During the past years, I have submitted many suggestions to Government agencies and commercial organisations in making simple improvements that cost little to implement and can add a lot of value to the public and customers.
However, I get the impression that suggestions are not welcomed.
No response
If I was lucky, I would receive a standard acknowledgement that my letter or e-mail has been received and forwarded to someone to look into. Occasionally, I might get a further contact from a person, but that would be “once in a blue moon”.
Often, I would not even get any acknowledgement at all. I often wondered if my letters or e-mails had been received. If I followed up with one or two reminders, I might get a reply that my original mail went into the “spam” folder. What a convenient excuse.
My general impression was that public officials do not like to receive these suggestions. But this habit seemed to be quite common in commercial organisations as well.
The establishment of service quality units in these organisations does not seem to make any difference. It appears to be mainly “for show”.
Unwilling to engage
What are the reasons for this situation? Why is there an unwillingness to engage the public about improving service?
I can think of two.
First, there is the fear of having to make a decision. If one receives a suggestion, one has to make a decision. It is better for decisions to be made by the boss or superiors.
People in Singapore are very good in carrying out orders given by their bosses, but are not good at making judgement or deciding on what is to be done. They also have the difficulty of communicating with their bosses on new ideas.
Second, there is the fear that good suggestions from the public or customers may reflect badly on the people in the organisations.
“Why have we not thought about it before?” Or maybe, “We have thought about it and decided that it does not work. We should stay with our position and defend it. Otherwise, we will appear to be wrong. As Singaporeans, we cannot be wrong!”
Singaporean trait?
Hey! Is this just a Singaporean trait?
To be fair, I believe that this is quite a common trait in most parts of the world. I am not able to identify any exceptions. Americans would probably be different, due to their open society.
I suspect that Singaporeans are probably quite far down the scale in being receptive and open to other ideas. In other words, we probably fare worse than most other countries.
Blame the education system
This is probably the outcome of our education system. We teach people to excel, to fare better than their classmates, to reach the top and win scholarships. This is the passport to a good career in life.
This has probably developed into a trait. Singaporeans want to win, to excel, to show that they are better than others, and that they can solve a problem on their own. So, suggestions from the public are not welcomed.
Approach top people
After some time, I found that I was not getting any headway at the operating level. I decided to send my suggestions to the top people – ministers and the chief executives. I usually received a reply from them. Maybe it is because they knew me personally, or found my suggestions to be sensible.
Being busy people with many things to take care of, perhaps they could not attend to my suggestions personally. They probably passed the suggestions down the line in their organisations. That would usually be the end of the matter.
Sometimes, I might receive a polite reply after a few weeks that my suggestion had been considered, with a few reasons why it could not be implemented.
Nobody bothered to listen to my views on how the perceived obstacles could have been overcome or to consider my suggestions from a different angle.
Finally, it gets done
Wait a few months or years. You might find that your suggestions have been adopted after all. However, you should not expect any acknowledgement of your contribution. It would appear that the idea came from the people within the organisations. As Singaporeans, they perhaps pride themselves on their ability to get the answers on their own. They do not really need any suggestions from the public. Giving credit to others, it seems, would somehow make them “lose face”.
I am talking not only of my personal experience. Many civic minded citizens have sent suggestions to Government agencies and commercial organisations over the years. They shared their experiences with me, which are similar to my personal experience.
Tips for the future
Let me give a few suggestions on how suggestions from the public and customers can be approached differently. I will use the word “contributor” to refer to the person who made the suggestion.
1. When you receive a suggestion, engage the contributor promptly. Have a conversation with the contributor by telephone or e-mail.
2. Listen to the suggestion. Ask a few questions to get more facts and understand the issue.
3. If necessary, re-write the issue or suggestion, with the relevant facts. The contributor may not have written the suggestion clearly in the first place, due to their limited insight or perspective. They may wish to modify their suggestion in the light of additional information.
4. In gathering facts, avoid making any judgement on the merit or feasibility of the suggestion. Avoid another Singaporean trait – to be judgemental.
5. Give a reply to the suggestion within four weeks. Many suggestions cannot be implemented because the time is not right. Say so, and the contributor will understand.
I hope that the service quality managers of these organisations are paying attention to these suggestions.
