company alignment

Are your employees on the same page with you?

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Many bosses, including you, inevitably will get upset with employees who are not doing things the way you would do them. You expect them to know what to do after reading a manual or being shown once how to do something. Rarely do you stop to see what is missing from the employees’ perspectives so that they can produce consistent work product and be on the same page with you.

3 key points to get your employees on the same page with you:

  1. Review your training, systems and procedures. What’s missing? The average national reading level is 6th grade — this can reflect a person’s ability to adequately read, write and comprehend any material and put it to good use. It’s critical to remember that people learn differently. Some people need to talk it out to ensure they understand. Some need to be shown how to do something more than once. Still others need to “try” it themselves first, and then ask for coaching to fill in the gaps.
  2. Use legally and scientifically validated job fit tools for hiring, coaching and managing. This helps you understand objectively why people fail to do work the way you would do it. Also, it creates a laser-like opportunity for you to provide guidance for skill development (this will help you and your employees).
  3. Set specific goals, and then manage the milestones to ensure the project and people are all moving forward. When people fail to deliver the required results, coach them by focusing on the task at hand. Do not try to fix the person – it will never work and leave them, and you, frustrated. Instead, you need to be very specific about your instructions and other times you’ll need to help them understand the bigger picture.

©Jeannette L. Seibly, 2010-2015It can be lonely at the top! An experienced business advisor, always accessible and at a nearby desk can make a positive and powerful difference for you, and your employees. My goal is to be your in-house advisor, your ally and sounding board as you navigate the complex world of your business! (Contact: JLSeibly@SeibCo.com OR 303-917-2993)

Transform your failures into greater success. Get my copy of “We all fail! How can we use failure to create greater success?” http://ow.ly/Kp34R

Are you ready to align a misaligned company?

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Making organizational changes can be daunting when there are many siloes, turf wars, and lines of demarcation that prevent everyone in the company from getting on the same page at the same time.  However, putting off making the tough decisions for fear of emotional upsets will only continue to exhaust you and create more elephants in the room, land mines, and entrenchments.

Make a commitment to the new direction of the company and get everyone on board, starting at the top of your enterprise.

  1. First, don’t entertain the drama—instead continue to parrot the value of the new direction while listening to objective rationale and making required tweaks. No plan is foolproof.
  2. Second, support and keep your leaders on track by using objective data and real metrics to gauge progress. It’s imperative that you are actively involved in managing others, keeping them focused, and paving the way so they can do their work. Be open to suggestions.
  3. Third, hire a coach or business advisor for each of your executives so they can learn how to work with each other, ask the right questions, and move forward to achieve the intended results. Everyone needs an objective and confidential sounding board to keep them on track and moving forward.  (http://SeibCo.com/contact)

(c)Jeannette L. Seibly, 2013