Teo Sue Min, Senior Staff Nurse (Nursing Innovation Governance Council), Tan Tock Seng Hospital, NHG Health, Singapore

1) What does public service mean to you? Can you share more about your role in the public sector?

Public service, to me, is about putting others first and continuously striving to improve the lives of those around me.

I am a staff nurse in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit (ICU), and beyond my clinical role, I also serve as the Secretary of the Nursing Innovation Governance Council (NIGC), where I contribute to driving innovation and improvements in nursing practices and patient care.

2) Tell us more about the work you championed. What impact did it have on the community?

Together with my team in NIGC, one of our goals is to foster an inquiry-driven culture among our nursing colleagues across the organisation.

A big part of our work involves facilitating ground-up nursing innovation projects where we guide them through their innovation journey and secure funding for these projects.

We also engage with our nurses on the ground to raise awareness about innovation and partner closely with academic institutions for innovation-related initiatives.

Since we started our NIGC term in April 2024, we have seen a growing number of nurses who are showing greater interest and curiosity towards innovation.

To me, that’s a meaningful start in building a stronger innovation culture within our nursing community.

3) As a young professional, how has your unique background or perspective allowed you to identify a solution that others in your organisation might have overlooked?

As a young professional, I bring that pair of “fresh eyes” and always find myself asking many “why” questions.

This is not to challenge for the sake of challenging, but to better understand why certain practices are put in place. It helps that I can get quite curious and be willing to question the status quo.

This “blank slate” sort of perspective also complements the more experienced nursing colleagues and definitely helps us develop further!

4) What is your personal strategy for maintaining your creative energy when faced with bureaucracy?

I try not to view bureaucracy as a barrier to my work.

While it can sometimes be frustrating and appears to slow down decision-making, I have come to realise that having a negative mindset about bureaucracy impedes progress and does not help in any way.  

Instead, I focus on being clear about the intent behind what I plan to do, find alternatives to do so, while working within the system.

In fact, this makes me more flexible and creative in finding solutions that balance both innovation and the real-world working environment.

5) If you had just one area to invest in to accelerate transformation in the public sector (regulation, technology, talent, etc.), which one would you choose and why?

I would choose talent.

People are ultimately the main driving force of creating meaningful change. At the end of the day, our work is about the people and community.

What’s more, investing in talent brings a diverse array of skills and perspectives, and as a collective, we will be able to create an even better transformation.

6) What is your greatest ambition as you grow in your organisation?

My greatest ambition is to inspire more nurses to embrace innovation as part of their everyday practice.

I hope to continue playing a role in fostering the innovation culture within my organisation, where it goes beyond project delivery, but becomes a shared mindset among the nurses.

What this also means is creating a safe space where nurses feel comfortable enough to challenge the status quo respectfully, share ideas openly and feel confident enough to innovate.

I hope that having a stronger innovation culture will translate to continuous improvement in our care delivery for our patients and in the working environment for the people in the organisation.

7) What is a “universal value” that connects everyone in your department – from interns to directors – and how do you use that to drive collaboration?

We place strong emphasis on building relationships across all levels in our team and in the work we do. In our meetings, we make it a point to create a comfortable environment for sharing ideas and asking questions.

This helps us work together better, as everyone feels supported and remains aligned despite our different levels of experience and seniority.

Beyond that, we also regularly engage our ground nurses through engagement sessions and group huddles.

These interactions allow us to build strong rapport and trust across the nursing community, allowing us to hear directly from them on how we can better support and work more effectively together.

8) What is the best piece of advice you’ve got for the next generation of public servants?

One piece of advice I would offer to the next generation of public servants is to constantly seek new ways of doing our work and to embrace change.

Sometimes, we will want to keep on doing things the same way, especially when it has worked well all the while. But if we were to keep doing the same things, how would we then grow?

Being willing to learn, relearn and adapt to changes will allow us to keep improving and make a greater impact over time!

9) What is a myth you wish to debunk about young public servants?

A myth I wish to debunk is that young public servants lack the experience to contribute meaningfully.

Being young also means bringing fresh perspectives and being open to new ideas. With the right support and guidance, I believe there is so much that young public servants can contribute to drive meaningful changes at work.

10) Write a letter to your future self in 2035. Please keep it within 200 words.

Dear Future Sue Min,

It is 2035 now, and I’m sure the journey to this point has probably not been without its challenges.

But I hope you are still feeling the same excitement in what you are doing, even on tough days, and continue to grow through each challenge that comes your way.

In whatever capacity is right now at work, I also hope you are still finding small yet meaningful ways to make things better for the people and environment around you.

Will things get easier from here on? Probably not!

But remember to keep going and continue serving with purpose!