I believe that many improvements can be made, if Government agencies and commercial organisations adopt an open and receptive approach towards these suggestions. There is a wealth of ideas that can come from the public and customers.
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No reply, no acknowledgement? Send it to ST forum or start a blog like what you did and announce to everyone.
I suspect you’ll get a fast response if you managed to publish in the ST forum. Most government organizations have a protocol to give a response to public letter within a short deadline. As long as your letter to to ST forum is reasonable and doesn’t put yourself and the press in a politically sticky situation, chances of getting it published is quite high.
From my experience, most organisations that receive unsolicited mail from external parties are often wary of the intentions behind the suggestions (even if the suggestion is a good one). A thousand good deeds can be unwind by a single mistake is often the driver for how suggestions are treated.
ST forum is a good way to get noticed. But organisations again take note of people who write multiple letters which they have to respond to (this I speak from experience). The ST forum often has the effect of embarrassing organisations. No matter how right the letter might be, don’t expect an embarrassed organisation to forget such incidents easily. The more letters = the more embarrassment…get the point?
Sometimes suggestors have to be patient. An organisation may decide to time the implementation of certain suggestions. For example, suggestion relating to tax depends timing on budgets etc. Also, suggestions are better received if these come from multiple unrelated persons.
Suggestions that can expect to get less favourable response:
(i) create more work;
(ii) expect credit (IP issue);
(iii) cost a lot or indeterminate cost;
(iv) require multiple agency cooperation;
(v) time sensitive;
(vi) create precedent (doing something new = no idea what are the minefields);
(vii) undefined (eg should support human rights but don’t specify how);
(viii) counter company or public policy (cannot go against what ceo or minister say…)
(ix) minimal benefit to organisation = not worth doing (but if benefit > cost then maybe (i) no issue);
(x) specific benefit = just for one person;
(xi) involve a lot of people (see (i) above);
Just stating a few facts of life. Although the above should not be a barrier to providing suggestions, it does provide some indication of how suggestions will fare. Suggestions that make effort to address the above tend to receive more favourable responses.
to add, some of these people attending to the suggestion-inbox are probably not the best trained to handle it. they may have “officers” to report to or they can’t locate the standard email template to reply..
Remember, these people have their own KPIs that are not linked to suggestion implementation. No organisation hires people just to tackle suggestions.
It is an assumption to think govt depts treat suggestions lightly. Often if something goes wrong, someone who has suggested something previously as a solution would trumpet this suggestion. The organisation often has an internal process to question why such solutions were not implemented in the first place… not easy….
Often we treat govt entities as monolithic blocks but human beings form these organisations. Expecting any person to treat any suggestion (out of the hundreds/thousands received) carefully requires tact.
Here is my reply to Lim (3.53 pm). There is no need to point out 11 reasons why suggestions cannot be implemented. Actually, if we have the time, we can identify about 50 more reasons. This seems to be a Singaporean trait.
When I submit a suggestion, I do not expect my suggestions to be implemented immediately. I only expect my suggestions to be heard and understood. The evaluation may take a longer time.
I find that many Singaporeans are too judgemental. They do not seem to understand the difference between listening and acting. We want to decide, and feel uncomfortable if we are not able to take a decision. That is why many Singaporeans refuse to listen and close their minds to other diverse views.
I hope that this trait can be changed. We need to be more open, to be able to listen, to feel comfortable about understanding (even if we are not able to act on it).
My take is that employees regard suggestions as a chore. Most feel that they have enough work on their plates without such “good samaritan” suggestions which they probably regard as “kaypoh” or “kay gau” in Chinese dialect.
You see, when these suggestions come in, the person receiving them has to collect them, sort them out and pass them on to some Service Quality Mgr. He/she is probably already overworked as this SQM post is another extra function that carries no extra perks or pay, like extra duty in the Army or acting appointment (honorary). The SQM then has to figure out who has to react on them or even to raise themup at the next Quality improvement circle team meeting or whatever.
Eventually, the suggestions get lost deep in the bureaucratic jungle or conveniently forgotten if nobody chases after them,which I think no one would, as the inaction benefits everybody who finds such things a bother and a buggeration.
