Learn How to Work Well with Bad Bosses

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I recently received an article in my Inbox from a business associate’s employee. It was about bosses being difficult (a nicer title than the actual one sent to me!). I, myself, have worked for bosses who truly understood the technical aspects of the job and industry, but did not know how to manage. I learned a lot from them. I’ve also worked for a couple who received their job title for reasons unknown. And I learned how to work with them to achieve needed results, too. In any company, there will be bosses who earn their title, while others happen to be in the right place at the wrong time. These bad bosses often exhibit poor communication styles, lack of organization or project skills and show favoritism.

The goal? It’s your job to learn how to work well with them in order to receive your paychecks, acquire job expertise, and support your own career aspirations. A career lesson to be learned. Otherwise, there’s an excellent chance your next boss will be the same with a different name!

A true story: a client was disparaging his boss, and his actions. He believed his co-workers felt the same way. One example was how this difficult boss distributed quarterly bonuses after completion of a major project. As his coach, I recommended he talk with the boss and clear up any misunderstandings. He did so very reluctantly and was happily amazed by the outcome! Not only did his boss stop sharpening the pencil, my client became known for his ability to work well with a difficult person. Other employees came to him for advice when dealing with this boss, and others. The President of the company acknowledged his executive growth and promised new opportunities in the future.

Hire your boss a coach. Obviously, this needs to be accomplished very diplomatically. Most bad bosses do not know another way to behave. They hate people challenges due to a lack of logic. They may become emotionally inept at handling these issues because of their own need to be liked. Maybe your boss takes the job more seriously, believes you and your co-workers should too, and is simply more demanding than others as a result. A good coach will help the boss see him- or herself objectively, develop more effective ways of interacting with others and develop people or project management skills to get results.

Eye of the Beholder. While you can always find others who will agree with your assessment of how bad the boss is, look for others who have a different perspective about the things your boss is doing well. Listen to them. Maybe s/he is fair in bonus distribution and allocating OT. Perhaps s/he offers great ideas and ensures you receive the credit for implementation. When dealing with more controversial concerns, handle the roadblocks provided by your boss in an assertive manner to resolve customer or project difficulties. Remember, your boss (and others) may find productive disagreements helpful and getting to the source of excuses beneficial in order to achieve required results consistently. Needing to be liked or overly nice does not equate with being effective.

It’s a process, not an event. It is natural for employees to expect an immediate difference and readily noticeable changes when a boss is advised of deficiencies. The reality? Bad habits take time to correct, regardless. For example, how long does it take someone to quit smoking cigarettes? It takes most people more than a few months, before it is deemed successful. So keep acknowledging any positive change. Hire yourself a coach to help you deal with your own life goals and interpersonal fears. You’ll be amazed by the difference it makes when you learn to be patient with yourself and are effective at achieving your own goals. Your new awareness makes it easier for others to get along with you!

©Jeannette Seibly, 2012

Jeannette Seibly is a Business Advisor and has successfully coached 1000’s of business owners and executives to be successful leaders while growing their businesses. Three of them became millionaires!

3 In-Sync Leadership Talents

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When your leadership style is in-sync with the requirements of your job, you can produce outstanding results. Your confidence soars, and so does your company’s profits. It takes less energy to work with and through others to get the job done. Others enjoy the process and professional growth; they feel comfortable voicing their concerns about issues.

Strong Listening  Skills. To reduce non-productive conflict (which creates corporate elephants), it pays to listen! Allow others the freedom to voice their opinions and learn how to work towards developing a win-win solution to build exceptional outcomes.

Tell the truth. Lies, innuendos or half-truths will come back to haunt you and the organization. Talk straight. If the topic is confidential, simply state, “I can’t talk about that.” Why? Confidentially means you don’t talk about it!

Take responsibility. Nobody is perfect. Everyone makes mistakes. Every relationship will hit a bump where the continued ability to work well with each other requires forgiveness, apologies, and/or doing more than the other. When you make a promise, fulfill it. When you fail to achieve a result, don’t blame others. Simply apologize and ask what is needed to move forward.

