Eunice Sui
English
School of Humanities
Summary
Coaching and engaging people to help them discover their strengths and potential has been my passion and, as I have been told by people around me, my strength.
Currently the Senior Assistant Director, Partnership and Service Management at the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF), I have over 20 years of leadership experience across various departments in MSF.
My robust background in strategic communication and stakeholder engagement provided opportunities for me to nurture and coach teams and individuals in leadership and analytical thinking skills, through developing impactful communication plans and managing diverse projects.
I hold a Post Grad Diploma in Education, Advanced Certificate in Training and Assessment, as well as a Specialist Diploma in Career Counselling.
Featured Skills
Work Experience
Senior Assistant Director, Partnership and Service and Resource Management Apr 2023 - Present
Ministry of Social and Family Development SingaporeLeads and oversees a team of 12 staff to strategise the division’s communication, service management and resource management to enhance the management of family violence and vulnerable adult abuse. These include:
• Strategic communication and engagement with key internal and external stakeholders, including partner agencies, service providers, media and executive volunteers. Spearheaded the division’s overall communication plan.
• Service management and development of programmes such as the Protection Specialist Centres
• Resource and planning management of annual budget and corporate administration
Spearheaded and chairs the Innovation Committee to foster a culture of innovation in the division, including:
• Training of Committee members and staff on Design Thinking and innovation
• Strategic direction on the annual innovation festival to assess innovative projects
Assistant Director, Policy and Strategic Engagement Jan 2020 - Mar 2023
Ministry of Social and Family Development SingaporeLed a team of 4 staff to strategise the division’s communication and engagement plan to enhance the awareness and management of family violence and vulnerable adult abuse. These include:
• Strategic communication and engagement plan to enhance the awareness and management of family violence. This includes strategic engagement with key internal and external stakeholders, facilitating discussions with sector leaders, etc.
• Secretariat to operational policy inter-agency platforms such as the Family Violence Task Force (FVTF) and Family Violence Work Groups (FVWG)
• Management of policy queries and media communication
Spearheaded and chaired the Innovation Committee to foster a culture of innovation in the division, including:
• Training of Committee members and staff on Design Thinking and innovation
• Strategic direction on the annual innovation festival to assess innovative projects
Senior Manager, Strategic Sector Capability Building Jan 2018 - Dec 2019
Ministry of Social and Family Development SingaporeLed a team of 2 staff to oversee the development, implementation and review of strategic policies, programmes and services to build the social sectors capability and competencies in keeping children safe. These include:
• Development of the Sector-specific Screening Guide (SSSG) and Child Abuse Reporting Guide (CARG) Implementation Masterplan
• Development of training materials and communication and marketing assets such as resource portal, videos and infographics. The resource portal aims to enhance the ease of use of the SSSG and CARG to reduce enquiries on child abuse reporting and improve service quality.
Assistant Director, Programmes and Partnerships Aug 2015 - Dec 2016
Ministry of Social and Family Development SingaporeOversaw and led 3 teams of 13 staff on the strategic direction, communication and engagement of the department. These include
• Engagement with Institute of Higher Learning (IHL; Polytechnic and ITE) administrators to review and launch existing and new scholarship and training programmes for pre-school teachers and conduct engagement sessions with pre-school teachers.
• Development and implementation of engagement and communication materials to stakeholders such as IHL administrators and students, parents and pre-school employers.
• Management of the production and promotion of a series of promotional and instructional materials such as videos, brochures and human interest stories.
Oversaw the department’s monthly staff professional development training, including coordinating with other agencies and departments to conduct relevant training for staff to improve their work
Senior Manager, Planning Programmes Mar 2014 - Aug 2015
SG50 Office, Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth SingaporeSecretary to the SG50 Steering Committee chaired by Minister Heng Swee Keat.
Oversaw and strategised the planning and coordination of signature SG50 projects, specifically ‘Countdown 2015’, which for the first time in broadcast history included the celebration in 3 satellite sites in the heartlands, and ‘Youth Celebrate!’.
Oversaw the organisation and management of the bi-monthly SG50 Steering Committee meetings and the engagement with members.
Awarded the SG50 Commendation Award.
Education
Post Grad Diploma in Education (Education) Jan 1995 - Dec 1995
National Institute of Education SingaporeBachelor of Arts (Psychology) Jan 1991 - Dec 1993
National University of Singapore SingaporeOther Skills
Q&A with Eunice Sui
How to manage multiple urgent tasks at work?
