Articles

When Employees Refuse to Be Satisfied or Communicate

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“Some people will never be satisfied with their job or the company they work for. It’s your job as a leader to resolve it or let them go.” Jeannette Seibly

Some employees, paid or volunteer, refuse to be satisfied. They’re never happy, something is always wrong, and they blame others for their frustrations. The key resolve? Acknowledge you cannot fix what they refuse to own or communicate about. And, if necessary, employment law will determine how and when to let them go.

The Real Issue Often Isn’t Obvious

Many employees, contractors, or volunteers avoid conversations because they lack the skills, confidence, or willingness to talk things out. Leaders avoid tough conversations for the same reasons. When both sides avoid the conversations that need to happen, resentment grows, stories get created, reasons multiply, and the situation spirals into a no‑win cycle for everyone involved.

Leadership isn’t about fixing people. It’s about creating the conditions for clarity, accountability, and growth. But beware, your ego may be doing the talking and thinking. Self‑reflection is required.

When employees are not satisfied, it can show up as:

  • Hiding behind emails and texts instead of talking
  • Reacting without facts
  • Responding emotionally to questions
  • Being triggered by small things
  • Being a victim
  • Needing to be right
  • Thinking everyone is against them

When leaders encounter these behaviors, it’s crucial to act, determine the real issue, and whether or not you can resolve it.

Good Intentions Aren’t Enough

Some employees (W2 or 1099) or volunteers genuinely want to do well, but they’re never satisfied. They’re unhappy, allow their skepticism free rein, blame others, and drain the team. Here’s what must be in place before you decide whether to keep them or let them go.

1. Job Fit. According to multiple studies, over 80 percent of people today are in jobs that don’t fit them. When job fit is off, communication breaks down, performance drops, and dissatisfaction skyrockets. Use a qualified job‑fit assessment to determine whether the person is correctly placed in the right role, and identify any coaching you may have overlooked and any adjustments to their job responsibilities.

In the future, when you hire, promote, or transfer someone, use a strategic job‑fit hiring process. When followed, it will reduce dissatisfaction and poor job fit. (Grab your copy of Hire Amazing Employees. Note: An employment attorney bought copies of Hire Amazing Employees for clients struggling with hiring. All but one improved. The one who didn’t? Never read the book.)

For a volunteer, the same principles apply: Ensure they’re in a role that matches their interests, strengths, and available time. Volunteers often say yes out of goodwill, not fit. When the role doesn’t align with who they are, they become frustrated, disengaged, or overly critical, just like an employee in the wrong job.

Have a simple conversation and deep dive into the real reason they volunteered. This conversation will usually clarify whether they’re in the right place, need to be reassigned to a role that better suits them, or it’s time for them to move on.

2. Training. Once you have the right person in place, onboarding and training must begin immediately, preferably before their first day. The right‑fit person appreciates training.

The wrong‑fit person:

  • Takes coaching personally
  • Fears feedback
  • Loathes training
  • Interprets direction as criticism

This should be a sign, not a surprise, when job fit is missing.

3. Communication Skills. Many people today lack strong communication skills. They rely on electronics, emojis, and avoidance. During their primary education years, they never developed the depth and breadth needed to express ideas, resolve upsets, or talk things out. This leads to misunderstandings, assumptions, and unnecessary drama. Provide ongoing training and lead by example.

4. Tough Conversations. Avoiding tough conversations only deepens resentment. Leaders must be willing to talk things out, even when it’s uncomfortable.

Role-play with your executive coach. Prepare. Get grounded. One well‑prepared conversation can shift everything or reveal that nothing will change.

It’s up to you as the leader to initiate and take responsibility for listening and communicating in a manner they can hear. Beware of using manipulation or being manipulated. This is an opportunity for dissatisfaction to decrease or for the person to find other opportunities.

5. Let Them Go. If you’ve had the conversations and it’s still not working, and the issue is not harassment or discrimination, it may be time to let them go.

If harassment or discrimination is involved, you must address it immediately with your attorney or HR and document everything.

Letting someone go isn’t failure. It’s leadership.

Leadership Requires Clarity and Courage

Leadership is about creating the conditions for clarity, accountability, and growth. When someone refuses to communicate, take responsibility, or participate in solutions, it negatively impacts the entire team. Strong leaders recognize when they’ve done their part and when it’s time to make a decisive, responsible choice for the health of their organization.

