Singapore's success, good business practice... and parenting!

One of the keys to Singapore's economic success -- in my view -- is similar to how some of the most successful companies continue to thrive. Indeed the same approach can pay big dividends when bringing up children… namely the rigorous commitment to a relatively small number of principles (or values).

Let's look at the parenting example first. During my childhood there wasn't a list of rules as such (written or otherwise) but there were a few consistent principles. Here are the ones I can recall:

- say please and thank you
- ask to leave the table if you've finished eating
- bed time means bed time
- no means no (if Mom or Dad suspected I'd asked either one of them earlier and was now trying my luck with asking the other one, they always honoured the first answer whomever it came from… and the answer was the same the next day!)

Here are two significant elements with this:

1) there were only a few principles
2) they were applied consistently

Us humans of all sizes can't remember twenty different core rules. We get confused and -- especially as a child -- we'd often not know why we'd been reprimanded. But we can remember a handful.

The other key is consistent application. To follow a rule occasionally is worse than having no rule at all. Uncertainty and stress can result from patchy application.

As kids, the "halo" effect tended to take care of the rest of our behaviours. "Please" and "thank you" and table etiquette tended to promote good manners generally. Bed time and the consistency of a "no" answer tended to promote awareness of other boundaries that we knew we couldn't cross.

So how about Singapore and successful business?

I've been travelling to Singapore for the last 20-odd years and have always been impressed by its cleanliness, safety, and economic success. I've also been aware of the following public service campaigns:

- the courtesy of flushing toilets
- the nuisance of littering
- public transport etiquette (now in the guises of Move-in-Martin, Give-way-Glenda, etc.)
- taking care of personal valuables
- reporting cases of crime and harassment

Okay, there have been others but what struck me was the relatively small number I could recall and their consistency of communication. These messages are pounded into our consciousness over long periods of time. And they need to be!

Human beings are notorious for being expedient and trying to get away with…what we can get away with! But like bringing up children, these messages have a halo effect of promoting good behaviour in other areas of life.

In business, the same thing applies. The core principles that govern the way a company is run are essential for an enterprise to thrive. There is a platform for solving disputes, defining what 'good behaviour' looks like, and an essential supporting tool for awarding advancement.

Without them, boundaries are unclear, there’s often a silent tolerance of non-supportive behaviour and in many cases there is likely to be a gradual shift to mediocrity or worse, gradual decline.

Undoubtedly the most important -- and the most difficult -- part of using principles to guide behaviour is whether they have "teeth". Is the parent, the country, or the organisation prepared to back up the principle with action?

There must be reasonable and clear consequences for breaking a rule and these must be understood by the child, citizen, or employee so there are no surprises if transgression occurs.

A small number of simple principles repeated often and consistently applied can have huge positive effects. It's not a quick fix and few have the rigour to continue this approach for many years. The evidence is clear for those that do though.