What do Luke Skywalker, Harry Potter, Mark Zuckerberg and our Chief Human Resource Officer, Mr Goh Leong Huat, have in common? Mentors who shared life experiences and wisdom to guide them through some of their toughest times.

“Do. Or do not. There is no try.” Even non-Star Wars fans among us would be familiar with this quote from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back where the wise Yoda, in one of his many quotes on life lessons, offers young Luke Skywalker support, challenges him to learn and grow, and provides the vision to build his confidence and, eventually, independence.

Many other movies have been built on the foundation of relationships between memorable mentors and mentees (think Mr Miyagi and the Karate Kid, Dumbledore & Harry Potter), but the benefits of mentoring do not exist only on-screen. Mark Zuckerberg had Steve Jobs, and Oprah Winfrey had Maya Angelou. So why is mentoring such an important aspect of our professional and personal development? 

Mr Goh Leong Huat, Chief Human Resource Officer, SGH believes that anyone can be a mentor and can benefit from mentoring. The key is to keep an open mind to learning and problem solving. He shares his experiences both as a mentor and a mentee throughout his career and his hopes for making mentoring entrenched component in the SGH culture. 

Leong Huat, the thorn among the roses in the second row, with the SGH HR team.

•  Tell us three things that you appreciated most about your mentors:

LH: I spent most of my career in the military where mentoring took place both formally and informally. Thinking back, my best mentors were those who, through their leadership, imparted value systems and shaped my way of thinking. One important trait that I really appreciated was their ability to suspend judgment, oftentimes a very difficult thing to achieve. This ability to maintain objectivity or neutrality is important because on many occasions, especially as a young officer, I did not have the experience to see the big picture and my mentors’ guidance enabled me to gain insights into their perspectives, and their considerations and thought processes when making decisions.

•  The most valuable benefit from having a mentor is ...

LH: To be able to gain different (sometimes totally fresh!) perspectives to a scenario that may be different from what you are encountering. The way we approach an issue is shaped by our value systems and mental models, and we may be blindsided by factors that can have an impact on the decision we make. Just like the parable of the blind men and the elephant, we create our own version of reality based on our limited experience and perspectives.  When a mentor offers a different viewpoint, sometimes we go, “Oh yes! Why didn’t I think of that?” When you then apply this new avenue of thinking to the issue at hand, the result or decision taken can be very different.

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•  What is the one reason everyone should strive to be a mentor after you have gained some experience in your career?

LH: The opportunity to learn from younger or more junior colleagues. When I started my career about 30 years ago, the expectations were for our managers to give answers to the problems we encounter, give directions, make decisions… Today, things are very different. Things are infinitely more complex, and there is often no single definitive answer to questions.  Our younger colleagues want to be part of the decision making process; they want to be more involved in shaping the future. This is what keeps them engaged and motivated in an organisation.  

•  What is your vision for fostering the culture of mentoring in SGH? 

LH: Over time, the vision is to embed mentoring as an integral part of our organisational DNA. Even as we strengthen the culture through the formal SGH mentoring framework that we have put in place, the goal is to eventually create an environment which promotes learning and growth, sharing of knowledge and wisdom and role-modelling amongst all levels of staff in a self-reinforcing manner. This means that staff of different levels of seniority will naturally and consciously take on the role of a mentor so that we are able to build trust and strengthen relationships, and enable open and transparent communication across SGH and SingHealth. 

For more information on SGH Mentoring, please click here!

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