(c)Jeannette L. Seibly, 2012

Sharpen Your Focus — Strategic Hiring Done Right

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We as business owners and executives often find hiring a painful process. Finally, the new hire starts – only to leave a few (costly) months later. We shake our heads … the person looked the part. Spoke correctly. Used the right jargon. There were even times when we realized (almost immediately) it was a bad fit and hoped s/he would leave sooner.

Some workplaces are already starting to experience difficulty finding qualified candidates. Many times this is due to companies not using up-to-date hiring practices.

The purpose of a good selection process is information gathering. When we solicit good-quality data, we are more apt to make good-quality decisions. When we start with a solid strategy and plan accordingly, we attract the right candidates. Unfortunately, we normally short-change the process, citing time and money, not realizing it actually costs us thousands to millions of dollars more!

This three-part webinar is designed for business owners and executives to help them better understand that a dependable hiring process is entirely do-able. You can do it! All it takes is solid strategy, proper tools and the right attitude.

Part 1: Let’s get down to business results!  “Today’s webinar was invaluable! Learning to focus on the right stuff will help me hire the right person. It’s just what I needed.” KM, Business Owner (after attending Part 1)

Part 2: Qualified Assessments: Detect the 90% hidden during the interview. https://www4.gotomeeting.com/register/665209751

Part 3: Due Diligency — The Secrets to Hiring Success https://www4.gotomeeting.com/register/947604399

3 Must-Change Habits for Executives

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We all have acquired bad habits. The problem is they impede our ability to develop as a confident executive, a leader others wish to follow. Failure to gain others’ respect for you as a leader, regularly use win-win approaches and consistently produce desired results are ticking time bombs to your career!

Poor listening skills. Checking email during meetings, insisting on being right or multitasking when someone is talking will derail many careers. Multitasking is a myth. Active listening is a requirement for successful executives.  When you are able to accurately hear what people are saying – and not saying – you’ll also be able prevent bad outcomes. Executive leadership requires solid information-based decisions rather than poorly informed ones.

Menacing comments. Threatening others covertly (e.g., their job is in jeopardy) when the job is not getting done as you envisioned it, is a bad habit of many leaders. It rarely builds loyalty or intended results. If someone is not achieving the desired outcome, first look at how you communicate. Did you state the needed results? Did you listen to their concerns? Did you work through those push-backs or excuses (think, outside their comfort-zone or ethical considerations) effectively? Create a detailed Action Plan; then, coach them to take one step forward at a time. Involve other team members as appropriate.

Control at any cost. Being a know-it-all. Nit-picking others’ efforts. Fearing someone’s mistake will ruin you. Claiming others are untrustworthy. These behaviors signify an unconfident executive. A leader who doesn’t trust him or herself. You may be someone who achieved a leadership role before it was time. It is not too late to learn how to work with and through others for exceptional results. Hire a business advisor and develop the skills to inspect progress without micro-managing. To ask the right questions in the right manner and elicit the best in others. Good executives enable their employees to achieve even better results than they have achieved!

 

Jeannette Seibly is an international business advisor and executive consultant for privately-held companies with revenues of $1MM up to $30MM. She has created million-dollar results for 25 companies, and 3 millionaires!

(c)Jeannette Seibly, 2012

Top 3 Hiring Myths for 2012

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Companies are hiring again! The challenge? Despite all the tools available to help companies hire right the first time, hiring managers continue to rely upon traditional hiring practices or “flavor of the month” hiring gimmicks. Unfortunately, it costs employers thousands of dollars when hiring the wrong person for just a couple of hours! And, can cost millions of dollars when someone is unwilling or incapable of doing the job and the company loses a valuable client or top employee.

These are not new myths.  No formal scientific study was conducted. They are simply ones that have withstood the test of time during the past several decades.

Myth #1: It’s cheaper to re-invent the wheel. Many companies falsely believe they can invent their own tools to attract employees due to numerous social media sites. Yet, sole reliance on your own efforts will reduce your ability to attract qualified applicants. Designing your own applicant tracking system can cost 10x to 1000x more money than selecting a top-rated one with the features you need, like SEO (search engine optimization).  Keep in mind: Applicants will review the top three listings on page 1, skim pages 2 and 3, and not look at any other pages.  While some may argue they don’t want a lot of candidates, picking candidates from a small pool normally means settling for less than the job requires. A well-designed system will provide better applicants for less cost, and allow you to focus your efforts on the best, most likely to succeed candidates.

