Sparking a Service Excellence Mindset at a Government Agency
Summary
Building a service-oriented culture is hard in any organisation. It is especially challenging for a government agency tasked with the regulation, health and safety of the labour force in the country. Yet, the Ministry of Manpower in Singapore succeeded in becoming one of the leaders and champions of service excellence. How did they do it? Their story is pieced together in this behind the scenes look at the design of their award-winning website.
Key Insights
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Singapore's Ministry of Manpower improved service through a service excellence mindset shaped by strong narratives aligned to national design and innovation goals.
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Orchestrating the entire customer journey, not just individual parts, reveals hidden pain points — likened to exposing the full 'elephant' rather than blind men touching parts.
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MOM transformed a complex foreign professional hiring process by improving web findability, introducing self-assessment tools, clearer communication, and redesigning physical service centers with IDEO’s human-centered design.
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Design democratization requires shifting from a production mindset (creating content in silos) to a consumption mindset focused on user success and cross-department collaboration.
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MOM created a multi-departmental content team to collectively review and improve thousands of web pages, using intensive sessions like the 'bond raising' method to accelerate alignment.
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Ownership structural changes, such as moving website responsibility from communications to customer responsiveness team, were crucial to enabling continuous improvement and effective service.
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The concept of playing an infinite game, inspired by James Carse and emphasized by Lou Rosenfeld, frames service design as continual tending rather than periodic redesigns.
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Colab, MOM’s behavioral insights group, applies data-driven human-centered experiments including empathic role-playing and nudges to improve policy outcomes like timely levy payments.
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Continuous user research and iterative testing with citizens remain essential but challenging, highlighting the tension between one-time and ongoing engagement.
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A clear, anchored set of service principles (HEART acronym) serves as a cultural infrastructure that reminds staff of their service commitment and supports the infinite game approach.
Notable Quotes
"Small but big paradox plays in every aspect of life here in Singapore— we make up for limited physical space with unlimited mental space."
"Narrative shapes identity and inspires action. Amazon’s Day One narrative shows how overarching stories guide hiring, projects, and failure mindset."
"We need to find the narrative, not just use a narrative; sometimes it’s hidden and must be dug out."
"The six blind men and the elephant story teaches us never to work in silos but to see the whole journey."
"Every page is page one mindset helps users accomplish a task at the end of each page rather than overwhelming them."
"The service center redesign with IDEO turned a crowded, intimidating place into a five-star hotel experience with name calls and family cabanas."
"The shift from a production to consumption mindset means my job is not done till my customer’s job is done."
"The bond raising method locked everyone in a room to collectively review 1000 pages in three months, bridging silos quickly."
"Playing the infinite game means tending the garden continuously; service excellence is a continuous effort not a finite project."
"Giving ownership to the customer responsiveness department was the game changer to maintain and improve the digital service experience."
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