Last month 21 up and coming staff from across NHG institutions attended the inaugural NHG Young Leaders Programme.

These young doctors, nurses and allied health professionals have been identified by their institutions as having the potential to be groomed as NHG’s future leaders.

The programme which was developed in collaboration with the NUS Business School covered such topics as Team Excellence and People Leadership, Essential Management Skills & Tools. Following the programme, the participants are expected to return to their office and apply what they had learnt during the course, track what they are doing and the outcome, and then come September they will meet to share their experiences.

“Before this, I saw nursing as a small piece of a big jigsaw puzzle. Now I can see more clearly at how the piece fits into the big picture,” says senior staff nurse Ong Shi Wei from the Institute of Mental Health.

For Edwin Chew, deputy director from ITD, what he enjoyed most about the programme was picking up negotiation skills. “I learnt how to win the person over during the negotiation process. And I can see myself applying this at work,” says Edwin.

The eight-day programme included a 3D2N stay at the Outward Bound School in Pulau Ubin. For the participants this was when they got to bond and share some fun times together. From the sing-along sessions it was discovered that apart from their leadership potential – there were among them some with the potential to be the next Singapore Idol!