That is why at times writing to the press is more effective as the issue gets publicly exposed, and somebody will be wincing and grimacing on the inside of the company, esp.government departments.
I have lived overseas and it is the same thing. When you are up against big organisations, you are up against more bureaucratic layers and the inertia will kill the suggestion. When you are up against a small outfit, everybody knows everybody and the person receiving it is usually the small fry, or receptionist, who opens such letters and after “consultation” with colleagues will probably not want to embarass their colleague, to put colleagues in trouble and so trashes them.
In the end, everyone did their job right but the customer is “killed”.
For suggestions to be deliberated and finally to be implemented it really takes some time. I remember back in 1983 or 1984 when I was staying opposite the Bedok Reservoir , I submitted some suggestions to use the reservoir for water sports and also to construct some facilities like shelters/sheds and toilets around the reservoir.I saw reservoirs put to good use in other countries. I am glad there are such facilities now and recently water sports are introduced in the Bedok reservoir. Whosoever got the credits for the ideas is immaterial .
Got something nice to say, go ahead… say loud loud… Got nothing nice to say? Shut the f**k up… That’s their so-call suggestion box… The same for gahmen…
I think any suggestions or letters should be addressed to the relevant department of the company or organisations, such as the public relation department , as I think it would be more appropriate. The PR dept is the key contacts to any company or organisation for the public to communicate. The chances of respond to a reply through this channel would be much better. The PR department of a company or organisation would obliged to reply on behalf of the organization or company they represented.
There are two steps to handling a solution:
Step 1 – listen and understand the suggestion
Step 2 – act on the suggestion.
We need to train a customer service office on step 1. This should be done for every case where the customer gives a contact.
Step 2 is a different matter. Maybe, only 1 percent of suggestions are feasible to be implemented.
Many people do not know the difference between these two steps. Because many suggestions cannot be implemented, they do not even wish to take step 1.
I totally agree that the skill of listening and understanding needs to be improved. And I think this applies to BOTH the speaker and the listener.
The government needs to acknowledge that they hear the people, and people needs to know not everyone can get everything his or her way. This is needed to hold a polite fruitful discussion, and eventually, to build a more civic society.
Oh cmon, even in my workplace where I’m using 3rd party accounting software I kept listing bugs and features that would improve the workflow better, but my boss kept shooting it town, telling me to draw up a list so we can contract the 3rd party developers on a one-shot solution for more ‘value for money’.
On the mean time, ‘deal with it and keep noting down future improvements’
Some time back i sent a suggestion to LTA/Traffic Police to improve traffic near my place. It was rejected politely, usual civil sevice reply etc. The surprise was that my suggestion was actually implemented abt 2 months later, I did not get any email thanking me for my suggestion. So, shd credit go the the civil servant or the person who gave the feedback? Am i doing the work for those who shd be doing it?
“Am i doing the work for those who shd be doing it?”
That is why they want you to give suggestions without making any noise (and quitely) so they can claim the credit without anyone knowing that it is your suggestion.
If you are too noisy, then everyone will start to find out that you are much more better than them and lobang will be broken that their high pay is not so justified. With the internet, we now start to know that the lobang is getting bigger and bigger by the day.
Good ideas & information get shared faster and efficiently this way and no one can claim credit for some common & simple ideas that sometimes those highly paid fat cats cannot think off. Talents, Singapore is plentiful with people like you Dan. Just keep up with you good contribution here in TOC. Do not for a moment have the idea those fat cats are better than you and cloud your sight with smoky illusion.
Thanks Kin Lian for your response. I agree with what you have said.
Best Regards.
“Step 2 is a different matter. Maybe, only 1 percent of suggestions are feasible to be implemented.”
In short, there are certain problems once created have no solutions unless they are willing to do a complete U-turn. The irony is this, and for every turn they make, different sets of problems may arise and different set of people get affected, ad infinitum.
Suggestions ? Nice words to talk about but sometimes the subsequent implementation is not so nice to handle.
Steps 1 and 2 are what engineers and scientists do best. Hire them at the top.
One common perception I get from the non-reply and non-acknowledgement of our suggestions is this mentality – are you trying to teach your grandma to suck eggs?!
