Happy to share how we engineer social interactions in Singapore.

For example, when a new staff member joins our school, he will be assigned with a buddy officially. This buddy’s job is to assimilate the newbie into life in the school. There are specific duties to be carried out by the buddy:

(Newbies are paired with mentors too, but this is outside the scope of this discussion.)

Another similar example would be Singaporeans going over to Japan under the Japan Exchange Teaching program. In the month before they depart for their new life, they usually get assigned to a buddy whose job is to ease their anxiety about venturing into the unknown.

We find people to talk to in the Saloon organically. My idea of buddy is appointing someone specifically who will have a newbie’s back for the first month or so.

It is a typical Singaporean way of solving problems hahaha ☝️