Jeannette Seibly

Jeannette Seibly is The Leadership Results Coach. She has been an award-winning executive coach, keynote speaker and business author for more than 30 years. Her expertise is guiding leaders to get unstuck and achieve unprecedented results. Contact Jeannette for a confidential conversation @ JLSeibly@SeibCo.com

Be a Leader without Being the Boss

by

Many times risk-adverse leaders and business professionals hate their jobs. They see the position of boss as a great opportunity to make more money and attain a coveted title.  Yet they are unable or unwilling to develop the people and project skills required to be boss. They are afraid of stepping outside their comfort zone or have done so without success. Without learning from your mistakes and developing new sets of attitudes and behaviors, it can be difficult to get and keep these positions. It would be better to develop a career ladder within your company where you can increase your influence and paycheck, and be a leader without being the boss. It’s OK if you don’t have the interests or skills to be the boss!

(c)Jeannette L. Seibly, 2013

Working with Elitists

by

The truth is there are business professionals who falsely believe they are smarter or better than others. They fail to listen to others’ ideas and are unable to work with and through people to get the job done. Their disrespectful attitudes are bad habits, and it’s highly unlikely you can change them. To engage them, stay away from declarative statements and ask “What if …” type questions.  Remember, these folks require ideas to be their own and will rarely share any credit with you—unless, of course, there is a failure!

(c)Jeannette L. Seibly, 2013

Get Unstuck

by

When you are stuck or simply procrastinating, being overly focused on your inner psyche to justify the reasons why will keep you from doing what you need to do. It takes as much time, or more, to create excuses than to simply do the work! Become responsible for your own motivation instead of blaming your boss or employees for being uninspired.  To rejuvenate a project, uncover the source of an issue, or resolve an employee concern, use the steps in the eGuide “5 Simple Steps to Improve Your Results!”  https://seibco.com/coaching-report/ The mark of a true leader is doing what needs to be done in an effective manner, regardless of how you feel about wanting to do it. 

(c)Jeannette L. Seibly, 2013 

Revealing Your Vulnerabilities

by

“We all have a habitual tendency to act in a particular way – often unconsciously – that thwarts our results.” Jeannette Seibly

As rising stars within our companies, we are careful not to show our emotions and to hide our sensitivities. We fear doing so shows incompetence or weakness. Revealing your vulnerabilities has derailed many upwardly mobile professionals, especially when they are simply sharing to share. They don’t have a point, wish to join the “ain’t it awful” club, or want to minimize someone else’s experiences.

As a leader, learn how to disclose your experiences with the intention of showing others how to learn from your mistakes. Start with the end point before including any other information. Communicating personal experiences can help when talking with idealistic or difficult employees in order to get them to open up. Be open to admitting you don’t have all the answers, and talk straight. Revealing your vulnerabilities appropriately builds trust!

(c)Jeannette L. Seibly, 2013

Do you know when to trust the data or your instincts?

by

Successful leaders have to grapple with this dilemma often. They believe their intuition is telling them what the true answer is. Or, they want to trust the numbers. However, intuition can be wrong and 100 percent reliance on data can send you down the wrong path too. Developing a strong business balance between statistics and your sixth sense takes experience, time, and practice. As business owners and executives know, making the wrong decisions can cost the company more than money. It can also cost their reputation, clients, and top talent.

What do you do when you don’t trust the data? Trust the process. For example: When you hire a person based upon your gut reaction, even when the facts disagree, you didn’t trust your selection system. The truth is, failure to pay attention to good objective information will negatively impact your decisions.

Better questions to ask yourself: Do you know how to correctly use qualified hiring tools and follow a strategic selection process? (BizSavvyHire.com)  Do you have an unconscious habit of hiring and firing until you find the right person? (Hint: Honestly look at your turnover numbers.) Asking these types of questions can help you determine the underlying (aka real) reason you may not trust the data. 

Which one do you trust when your data or intuition is contrary to others’ opinions? Trust yourself and be open to being right and wrong. For example, many times when a company is experiencing difficulty achieving results, it’s because a controlling leader or dominating team member made erroneous judgments based heavily on facts or feelings. Learn to ask good business questions and listen to people’s responses. Being open to changing your mind doesn’t mean you have to. However, being adamant that you are right is usually a sign of impending disaster.

Strong leaders trust themselves and know how to develop win-win outcomes by working with and through others. They are prepared for the downside of any decision. They use their results as dashboards to develop trust in themselves and others when making balanced factual and intuitive decisions.

©Jeannette L. Seibly, 2013

Where Do You Draw the Line?

by

Some bosses and coworkers are temperamental.  It’s a fact that not everyone can be universally nice, and being respectful is very subjective based on your perspective or tolerance level.  Labeling someone as “bad” or “wrong” and believing they shouldn’t behave the way they do could cost you your job. The question is where do you draw the line?

There are many programs out there on how to work with difficult people. They offer a great opportunity for you to improve your own interpersonal skills. Remember, you are not going to like working with everyone. Learn how to stay focused on your job requirements and achieve the end results instead of focusing on how to “fix” people. If you run into a personal attack or discriminatory behavior, document it, share it with your boss or HR, and be ready to move on to another job.

(c)Jeannette L. Seibly, 2013

Fearful Bosses

by

Many bosses today have become fearful of losing their jobs and being unable to find equivalent or better ones. They spend more time manipulating others’ perceptions of their worth in order to keep their jobs than achieving the required results. Their lack of commitment to the company, its employees, customers, and communities usually turns their fears into the reality of becoming unemployed! As a boss, remember that if employees are not doing their work, it’s a reflection of your management style. If you are not achieving the results, you are not taking the right, focused action steps. If you are blaming others for your challenges, you are probably not in the right job! Get help now! Hire a coach and develop clarity to do the right work.  

(c)Jeannette L. Seibly, 2013

Has Your Project Gone Off Track?

by

Project managers can become fearful when a project is past due and over budget. At that point, they have usually lost control of the team and feel disempowered and blameful. To make things more difficult, they refuse to get qualified advice on how to get back on course to achieve their goals.  Instead, they spend more time coming up with excuses the boss will agree with than making the right changes to the action plan.

Successful project managers have a stronger commitment to the project and team than to their egos. They stretch their minds by listening and asking good business questions, not questions designed to force others to agree with them. They believe 99 percent of the world’s information is in others’ heads, and their successful results show it!

(c)Jeannette L. Seibly, 2013

Eliminate the Guessing Game

by

Do you know how to ask for what you want? Or do you expect your employees or vendors to simply know? Do you falsely believe you will know what you want when you see or read it? Eliminate the guessing game and take time to clarify the goal or outcomes you wish to achieve, in writing. By writing goals down, it’s easier to get everyone on the same page. Stay away from spelling out how to achieve outcomes. Share your outline and include others’ ideas before providing the details.

(c)Jeannette L. Seibly, 2013

Making the Same Hiring Mistakes?

by

When you keep making the same hiring mistakes over and over, it’s costly and very time consuming. You lose credibility with your staff and clients. It’s time to stop and get help. You have a misperception of potential employees’ work experience, skills, and/or job fit required. With clarification and by learning new ways to interview, how to use qualified assessments, and how to improve your due diligence processes, you can improve your hiring results. (BizSavvyHire.com)  Hopefully, it won’t be too late to rebuild your credibility.

(c)Jeannette L. Seibly, 2013

Helpful Hint:

Job ads with trite sound-bites fail to attract, e.g., great opportunity and work hard. Learn how-to attract the right employees: http://BizSavvyHire.com