic have created new challenges that organizations and individuals must respond to, and public service is no exception, said Minister in Charge of Public Service Chan Chun Sing, on Friday (October 16).
Public officials will need to be flexible and exposed to diverse experiences, even beyond the public sector, to respond to uncertainties and outliers.
The public service will also need to adapt its systems for evaluating public officials to meet challenges, Chan said during the Public Service Observance Ceremony held for the virtual first time.
“It is not enough that good officers are assigned to different ministries or agencies, but that they perform the same functions,” he said.
“It is even more important for them to be assigned to different roles.”
The event is part of the annual Public Service Week, which has been held since 2008 to celebrate and recognize the work done by government officials.
Noting the need to update the Currently Estimated Potential (CEP) system, Mr. Chan said: “It cannot be, as some of you jokingly call it, the ‘Career Endpoint’ system, as if your destiny was predetermined and would not change. Instead, we must have a system of continuous meritocracy. “
He told more than 9,200 civil servants who attended the ceremony that the civil servant career roadmap should be for the next three to five years, not the next 30 years.
“We will also update the way we assess high potential. To show leadership potential, we must not only be able to develop strong policies, we must be able to implement them well, innovate, work as a team, communicate effectively, and mobilize people. stakeholders relevant to the collective action, “said the minister.
“It is not easy or realistic to find and develop all these attributes in a single individual. That is why we will also pay greater attention to the formation of leadership teams in ministries and agencies.
“Ultimately, it is the team that must perform well for Singapore and our organization, beyond individual performance.
“We will progressively increase the CEP system with this new approach from 2021.”
Chan said senior public service officials should be exposed to politics, operations and communications or mobilization work, and they should also have periods out of public service in the public and private sector or abroad.
Mr. Chan said, “The world is getting more complex. We can’t expect to know everything if we don’t venture out.
“We can’t preach agility when we don’t practice it.
“We cannot develop policies and rules for tomorrow if we do not know how society and the world operate beyond public service. We must walk on the ground, get to know our people, our shareholders and our businesses better.”
During the ceremony, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong addressed public officials in a video message, thanking them for their work during the pandemic.
The government’s response to Covid-19 was not perfect, and there were many things it could have done better in hindsight, he said.
“Where we have fallen short, we will learn from the experience and do better. But overall, the public service rose to the occasion,” he said.
“We fought the virus, kept our people safe, and cared for workers and families. Public officials have put their hearts and souls into it, and given everything they have. No dedicated, high-quality civil servants , we couldn’t have stood a chance.
“This Public Service Week, I salute all of our public officials for their dedication and efforts. Thank you for what you have done and continue to do.
“The fight is not over. Our battle continues, but together we will win.”
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