OTHERS
Re-designing Boundaries for a Post Crisis Singapore
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A response to crisis.
- Give space for emotions and experience
- Untangle reflections & information
- Forewarn trends in Singapore's social sector
- Bring awareness & opportunity for resilience
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Boundaries
- Inevitable yet invisible phenomenon
- Designed to protect, develop identity and optimize freedoms (in shared spaces)
- live in our assessments, beliefs, values, relationships and rules
- can bring immeasurable goodness or harm to people who live or without them
- can limit, exclude or even oppress others
- begin linguistically (as a thought or spoken) and manifest in our spaces and places (physically, how we act etc)
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1) What are the coping mechanisms people should be aware of during crisis?
(emotional boundaries)
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- Indifference
"I do no want to know"
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- Distraction
'I do not seek to understand'
danger of knowing the headlines but not understanding enough to be useful
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- Blame
"I do not want to be responsible'
know and understand but it's not my problem
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Covid-19 observation
- younger groups (indifference. even if I know about it, there's nothing I can do about it)
- 20s - 40s (distraction. worried about jobs, don't want to think about it)
- older groups (going into blame)
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Trends in the news
1) Authoritarians are exploiting the crisis because everyone is distracted by the pandemic
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- south china sea crisis. countries fighting over this water, boundaries crossing over each other. china using the covid period to send out ships to the sea to build military bases to claim the area. might lead to military conflict
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- 98% of fatalities come from developed nations. (might be lack to testing. which means the number of death is higher than we think it is. the numbers of death in developed nations are starting to plateau but the numbers in developing countries have only begun. Concern for developed nations who are highly dependent on labor from developing countries. without this labour coming back, the srevices we experience will be different)
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- Food supply chains are broken globally. Many industries and sectors have only months to live. Countries are no longer trusting globalization. China blocking imports as leverage to protect their image (countries trying to investigate Wuhan and china is trying to stop imports from this country if they were to support those investigations) . Food production has been severely minimized. Medical supply chains were broken - countries keeping their resources for themselves. (Singapore is largely dependent on imports for these, is it worth worrying about?)
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Ignorance can keep us emotionally safe. But also indifferent and ill prepared.
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Indifference (Concern / Curiosity)
Distraction (Make meaning)
Blame (Grow responsibility & independence)
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2) How has limitation of space changed our understanding of boundaries?
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Boundaries: relationship between trust and space must be understood as a core principle in unpacking the effects of the crisis.
(the more you begin to break relationships, the more resources you will need,eg. when people divorce, they can't split the 5 room flat. the more costly it becomes)
- quality of relationship has real life implications on the space
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- as long as Singapore has the luxury to continue to build new space or has creative urban planners to continue to reuse new space. we are okay
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- covid - 19 removed the luxury of enjoying diversity. if the restriction of space continues like this, we have to reconsider how we use space, it will put a strong pressure on managing relationships (because we don't have that much space) if these conversations succeed, we will see new culture and behavior. if these trust conversations lack or fail, then tensions about controls, costs, mitigation or efficiency would emerge.
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- new habits and new trends will change markets and spaces (is there still a need for malls? is there a need for office?)
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- people are more moderate in times of peace. in times of crisis, people swing to want control and find security in those who are in control. in crisis, people are brought to so much anxiety that they crave for leadership.
(In Singapore, if the political leaders don't speak up, people will turn to right wing channels who are speaking up. if these websites are not watched properly, it will lead to fragmentation in society)
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Expect far more conversations resulting in behavioral change. Pay attention to the conversations that are shifting boundaries.
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3) What is uncertainty, anxiety, control and system telling us about how we live? ​
a) Uncertainty (crisis begins)
b) Anxiety (belief that our survival or success is at stake)
c) Control (try to get some control to change something. They are not reflecting or thinking, just want to go back to how things were - how much do I trust myself or agencies?)
d) Systems (if they can't control, they will go to systems to try to manage things on our behalf. Access the systems' reliability)
if systems fail them, they loop back into uncertainty.
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Analogy:
a) Student does poorly for exams, steps out of exam hall, uncertainty begins.
b) Enters into anxiety
c) Tries to find a way to re take the test or do some other projects for extra credits etc
d) Goes to parents to write letter, submit an appeal etc.
- Globally, fear and anger will be brought over into systems.
- Global trends is way behold our control. The fear and the belief is where it first starts (pay attention)
- Pay attention to anxiety in the country (it's very diversifed). Pay attention to the reason why different people are anxious
- Systems are Human. (singapore as a system is sitting on other systems. singapore systems is human, they can be discouraged, can be exhausted)
- Control (self efficacy)
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SESSION 2 INTRO
- Covid 19 is a health crisis in the short run
- In the long term, it is a global trigger for a complete reconfiguration of space
- Boundaries are being shifted and paradigms shift are not unprecedented. (eg. WW2's "new norm" is that women suddenly crossed the gender boundaries and stepped up to do work that men used to do) https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/sep/11/second-world-war-rebuilding
- Human needs won't change. Where we congregate, where we are engaged will change. Learn where the new nodes will be. Figure out where these new economies of scale can be achieved.
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Trust is the willingness to be in common space (physical, psychological, intellectual, professional and emotional space) with another.
The more we trust a person, the more spaces we are able to enter these spaces with them.
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Meet them where they are and create a space where people can trust to come in.
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Because trust exist in space, trust has chronology to it.
