“Anticipate Change, Welcome Change and Execute Change”, Mr Lim Siong Guan, Adjunct Professor at the LKY School urged in a recent training session with participants from Sri Lanka.
During the three-day programme, senior government officials from Sri Lanka’s Public Service Commission and various ministries learnt to appreciate holistic organisational frameworks. They were introduced to performance management systems in civil services of other countries, and provided with examples of performance management tools that are used as part of an overall performance management strategy.
Located at the crossroads of sea routes between East and West, Sri Lanka serves as a point of entry to South Asia and is fast becoming a hub for business and trade. Having gained “Middle Income Emerging Market Status”, the country has an increasing need for specialised “expert” personnel in the civil service to support and propel its growth and development.
Since 2005, the LKYSPP Executive Education department has received over 150 participants from Sri Lanka. Some of the executive education programmes attended by these participants include the “Microsoft Innovative Government for Public Sector” programme and the “Temasek Foundation Water Leadership Programme”. The School has also trained several cohorts of participants from the Ministry of Finance and Planning in areas such as “Economics and Public Policy”, “Investment and Procurement” and “Public Finance and Management”.
As the programme drew to a close, Mr Lim expressed the hope that the participants would tap on what they had learnt in the three-day programme and return to their workplaces to be agents of change in their own organisations.