Systems Leadership to Build a Better Future

Mr Tan Chuan-Jin

Special guest and colleague, Speaker of Parliament

Mr Seah Chin Siong

President and Chief Executive Officer of SIM

Dr Otto Scharmer

Co-founder of the Presencing Institute and the u-school for Transformation

Distinguished Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

Opening

1. A very good morning to all of you. Thank you very much for inviting me here to speak at the Centre for Systems Leadership Conference 2022.

Progress Towards SG100

2. This conference is of great importance – it brings together systems leaders across the private, people and public sectors to build a shared understanding and vision for Singapore’s future.

3. You will explore new ideas and forge collaborations to catalyse change. That is really the key as we progress towards SG100.

   1. Participants of the SG100 Futures Lab Workshop conducted over the past three days will co-facilitate these discussions.

4. Earlier on, the emcee mentioned “Forward Singapore”. I currently co-lead one of the “Forward Singapore” pillars, which is the Unite pillar, and it is really about finding common consensus, common ground on how we can come together as one united people and how we can bring Singapore forward towards SG100. I am very glad to see so many of you finding opportunities to come together to find new ways to review and eventually refresh our social compact. Because by working together amongst Singaporeans, with Singaporeans, corporates, business, people, private and public sectors coming together as one will really make a difference as we move forward on this journey.

   1. We want to see Singapore continue to thrive as a nation and create better outcomes for society.

   2. And to do that, we need to grow care, mutual trust, responsibility towards each other, and strengthen our commitment to Singapore.

   3. And when we say we want an inclusive Singapore, we want to make sure that it is not just words spoken but as agreed and practiced by the community.

Systems Leadership to Build a Better Future

5. With increasing complexity and connectedness – we see so much of that recently because of COVID-19 – and as mentioned earlier, problems today are truly multi-dimensional and there is really no one solution to it all and requires people to come together to bring the solutions. In that regard, a systems perspective can help us shape a better future by:

   1. Building a shared overview and understanding of complex problems,

   2. Facilitating reflection and generative conversations, and

   3. Shifting our focus from reacting to problems to co-creating the future based on collective aspirations – how do we anticipate, how do we plan, and how do we see ourselves changing and morphing to deal with tomorrow’s challenges today.

6. We are implementing some elements of systems leadership in our work as well. Let me share some examples. The National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre and Singapore Business Federation Foundation have been working with business representatives to develop a National Framework and Blueprint on Corporate Purpose.

   1. This will allow leaders from different sectors, different businesses to impact the society by coming together as long as you bring to bear your vision, your leadership from your sector into the common pool of corporate purpose. It will really make a difference for Singapore.

7. Let me share some examples of leaders and organisations working across siloes and sectors to create a better future:

   1. SingPost believes they have a responsibility as well to the communities around them, the communities in which they operate in.

      • In March this year, they launched a new purpose statement – “Making Every Delivery Count for People and Planet”. 

      • In line with this, SingPost is now taking part in a trial with the People’s Association to grow care and to be more concerned in the constituencies starting with Cheng San-Seletar. SingPost will highlight to the Constituency Office any anomalies in mail collection patterns of residents of HDB blocks, such as those who have not collected their mail for a long time. Constituency Office representatives will then check on the wellbeing of residents.

   2. Another example is Mr Tanguy Lim, CEO of Law Society Pro Bono Services (LSPBS), who demonstrated systems leadership by working across the private and people sectors to bring free legal assistance to those in need.

      • Through an MOU signed between the Mayors’ Committee and LSPBS, volunteer lawyers now proactively go out into the community to provide free legal clinics to over 13,000 vulnerable service users at Community Development Councils since 2017. They go into the community where these services are needed and very often the people who came forward to ask for assistance were people who felt that they do not have enough ability to go down to the Law Society office to seek help for pro bono services. So being in the community, being in a comfortable setting and known environment made all the difference.

      • LSPBS also signed an MOU with the SG Cares Office to promote skills-based volunteerism in Singapore’s legal sector. Under that MOU, LSPBS has collaborated with SG Cares Volunteer Centres to conduct webinars on legal topics and trained more than 400 volunteers to enhance services on the ground.

      • On skills-based volunteerism, I must say that this is another good example where you see people from different sectors coming together to do good. SG Cares skills-based volunteerism is where you could volunteer your skills that you are an expert in such as a lawyer putting forth his legal skills or doctors. The SG Cares Office also has a MOU with the Singapore Medical Association (SMA) where they volunteer their time, services, advice, and expertise.

      • So, do volunteer in a space and in a way that best fit your own expertise. We have many people coming forward to do volunteer work – lawyers, engineers, doctors, nurses – to do good for the community. It is very good but sometimes we may end up seeing seniors living in a rental flat with eight packets of rice or many packets of Milo or instant noodles and we want to avoid where much of their efforts are duplicated if not wasted. So, at SG Cares we bring the different resources together, see how we should acknowledge the different space and skills that best fit the purpose or issues at hand.

   3. Let me share a little bit about the Beyond the Label Collective launched last month which brings together 26 partners from the private, people and public sectors to encourage social inclusion.

      • The collective is led by NCSS and TOUCH Community Services, with partners from IHLs, corporates such as Facebook Singapore, and IMH.

      • All of them bring together different skills and expertise in this space to address issues which are multifaceted such as mental wellness, raising awareness of stigma, promoting inclusion and inclusive hiring practices, and providing training for mental health support.

      • So, you can see today’s problems are very difficult to solve simply as a health issue or as a behaviour issue. It really requires people from different backgrounds with their different skillsets to come together to analyse the problem and finding solutions in the long term.

Conclusion

8. As I close, I know that you have had an engaging session earlier on while I was chatting with my colleague who has participated in the programme. And I think it also makes a difference to the way we think about society once we are socialised into the systems leadership concept.

9. Experts have noted that the world is entering an age of poly crisis – crisis of the climate, crisis of inequality, crisis of trust and wellbeing where we are coming together interfacing, intersecting and in some ways interacting with one another as well. This conference will impact the way which we look at problems and address problems. I think the impact of this will and potentially be far more intense than the sum of the parts.

   1. This greater complexity will require us to adopt a systems perspective to deal with issues and problems and chart a better way forward. It will also require us to work across society, which is why I said when I was looking at the ground, at this room, looking at the people from the different spaces, I think what is valuable from today’s topics and agenda is the fact that we have people represented across a spectrum of sectors right here sharing their passion and also about building networks and connections. It will also require us to sometimes break down traditional roles, boundaries, and disciplines to work together, bring about better change, and collectively enhance the services for beneficiaries on the ground.

   2. I encourage all of us to think not only about what we can do as individuals but also as leaders of corporates and organisations, and across fields with a systems perspective, to inspire fellow Singaporeans to think about this more deeply and to co-create our own desired future.

10. I think we are all here because we believe that working together makes a big difference, and like the old saying “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” And I think in this room today, there are many ingredients and ways on how we can do so together. Have an enjoyable conference, discuss these issues not just with the speakers but also build networks across the room and tables around you.

11. Thank you.