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Areas we can work on to build trust:
PAST
- Ownership (things that happened in the past has nothing to do with you. have I gotten over my own baggage? What experience do they hold in the past that I had not experience yet - such that I can trust but they can't trust)
- Healing (Grief)
- Empathy / Range (what is it people will need, empathy is a skill to be built and practice)
- Competence (
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PRESENT
- Sincerity (who you are at the table)
- Identification
- Presence (how much we show up. we don't get distracted by the future, leave the past in the past)
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FUTURE
- contracting
- Consistency (showing up)
- Reliability (can I still trust you in the future)
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"There is no like or dislike. It is all boundary work"
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4) What can crisis tell us about our families, relationships and those we live with?
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Dynamics that have played out over the past few weeks in family:
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SPACE: "this is how we have designed or navigated our physical space"
- the way space is demarcated reflects the relationships.
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TRUST: "This is the space we choose to share. This is the safe space we have offered."
- If i trust you, this is the space I'm willing to share with you.
- conversational space demarcated.
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POWER: "This person has decided. And this is how they did it"
- power and identity are tied. this person gets to decide how the space is demarcated.
- how this person is like at home is more likely how he/she will be like in society
REWARD: "There is value in doing what I do for the family. The system of reward is clear"
- punishment system (frowns, tsk, cold shoulders)
- reward system (boss happy or not, whether we feel happy coming to work. But in the family, we have not built strong reward systems in the family - smiles, affirmation etc)
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As Covid-19 takes away Space from us. The emphasis will be shifted to having conversations on Trust and Power.
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5) What is the crisis revealing about the resilience of our people and systems?
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Three Little Pigs:
- The pig living in the brick house is most secure. But might not be the most resilient, because not exposed to challenges where the pig has to pick himself up again and again.
- The house of sticks balances the internal systems (people) and the external systems.
Persistence Grit Secure Perseverance Resilient
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In assessing the state of resilience of individual, organisation, or state, we must examine the flow or resources that contribute to the goal.
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Persistence, Grit, Secure, Perseverance, Resilient implies that there is a goal we are trying to reach.
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PERSISTENCE: can be personality driven (kids nagging to get what they want. Young Singapore was persistent, knocking on doors etc) Persistence can be developed outside of personality, if people move past their own boundaries (dc if people don't like them)
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PERSEVERANCE: is from experience. I've been there before, so the second time I will persevere to get there. Sometimes it's got from other people. Passed on from relationships, born in experiences.
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GRIT: insanity. purpose and drive. mission driven.
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All the above are internal.
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Resilience: Resources (systems-org, finance and network-relational). Having the resource to bounce back. Resilience is not always a character issue.
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Security: Threat. (known, ignored, unseen) Are we filling ourselves with knowledge that we know what the threats are? Do we ignore the threat?
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How are we intentionally and comprehensively nurturing or building these traits? Have our systems built these traits into our children?
Every country has a different way to survive crisis.
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- Post independence Singapore had us lead decades of infrastructure led development. Human systems did not necessarily follow in standards and investment of excellence and rigor. (how resilient are the little pigs living in this resilient house?)
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6) Crisis should spark deeper conversation. What are the conversations that we could be avoiding?
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Failure and Crisis
Crisis typically drives people into survival and recovery. It is failure that has a higher change of generating reflection and learning.
In a time of crisis, people do not reflect. They are trying to survive or recover systems to how things were.
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In truth, we already know who or what we want to hold to account. The bigger question is whether we are ready for accountability.
Stronger leaders will go into reflection post crisis. Shame will never emerge unless there is a safe space.
Cultures of recovery and cultures of grace.
SIngapore does not have a space of safety. If we want to start looking at deeper issues, we need safer spaces.
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Crisis and failure are deeply personal issues. What one has the onus, appetite or courage to contend with, differs from each leader. Do not mistake the leader for the institution. The conversations we are avoiding are an amalgamation of personal intents.
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And if failure does indeed come, we should remember that we all wish to avoid the pain of shame. And that we do not yet have the culture of recovery.
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a) Moral leadership
- where can we find moral leadership?
- we need to make decisions that depends on values (lgbt, foreign workers, single mothers etc)
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b) Culture of Recovery and Mediation
- post covid there will be a time of grief and loss
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7) What is the new normal that everyone is talking about, how can we prepare for this?
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- change in consumer patterns and political meanings. where we assign power.
Q & A
1) Use Metaphors to engage youths. Use stories that people can relate to and understand. Find the right story to tell them.
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2) Where do we envision moral leadership to come from? When it's a cultural decision, not about being pragmatic etc. Singapore's govt makes economic and pragmatic decisions.
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3) What enables one to ease into new boundaries and habits more effectively? Understand the boundary and its value. Then get over yourself and just do it.
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​4) How does moral leadership look like
- born from 2 main places
a) Born from conviction that is relevant to context
- not bringing pragmatic ideas but cultural solutions
- eg. martin luther king and nelson mandela
- we are not at the failure enough for moral leadership to emerge now.
- charisma and relevance makes it work
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b) Moralities and values
- done the work on the ground to find common space among people to find the narrative that brings us together
- strong facilitators to find where people meet, to understand what people truly need
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5) What can encourage a culture of safety in Singapore
- different methods of psychological safety
- contending with diversity, creating a space for diversity to come together without killing each other
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6) How can people who are struggling with covid 19, ever process and understand the anxiety
they are going through?
- the anxiety did not begin with covid 19. covid 19 accelerated it or brought it to a higher level
- the anxiety they experience right now is a result of inadequate preparation months before
- we need people and volunteers who are capable of closing emotional loops and not just donating rice