Nov 08 – Dec 08

HAPPY NEW YEAR, READERS! A New Year brings beginnings in many areas. But how about starting your life from scratch at the age of 63? While many of us would be contemplating a life busy with perfecting our tans and being far away from anything that beeps, Yale graduate Michael Gates Gill was retrenched from his annual six-figure salaried job, saw his marriage disintegrate and was diagnosed with a brain tumour. Desperate and without health insurance, he found redemption and a new sense of purpose where he least expected: behind the humble counter of a Starbucks coffee outlet. In a book titled “How Starbucks Changed my Life”, the moral of the story is simple: Work is Dignity.  It’s important to love your work and treat people right. In our daily focus geared towards achieving KPIs (Key Performance Indexes) and meeting looming deadlines, it’s easy to lose ourselves (not to mention a few friends) in the heat and get caught up in the rat race. Sorry, but even if you come in first, you’re still a rat.  

Perhaps “conventional” perceptions of success, centred mostly on the accumulation of economic capital, may no longer be all that encompassing and fulfilling in this age, especially in the wake of the global financial meltdown, where faith was misplaced in many major reputable institutions. A paradigm shift to consider and shore up “social capital”may truly reflect the real wealth of an individual or organisation. At ITE, that means ensuring that you, our staff, are cared for.

The recently awarded Platinum Award for the Singapore HEALTH Award 2008 is a good indicator of ITE being a workplace that places emphasis on health promotion programmes. I’m sure many of you were soothed by the unique aromatic creation Balance, given to all staff under the MFE (Managing For Excellence) scheme, which is specially blended by the School of Applied & Health Sciences of ITE College East. My wife absolutely loves the aroma.

We’ll soon know where we stand in terms of overall accountability, quality and outcomes as an organisation. Come January 2009, ITE will be undergoing an important assessment under the ITE Quality Assurance Framework (I-QAF), where an External Review Panel (ERP), appointed by the Ministry of Education, will critique us in our systems, processes and performance. Let’s see this as a wonderful opportunity for ITE to rally together and score well!

Apart from enhancing your physical and emotional well-being, ITE is also a partner of the PS21 Movement, which will be critical in equipping you with increased marketplace value as well. This involves the use of practical tools to foster Innovation, Learning and Service Excellence. There are already commendable ripple effects shown through our Excellent Service Awardees Jonathan Heng and Mae See Toh Wai Theng (Service Excellence); the opportunity for ITE’s Eureka Team CyberLAB to share  on an international stage at Dhaka, Bangladesh (Innovation), and helping others learn important lessons through designing meaningful Board Games for mass production, and organising events like Xtreme Fiesta, just to name a few (Learning).

Other News: Reflect upon the benefits of amassing Social Capital instead: ITE is privileged to give back to the community in Metta Shine Night 2008; some 150 students responded to a call to Make Poverty History in the global initiative “Stand Up 2008”; and Albert Tan shares a heart-warming story on his journey with a dear friend in the last days of her life.

March on, fellow Social Capitalist Comrades!

Editor, IntunE

Looking to the past for renewed inspiration? Search for back issues here!

• 2008
• 2007
• 2006
• 2005
• 2004
• 2003