Harness positive aspects of kiasuism to spur innovation

During the Budget 2016 debate, there were interesting speeches on how to transform Singapore into a more innovative society.

In particular, there was intense focus on the need to change our kiasu mentality to facilitate this (“Singapore should kill ‘kiasu’ culture: NMP Kuik Shiao-Yin”; April 5, Channel NewsAsia).

Cultural inclinations like our kiasuism are entrenched, for better or worse, reflecting our current economic landscape, strategy, orientation and urge to stay competitive as a small nation.

But it is possible to draw on its positive aspects, turn them to our advantage and offset some of the negatives.

While our “afraid to lose” culture is perceived as a roadblock in building an innovative society, there are also contributing factors of structural and situational nature, such as being busy with operations, lack of talent, funding problems and leadership struggles.

To compound the challenges, there are other pertinent problems of cultural origin, such as a narrow focus on expense control, growth obsession, a conservative mindset and a tolerance of mediocrity.

Together, they are powerful change inertia that can hold back the march of innovation.

To engineer a cultural transformation in this unfavourable context, all stakeholders have plenty of work to do. External catalysts and controls, while necessary, are insufficient if there are strong inclinations to behave in a particular way.

To overcome such cultural stiffness, we can emulate the strategies used in successful transformations by corporations with a deep culture. In such environments, the traditional planning playbook is inadequate, as the prevailing culture can triumph over any formal strategy to transform it.

Instead of only marching in with a new vision and strategy without considering the hazardous cultural terrain, great patience and ground preparation are needed to sweeten the environment before any intervention.

This is critical to opening up conversation channels, listening to feedback and suggestions, altering belief systems and motivating the right behaviours. This serious engagement requires some organisations to recruit influential insiders to work the ground tirelessly to change perceptions.

On top of these benefits, it allows a new management to tap the strengths of the corporate culture to formulate better strategy responses.

Similarly, while our kiasu culture has many limitations, it does have strengths that have helped to bring Singapore to its current level of development.

Kiasuism is not unique to Singapore; rather, it is a unique manifestation of any competitive society to excel economically.

As for formal measures to facilitate cultural change, close alignment and connection between strategy and the desired future state of development are needed. In Budget 2016, there is a connection to facilitate this innovation-driven transformation.

Despite businesses’ many calls for short-term relief, economic restructuring continues, with more innovation-centred measures announced. This is a welcome change and a giant step towards a more innovative society.