Myth #2: The perfect candidate exists. Perfection is an illusion. Looking for five “must have” qualities without good decision making tools is a waste of time. Currently, many of us spend less than 6 seconds skimming a resume (or searching for confidential key words); decide “yes or no” within the first 4.3 minutes of an interview; and overlook reference and background checks. How good can our decision-making process be? Top talent will bypass potential employers, if those businesses are unable to understand and follow their own selection system, or use inappropriate tools. Remember, these candidates may be your future clients, vendors and/or suppliers!

Myth #3: I’ll know the person when I meet him/her. Really? Too often we hear, “I can tell the character of a person by looking into the whites of their eyes!” Seriously? If the person does not speak the “hot buttons,” they will not be considered. Many candidates today are well-trained to tell you what you want to hear! It will not make them the right person to achieve the results required to grow your company or keep current clients. Use of qualified assessments (per Department of Labor guidelines) will reduce hiring candidates that simply don’t fit the job, or simply cannot or will not do the job! Review the Technical Manual to ensure proper use.

For additional information on how to hire right the first time: BizSavvyHire.com

For a copy of Testing and Assessment: An Employer’s Guide to Good Practices, U.S. Department of Labor contact JLSeibly@SeibCo.com

Jeannette Seibly is an international business advisor and executive consultant for privately-held companies with revenues of $1MM up to $30MM. She has created million-dollar results for 25 companies, and 3 millionaires!

©Jeannette L. Seibly 2012

Honor the Fear Factor

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New ideas, products and/or services can be difficult for many people to grasp if they are not part of the creation process. Too often when a boss, business development group or sales team comes up with the “new big money-maker” idea, others become fearful. Instead of creating a thought-out blueprint and return on investment on paper, they simply attempt to wing it! Worse, they attempt to control every aspect of the process as issues arise. Steamrolling others and not enrolling them into the process usually creates disastrous results. Employees and customers become fearful. Want to turn this loose/loose scenerio around? Honor their fears for positive outcomes.

It’s OK. Create an environment of innovation where mistakes happen and everyone learns from them. An environment where “What if’s….” are welcomed. Implement according to a well-designed, focused and simple blueprint. It keeps everyone on the same page. Allow others the opportunities to voice ideas or concerns, and explore them without repercussions. This sort of transparency prevents covert squashing!

Stay focused. Don’t make changes to simply change or falsely make others happy. Stop allowing the newest “bright shining object” to deter the process. Detours usually cost money and valuable time while wreaking havoc.

Come Down to Reality. When the team is concerned about an outcome, take time to listen. It’s usually based upon sad experience of past errors in poorly executed projects. Nay-sayers do quietly sabotage efforts, often due to their fear of the unknown or mistaken assumptions (e.g., changes in job duties, unwillingness to learn new systems, poor relationship with project leader or team members, etc.) Share the economic and market impact of the new service or product constantly. Repetition is the key to quell fears. Don’t make promises about big bonuses or payouts without the ability to follow through.

Keep it simple. Share the plan and idea in small bite-size pieces. Start with very simple questions to hook others’ interest, get them thinking and help get them on the same page. For example, asking a broad question can be a deterrent, i.e. “How can this company save a million dollars?” Instead, ask simpler engaging questions, such as “What is one idea you could implement today to save money?”

©Jeannette L. Seibly, 2012

5 Ways to Combat Never-Ending Excuses!

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I recently received an email from someone I had met several weeks ago. We had created a great idea for her business growth. It was a simple and sound plan with a positive ROI. Her excuse for not following-through? She wanted to stay focused on what she was currently doing and wouldn’t  be able to implement the idea. Huh? Then, like most of us do to when confronted to move outside our comfort zones, she listed several “excuses” and included a quote from a well-known author to support her rationalization.

