-Share everything.
-Play fair.
-Don’t hit people.
-Put things back where you found them.
-Clean up your own mess.
-When you go out into the world, watch out for     traffic, hold hands and stick together.

For the next several months the DES newsletter will contain leadership ideas developed in the book Monday Morning Leadership by David Cottrell. The book uses stories to illustrate leadership concepts. Although the book is designed to assist those in management positions improve and develop leadership skills, the concepts illustrated should be broadly interpreted and can be used by everyone. Please take time to consider how the ideas presented could be beneficial to you. 

Thank you, Greg Pulte for preparing these each month.

The Second Monday:

Keep the Main thing the Main Thing

• People have different perceptions of what the ‘main thing’ is.
• People quit people before they quit companies.

The main thing is our purpose or priority. Every person within ones organization must be aware of what their main thing is. For example, the ‘main thing’ of DES is “to provide seamless, holistic service to students – both matriculated and prospective – and the people who assist them in their pursuit of higher education.” Essentially our main thing is to provide excellent service to our students: prospective, current, and former, and to the academic schools in their efforts to provide student support services for these students. The four areas within DES each provide service to students in many different and varying ways.  Each and every employee must not only understand the importance of this mission, each must strive to ensure the missions’ objectives are successful. If someone were to ask us to do something that is in conflict with our main thing, our supervisor will support us when we say we cannot.

It is an individual responsibility to ensure that everyone is on the same page and understands what their main thing is. Many times you will find that when you depend on another’s perceptions to match your expectations, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment. It is important to ask your colleagues and coworkers some questions about what their main thing is. You may be surprised to find that your thinking and expectations are not necessarily shared by your colleagues. All must be in agreement to achieve success - Our ships must all sail in the same direction.    

 It is a natural tendency to blame pay, benefits, upper management, salary administration, and other factors for someone’s resignation. People however do not normally leave because of these reasons. People leave because their manager is not meeting their needs. “People quit people before they quit companies.” Although other circumstances may be a factor, the boss is the principle reason why most people resign. Failure to communicate and to establish effective working relationships with ones’ colleagues and to define expectations contributes heavily to employee turnover. Defining expectations is critical at all levels within the organization. Upper management may define employee expectations, but employees also must maintain expectations of upper management and communication is a two-way street.  If employees don't know what their manager's "main thing" is -- ask!

It is the responsibility of each manager to develop a positive relationship with each of his employees. If this does not occur, it is up to you to make it happen. Employees must make time to manage their own boss in the same way they manage those who report to them. It is the individual’s responsibility to find out specifically what their colleagues need from them. More to the point is the idea that individuals must develop understanding of the needs and requirements of everyone with whom we work, this includes students, coworkers at all levels within the organization, and people with whom we work within the SMU community.