Presentation speech @ work

At HSBC, we have a VISION, and that is to be a leading financial services company. And to become the leading financial services company in Singapore, our MISSION is to be an excellent place to bank and a great place to work.

Incidentally, our MISSION statement directly makes up the 1st and 3rd Global Pillars for think joined up. As a quick recap, there are 7 Global pillars advocated by our Group CEO himself, Michael Geoghegan.

Today, I will zoom into our Corporate Mission, and how I think it will help us all to think joined up. In any management textbook, MISSION statement will be generally defined as an organisation’s purpose, guiding values and principles and the way in which it intends to achieve its objectives, whilst recognising the interests of other stakeholders.

Who are our stakeholders? They are more than just you and me. They can be as simple as our customers that we directly liaised with, both internal and external. And on the extreme end, they can be as complex as the society as a whole, where we need to show our corporate social responsibility.

How can we, at call centre, help to “joined up” and contribute in delivering our mission statement to our stakeholders? I do have to agree, that at times, we are guilty of having this mentality that we are insignificant and that our contribution is infinite to the organisation.

There is a proverbial saying that goes, the flap of a butterfly’s wings on one continent eventually cause a hurricane on another. This chaos theory is also known as the butterfly effect. In my almost two years with the organisation, I am starting to believe in this theory. Let me quote a real example. Not too long ago, we received a feedback that we should have an ATM at the Singapore Zoo. It took one agent to log this in CFSS so that the top management is highlighted. It took a few more logs to convince the management to say “O.K, lets have an ATM at the Singapore Zoo!” If this feedback has been brushed off, the butterfly would not have flapped its wings and created the change. If you happen to be at the zoo, do keep a look out for our ATM. (shows picture)

‘An organisation without a mission statement is like a rudderless ship, careening from one shipwrecked to another’. As a student, I did a part-time job in a Japanese firm. Being utterly organised as they are known*, the first thing I saw when I stepped into the office was the MISSION statement, looking down at me. Right away I know the direction of the organisation and where it is headed to, and why I was there.

At times, I have this thought, wouldn’t it be great if our MISSION statement is being displayed in call centre itself. Every time when step into work, we’ll say to ourselves, “A GREAT PLACE TO WORK!” And every time we leave the office, we’ll say, “A GREAT PLACE TO WORK!”