Our automatic excuse-maker kicks into full gear and we can come up with amazing reasons to justify not acting upon ideas or following-through on plans! The problem is,    we engage our mental monologues in time-consuming thoughts that take more time than implementing the process would require! Then, we spend additional time (yes, and money) to enroll others into our justification for achieving poor results. We falsely await an epiphany without doing the necessary work! We rely upon mysticism that if we don’t act upon something, or follow-through, it wasn’t meant to be. Unfortunately, these cyclical excuses intensify as we use them more and more often.

How do we break out of this nasty trap? How do we move outside our comfort zones before they shrink to ensnare us completely? How do we achieve our goals with ease and positive financial results?

First – Hire a life coach or biz advisor who will propel you forward. You are still required to do the work, yes. The difference is a coach helps you break through the barriers  to do what you have been avoiding, so you can have what you always wanted!

Second – Complete the five exercises in the book, “It’s Time to Brag!” (TimeToBrag.com) and become aware of your past accomplishments. You can’t build on weaknesses. Use these “brags” in a biz savvy manner for sales presentations, retaining clients, and asking for new job assignments.

Third – Create a blueprint based upon future goals, not simply recreating what you did in the past. This can be a challenge since human beings love to operate inside their comfort zones, which include either generating strategic ideas that cannot be implemented, or tactical plans that only regurgitate our current work with a new twist. Neither provides “value-added” results.

Fourth – Ensure a positive ROI.  It’s like any investment of time or money. Ask yourself, “Does the plan provide a potential positive cash flow as it is designed, based upon the hours, days, or months involved?” If it does not, modify.

Fifth – Learn to recognize and shift your automatic excuses immediately. Saying “no” to requests may feel liberating. But in reality, if it’s not used judiciously, it only serves to entrench us deeper into our ruts. Learn to maneuver successfully through inevitable challenges via conversations with your biz advisor for positive results!

(c)Jeannette L Seibly, 2012

Myth: Nice Bosses Don’t Fire

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Many books and speakers talk about leaders who are cut-throat, egotistical and mean. The myth is they love to fire people. To add fuel to this misperception, many employees subjectively blame their boss for others’ poor work ethic and job performance. They keep their resumes circulating, just in case they are next.

Being “nice” is not a responsible alternative when you are the boss.

Want the truth? In the quest to keep a company financially stable, even good bosses fire people. While there are bad bosses, and good workers mistakenly terminated, many times you will find those departed employees are the same ones who complained about multiple boss challenges (e.g., blamed others for their inability to produce required results and refused to work well with co-workers or management). Eventually they would have ended up leaving anyway.

They fall among the shockingly high 63% to 79% of people who work in jobs they don’t like. Many times these are also the ones who are unwilling or unable to learn the technical or people skills required. All the training and coaching efforts in the world will rarely produce useful or sustainable results when someone does not fit their job responsibilities. (Think, millions of dollars spent without a positive ROI!) It happens regardless of their length of time on the job, previous work experience or popularity with others. Even though demotion is a viable alternative, most people’s egos won’t allow them to step backward, even if they had been extremely successful in that position. Moving them to another job within the company only works if the job fits them! More often, a terminated person finds a better position with another company.

Here’s the reality.  When bosses need to fire or demote people, many times her or his eye is on the customers! Cheating the “bread and butter” out of good service or quality products rarely works well for any company. Not firing people does not make bosses nicer! It simply makes them irresponsible to their customers, shareholders, communities, Boards, and other employees — a natural consequence. The bottom line is critical to keeping the company operational! (Think, keeps more people on the payroll.)

The other reality is many times the remaining employees are privately clapping and sighing in relief. They have been the ones cleaning up the “elephant tracks” and listening to the excuses for poor results created by their former co-workers. They can pull their resumes out of circulation until the next “poor” performer is hired due to the poor hiring practices of their company. (BizSavvyHire.com)

Does this mean your boss should be mean? No! Some bosses simply need to resign. (The above stat includes them!) All bosses need to learn to be effective when hiring and working with others, while balancing the strategic and tactical needs of their organization. These skills are not solely learned in books or seminars. They can be learned right on the job if there is a qualified biz advisor with whom to bounce off ideas and keep them on the right track. (SeibCo.com)

©Jeannette L. Seibly, 2012

We’ve earned the right!

