8. Good Scholars - Past & Present

Our best scholars know they have to start from the bottom in order to reach the top. They realize that to gain the respect of others, they have to gain experience before they can make a meaningful contribution. They willingly go to operational jobs and get their hands dirty. To them, each posting is a challenge and an opportunity to learn new things, even if there are low moments. They learn to take the rough with the smooth.

They know that implementation is unglamorous but vital to policy-making. They realize that they need to convince others of their competence through actual performance and should not expect their potential to propel them upwards. They know that no outcome can be due only to their own brilliance, but is the combined effort of their team. They do not look down on non-scholars because they know that many non-scholars have deeper knowledge and more wisdom.

Policy Making is Operational

Why is it important for scholars to start at the bottom? While learning the ropes and acquiring a dose of humility are worthwhile benefits in themselves, there is in fact a much more fundamental reason. Many scholars say they want to join the Management Associate Program and become Administrative Officers because they want to 'make policy'. But they fail to realize that a policy is only as good as how it is implemented.

Policy making and implementation go hand in hand. To make good policy, officers need a feel for the ground and an understanding for practical implementation constraints. You cannot conceive of good policies or make improvements to existing policies just from first principles or what you have learnt at university. You have to understand our society and economy, how things work, what can be done and what cannot. It is not enough to focus on formulating a policy without going into the details of how it should best be carried out. As a public servant, you are responsible for both.

We do not have a system where scholars think and non-scholars do. A scholar must be able to both think and do. A well conceptualized policy will fail if it is poorly implemented. A public servant who does not anticipate ground reactions and think through the impact that a particular policy will have on people is a poor public servant. An operational job enables you to learn firsthand how to implement policies and discover for yourself what the possible pitfalls are when you deal with the real world.

Recollections of Older Scholars

I asked a few Permanent Secretaries and Deputy Secretaries who had been scholars to share with me their recollection of the first few years they spent in the public service. What they told me may be of interest to you as you embark on your public service career.

A Police scholar started as an Assistant Investigations Officer, doing frontline work on suicides, thefts, molestations, etc. The posting taught him people skills because he had to work with non-scholars and developed his empathy for the public when he dealt with crime victims who sought his help.

Another started work as a Statistician where she spent her first week figuring out what she was supposed to do. She shared a phone with a subordinate, and because she was more senior, the phone was placed on her desk. But she soon realized that her subordinate needed the phone more than she did, and she therefore placed it on the other desk instead. That experience taught her that function was more important than position.

When another officer started work, he had a subordinate who was old enough to be his father. Their ideas were often at odds, but he soon realized that while he had lots of knowledge, his subordinate had a lot more wisdom. Over time, he learned to complement his own analysis with his subordinate's suggestions.

Another recalls how she had to do many things herself ? photocopying papers for meetings, receiving and serving visitors and taking lots of minutes during meetings, sometimes as many as three sets a day. She had to be very nice to the typists in the Typing Pool in order to ensure that her work did not end up at the bottom of the pile.

Next: Young Scholars - Some Cause For Concern