My First Week at MDIS

Dear Friends,

Thanks so much for all your well wishes! A number of you have written directly to me asking how was my first week at Management Development Institute of Singapore (MDIS). I thought I'd take the time to pen my thoughts and also share a little about what I said to all my new colleagues at an all Staff Engagement Session which was conducted last Friday.

YES - I have already conducted my first all Staff Engagement Session! As JW Marriott famously once said "If you take care of your People, your People will take care of your Customers and your Business will take care of itself." Hence, it was quite natural for me to engage with my colleagues early on.

We have more than 200 colleagues and I thought it was important that I got to know all of them personally. I asked each of them the following questions:

1. Please share some of your accomplishments you are most proud of?

2. What motivates you to come to work everyday?

3. What’s one thing we could change about your work that would improve your personal life?

4. Are there any positions in the organisation that you would like to learn about? What do you want to do in your next job?

5. How would you like to be managed? What could I do to make your work easier?

The response which I received from each of them was extremely insightful and in the coming days, when I meet with each of them, I'm sure I can use their responses to relate to them better.

One of the first few questions at the Staff Engagement Session was "What's your management style?" I took the opportunity to share a number of my leadership mantras that I have adhered to over the years. One of my favorite quote is "Leadership is a Privilege, Not a Right." Which means the "higher" up you go within an organisation, the "lower" you need to go to serve. "Servant Leadership" is certainly my key management style...for those who are interested, here's a quick summary of it: https://www.skipprichard.com/9-qualities-of-the-servant-leader/

So in short, my first week at MDIS was all about the People. As leaders, we must transition from being responsible for the job, to being responsible for the people who are responsible for the job. At MDIS, we have an amazing group of individuals who are highly committed and many have served the organisation for a long time. Some are naturally suspicious of the "new guy" but I believe that over time, with sincerity, my actions will win them over.