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As biz professionals, we do a very poor job of selling ourselves and our ideas.  We have not yet learned to brag in a biz-savvy manner. Instead, to put the word out about our achievements, we rely upon endorsements or testimonials, articles, websites and printed marketing materials.

We are accomplished women and men who have achieved amazing results! What’s missing when we lose a deal (or job or promotion) to a less competent competitor?  Investor or banker interest?  Awards we could have won? Belief in our expertise?

Too often we downplay our accomplishments. Or worse, we use “scripted” material that only makes us sound like the competition instead of helping us stand out from them! Either way, we lose. We’ve been taught bragging is wrong all our lives. This misperception carries right over into our business lives. We don’t even apply for awards. We falsely believe it is unwise to brag about ourselves, products or services. It’s why our competitors win the deal, even though they offer inferior products and/or services!

The issue isn’t that you need more confidence when speaking. It’s not that you need to “feel it.” It’s that you need to learn how to quantify your results and share those achievements in a biz- savvy manner. It’s time to brag!

Take this million-dollar coaching to heart and turn things around! Get over your apprehensions! Learn how to brag! You’ve earned the right!  http://TimeToBrag.com

©Jeannette L. Seibly, 2012

5 Attitudes to Fast Track Career Derailment

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Wonder why so many business professionals, executives and biz leaders are included in the ever increasing statistic of job shopping? These qualified professionals live under the false illusion that finding the perfect career or job will automatically have them earning mega-bucks, working for a great boss, while having fun in life!

  1. I can do anything. Sixty-three to seventy-nine percent of the workforce toil in jobs that don’t fit them. They continue seeking similar work with similar responsibilities only to achieve similar dissatisfaction.  (Think, do the same thing over and over, yet expect different results). Or they leap into a different type of industry that poorly suits them while arrogantly thumbing their nose at their past employers. Stop blindly seeking job satisfaction at the expense of your resume. Build bridges, don’t burn them.
  2. Gimme, Gimme. Most people jump for extra pennies or dollars in their paycheck, but leave those jobs because they are unhappy! Job gratification is personal. Satisfaction can be achieved meeting deadlines within budget, completing work to customers’ needs, etc. Your fulfillment comes from within you by building on your strengths to stretch your skills. 
  3. Grass is Greener. All companies have similar problems. The list is long: bosses who are poor managers; compensation and benefit packages that need improvements; economic focuses on financial results that negates a balanced work-life style. Job fit is critical to minimize these concerns. Employees (and executives) in the right job are much more productive and tolerant than others with the same challenges.
  4. Not My Problem. If you’re someone who creates elephants for your bosses and co-workers, or is continually putting the monkey on someone else’s back, no one wants to hire you! Learn how to handle issues by turning monologues into dialogues with the right person who can make the difference. Be part of the solution. Clean up your elephant tracks. 
  5. More is Better. A bigger company does not mean it is better run, regardless of their bigger budgets! Don’t assume your boss will be more understanding or the tools you need to do your job will be readily forthcoming. Millions of dollars are spent each year obtaining more certifications and more education, hoping this will transform people into fitting their work requirements. If people are not in jobs that fit them, additional education will not transform them into rock stars.

Rather than believe you’re stuck in a job or career, recognize you’re there because of your unwillingness to make an actual and real difference! Only you are responsible for your work-life happiness!

It’s an attitude. The time is now! Take charge of your career. Professionals who hire a career advisor have a competitive edge, with their current employer or their next one. They don’t wait for someone else to show them the right direction. They take a qualified assessment to clarify job fit. The assessment determines thinking style (major component in job satisfaction), core behavior (how they use their job skills vs. how the company needs the job done) and occupational interests (little or no interest equals poor quality, iffy results). They learn to how sell themselves in a biz savvy manner (http://TimeToBrag.com). They write down the top three qualifiers for their next job. The result? New opportunities appear quicker. They are sought after by their next employer or boss. They are on the right track to fulfill their career goals. (http://SeibCo.com)

©Jeannette Seibly, 2012