Lim siong guan speech pathologist

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Is risk-taking, and risk of failure, less of a taboo in today’s Public Service? Are public officers daring to risk more to embrace innovation?

IN Apollo 13, a Hollywood film about a moon mission that turned into a mission to save three astronauts trapped in a crippled space vessel, one famous line stands out: “Failure is not an option.”

The line from the acclaimed 1995 movie may be artistic licence, but the spirit of the message from mission control is relevant to any discourse on risk-taking and innovation.

Is failure an option – or acceptable outcome – in pursuit of innovation in the Public Service, where responsibility comes with the added weight of public funds?

The famous inventor Thomas Edison, who perfected the electric light bulb, said:

This is a variation on the axiom that one must always learn from one’s mistakes. But would Edison’s success rate (or wastefulness, depending on your perspective) fly with the Public Service? Would his level of risk-taking be accepted or encouraged?

If perception is reality, then perhaps not. The pervasive ingrained public service culture seems to suggest that “failure” is a dirty word.

To tolerate, or seem to be soft on, failure would suggest a blasé attitude in an achievement-centred economy. Better, then, to be safe, than sorry?

Are the preceding two paragraphs a fair assessment or a persistent stereotype? How do public officers today approach innovation; where do they draw the line between daring and foolhardiness, responsible and irresponsible?

Mr Lim Siong Guan, Head of Civil Service from 1999 to 2005, wrote in a 2002 commentary: “The fear of failure is the single most important reason people hold themselves back from thinking and trying. But we cannot expect

Hearing Impairment

Some people are born with hearing impairment (congenital) while many others may lose their hearing later in life (acquired). Hearing loss can be classified to different degree or type of hearing loss, eg. mild to severe profound hearing loss; one or both ears may be affected with one side worse than the other; gradual or sudden hearing loss etc.

If you think you may have hearing problems, you should consult an Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) Specialist/audiologist. Let your doctor/audiologist know if:

• You have difficulty listening when more than one person in the room is talking
• You have to concentrate quite hard to understand the other person when you are having conversation
• You often get confused on where a sound is coming from
• The voices of women and children seem harder to understand
• You can sometimes hear a hissing, rushing or ringing sound in the ear
• You feel that people mumble or that their speech is not clear, or you hear only parts of conversations when people are talking
• You often ask people to repeat what they said
• Friends or family tell you that you don’t seem to hear very well
• You need to ask others about the details of a class or meeting you attended
• People say that you play music or your TV too loudly
• You can’t hear the doorbell or telephone

The ENT Specialist will perform an ear examination and, if necessary, refer you to an audiologist. The audiologist will use various hearing tests to detect where the problem might be and how severe the problem is.

Cochlear Implant

Depending on the severity of the condition, we have several treatment options available including our cochlear implant programme targeted towards people with severe to profound hearing loss.

Visit our cochlear implant page to learn more about this solution.

Speech Problem

For many of us, normal speech might seem effortless, but speech is a complex process that requires precise timing, ne