There will be days like this, when you are overwhelmed by multiple seemingly urgent deadlines. Instead of panicking, write down these tasks and the respective deadlines and strategise how to manage them. There are a few things you can do:
1. Scrutinise the tasks and prioritise them based on importance, urgency and timeline. Some may not even be urgent.
2. Where relevant, manage the tasks in pieces, for example, send out the requests for information quickly while working on the rest of the tasks.
3. Negotiate for a later deadline for some of the tasks. Some deadlines are not hard deadlines.
4. Ask for help from colleagues and make sure to return the favour.
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- Posted 5 months ago
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What are some tips to be seen as good team player?
Every team and every leader values a good team player who roots for and supports the team. Build strong relationship with your colleagues and superior and focus on collaboration and shared success. Share information and ask for feedback from colleagues and superiors. Good reputation travels and soon everyone will want you in their teams.
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- Posted 5 months ago
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What kind of education or training did you find most useful in your field?
Training programmes or courses are not only meant for learning. It is also a platform to network and learn from other learners. Most training courses I attended were beneficial as I like to learn new things. One of the most beneficial courses I attended are those on communications - presentation skills, interpersonal skills and responding intelligently in the early days as a young worker, and effective and inspiring narratives when taking on the role of a leader. Another good training domain to explore is on leadership skills. This is relevant whether or not you are a leader. It prepares you to be one.
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- Posted 5 months ago
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Is there something you wish you'd known starting out in your field? Or is there something you wish you had done differently starting out?
One thing I wish I had done was talking to seniors who had been there before. This would have been helpful in easing the transition from being a student to a working adult and in navigating in the complex world of working life. I wish I had a mentor who would give me tips on how to manage stress and how to manage my boss.
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- Posted 5 months ago
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Describe a time when you were able to effectively communicate a difficult or unpleasant idea to a superior or a client.
I led a team to a meeting with another team of stakeholders who was not sold on our proposal. Before the meeting, I asked staff to find out as much information as possible and ran through some anticipated issues that might arise so that we could prepare suitable responses if needed.
True enough, one of the stakeholders made some unpleasant comments and posed some challenges. We thanked the person for the feedback and focused on sharing the common vision and the benefits of the proposal. We also proposed some ideas on how to mitigate some challenges and asked for questions and suggestions from his/her team too. We also promptly followed up with the notes of meeting and the actions required. Several follow up meetings took place thereafter to firm up the plans.
The communications with the stakeholders were done with clarity, transparency and humility and they appreciated the approach.
The stakeholders ended up collaborating with us and both sides worked very well during the implementation. The project was one of the most successful projects we ever had.
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- Posted 5 months ago
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What would you bring to a team if you join them?
It depends on what capacity I am joining the team for. If I join the team as a leader, I will bring my strength in staff development and strategic communications to ensure that the team has clear vision and goals and are able to be fulfilled in their roles. If I join the team as a member, I will bring my strength of collaboration and empathy to ensure that we can work together to achieve common goals.
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- Posted 5 months ago
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What are some mistakes that you have made in your career? How did you deal with it and what have you learned from them?
We tend to make mistakes when we are under pressure or stress. Some mistakes I made include making decisions based on timelines or under pressure without proper considerations to the issue and the other one is losing my patience in front of my team. For the former mistake, I managed the situation as best as I could while reminding myself to pause and think before making a decision. For the latter mistake, I learn that I need to respond and not to react. One good way to avoid confrontation or unpleasant situation is to ask clarifying questions to seek understanding.
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- Posted 5 months ago
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Describe a project or idea (not necessarily your own) that was implemented primarily because of your efforts.
My division manages protection issues but not much has been done on prevention efforts. I spearheaded the awareness campaign with a PR agency and partner agencies to bring public education on sign, symptoms and support to abuse issues to the public via workshops and mainstream and social media. This campaign ran for 3 years and received good feedback.
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- Posted 5 months ago
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How would you describe your career in one sentence?
In my 20 over years of career, there is a pattern of being in the job of helping people. That is the reason I have been with the Ministry of Social and Family Development for more than 20 years.
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- Posted 5 months ago
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What are your strongest skills that have contributed to your success in this field?
I have robust experience in strategic communication and stakeholder engagement, which have helped in successful collaboration and partnership among internal and external stakeholders.
However, I think my strongest skill is the ability to bring clarity to issues and finding creative ways to implement tasks or solve problems.
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