Often these people think they know best and everyone else are just ignorant fools, no matter how well-meaning we are…sigh
I have tried giving feedback and suggestions to various organisations, but if you see their website, it is not friendly to receiving feedback, the standard form actually discouraged anyone from doing so. Some website, it is almost impossible to find a feedback link easliy.
Recently I purchased the Singapore transport guide 2008 – published by one company called SCIP Enterprise – I wanted to give some feedback and could not find their telephone number although their fax and email address were printed together ith their address in the back page.
I actually like the transport guide and remember it was given free by NTUC Income during Mr Tan Kin Lina’s management.
There was a letter in the Zaobao by a reader who raised concern about the toxic chemical being released from the rafia strings that were used to tied the rice dumplings. A Chinese physician confirmed about the toxic in Xin Min Daily the following day. AVA dismissed the concern by saying that although there are toxic in the rafia strings, it is no issue since we do not eat dumplings everyday.
The dumplings industry especially the big food chain did not respond at all.
I sent an e-mail to the editor of the a newspaper Times to make some suggestions on how to improve their Sudoku puzzle. I received no response. My reminder gets the same treatment – no response.
A colleague said that the editor has been quite busy. So busy – that they cannot give a brief reply?
Wow! This is the typical Singaporean behaviour. It applies to the commercial sector as well.
Singaporeans are just afraid to engage the public. They don’t want to listen. They are afraid that they have to take a decision, e.g. to say “yes” or “no” to the suggestion.
And they like to be senior people in our business or government organisations.
Sigh!
My experience is most government agencies can give an acknowledge email very soon, mostlikely within 1-2 hours. They response much faster than those commercial companies like DBS, singtel, which normally take a few days, some time even a few weeks.
Anyway, whether they will adopt your suggestion, depends on the nature of your suggestion, if it is small and easily done, they will act fast, lile I once complaint to LTA there is a small pit hole in the PIE, the next day I found it is repaired.
I also have suggested to LTA to install a traffic light at a serangoon road small T junction, they reply me that is not nessesary, but in the past 2 years, I have seen at least 3 traffic accidents at the same junctions. Anyway, they do go to this junction to check the situation, I appreciate it, but still regret they do not take any action.
I also suggested to the Police, Case, LTA, NESTS company should inform public to keep the SN. of their cashcard, if this number is recorded, in case of cashcard is stolen, police will be able to trace it. If government does not make
such announcement, nobody will bother to keep a record of their cash card.
Why the thieves never steal your IU ( the value is much higher), only steal your cashcard, it is because they know the IU has a SN in the record, so if there are 20% motorist keep a record of their cashcard numbers, most thieves will not steal cashcard, and motorist can keep their cash card inside the IU, it reduce crime rate, also improve road safety.
The NESTS reply is that they can not discuess this issue with me.
The LTA responsed first, said they are just a merchant of cashcard, can not do much, anyway, they give some information, confirm that if there is a record of SN, the cashcard is tracable.
The CASE reply a few days later, said they will discuss it, no reply.
The police reply is 1 month later, they said “Police encourage members of public through crime advisories to make a note of their cashcards’ serial numbers in case their cashcards are stolen. ” But my problem is I did not see there is any effort from police to pass this information to motorists
Anyway, gerneral speaking, they will response to public feedback, sooner or later, whether they will adopt it, is very subjective.
Hi Brian Lin,
Occassionally, I get a reply to my suggestion. But that is the end of the matter. There is no attempt to contact or engage me, to ask for more facts, to listen to the suggestion.
This reflects a bad attitdue of Singaporeans. It is arrogance, It comes from our highest level and is brought down to various levels of authority. It is also the reflection of the commercial sector.
Basically, the people in authority treat the ordinary people as “mere digits” to be ignored.
Sigh!
I only expect a small percentage of suggestions to be implemented. But I think that respect should be shown to the people who make the effort to send the suggestion. Usually, many suggestions can be implemented, but one has to wait for the right time. At least, there should be this type of communication.
Sigh! Sigh!
In the spirit of this article, can I suggest to the TOC folks to segment the comments section into clickable links with say 10-15 comments each? Sometimes there are interesting discussions going on and this would make it easier to keep track, as well as to reduce the overall length of the page that needs to be scrolled.