© Jeannette Seibly 2026 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is a Talent Advisor, Leadership Results Coach, and Business Author with over 33 years of experience guiding people to empower themselves, transforming workplaces into places that work, and shaping leaders who truly lead.

Review your team this week to identify where job fit, communication gaps, or unresolved issues are creating friction. Then take one decisive step: have the tough conversation, adjust a role, provide training, or reassign or release someone who is not a match. Leadership requires action. Contact me to address difficult concerns and move your team forward.

Executive Sponsorship Is Key to Your Advancement

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“You earn executive sponsorship when you are prepared, take initiative, and show you can be trusted.” Jeannette Seibly

Executive sponsorship is different from mentorship. Executive sponsors advocate for you behind closed doors, put their name on your readiness, and take a risk by elevating you when speaking with others.

Leaders only sponsor people who consistently demonstrate good judgment, maturity, and the ability to represent the company well.

Too many employees are not ready for executive sponsorship. Nearly half of executives (49%) say employees lack the skills required for the company’s strategy, and 46% of employees say they receive little to no career development support from their bosses. This combination creates a significant readiness gap and it’s one of the biggest reasons people stall in their careers before they ever reach leadership roles. (LinkedIn Learning)

This is why they lack executive sponsors to move upward.

But all is not lost. It takes:

  • Demonstrating consistent results, strong communication, emotional maturity, and the willingness to be coached.
  • Building trust across teams, showing sound judgment under pressure, and proving that you can represent the company well.
  • Doing the work, reaching out for support, and showing, through your actions, that you are ready for more.
  • Critical: Being someone who an executive can trust and is willing to advocate for behind closed doors.

Keys to Being Worthy of Executive Sponsorship

Integrity. This is foundational. If you don’t do what you say you will do, people stop seeing you as someone they can trust or sponsor. Integrity also includes discretion, emotional steadiness, and the ability to be trusted with sensitive information. Work with an executive coach to fine-tune your ability and readiness.

Listen. Communication skills are critical. Most critical is your ability to listen, follow advice where appropriate, and build solutions with your teams. If you are looking for a sponsor, you must demonstrate your ability to listen across departments, build relationships, and influence without authority.

Speaking. While most people hate public speaking, worse than the thought of death, it is a cornerstone for your readiness. Take courses. Get in front of the room. And, most of all, be coachable. While you may think you “nailed a presentation,” the attendees may have a very different view … and their view will count more than your own. Speaking also signals whether you can represent the company externally, a major factor in being sponsored.

Facilitation. Brainstorming, conducting effective meetings, and ensuring everyone is heard and valued are keys to being considered a good team leader. Preparation and bringing forth your A Game is critical. Facilitation also demonstrates emotional intelligence and your ability to stay composed, navigate conflict, and elevate others.

Entrepreneurial Leadership. Being focused on revenues, results, and retention (employees, vendors, and customers) is important. Without these interests, you lack the drive to build and expand the business, develop your people, and increase the company’s revenues. Strategic thinking and understanding how the business is profitable, anticipating risks, and aligning decisions with company priorities is a major readiness marker that executives watch closely to determine who they want to sponsor.

Coachability and Accountability. Work with an executive coach, industry mentor, and company mentor to develop yourself and gain insider knowledge with the ability to use it effectively. Show up on time, do the work, and be accountable for the results you achieve and mistakes you’ve made. These are essential learning moments. Accountability, humility, and the ability to course-correct quickly are often what tip an executive toward sponsoring you.

Self-Development. Develop clarity about yourself by completing a qualified assessment that shows you who you really are instead of how you want to be seen. If you’re trying to be someone else, people lose confidence and trust in you. Also, complete Get Your Brag On! to learn how to sell yourself in a business savvy manner.

©Jeannette Seibly 2026 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is a Leadership Results Coach, Talent Advisor, and Business Author with 33 years of experience activating greatness in leaders and companies. She delivers practical coaching and solutions that elevate performance today, build legacies that stand the test of time, and support people in empowering themselves to lead with clarity and impact.

Executive sponsorship won’t come from waiting. It comes from preparation, initiative, speaking up, and showing up ready! Invest in your development. Ask for support. Build the relationships that elevate your work. You don’t have to push through the leadership gap alone. Connect with me and let’s build the clarity, confidence, and presence that will move you forward.

How to Move You and Your Team Through the Fog of Uncertainty

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“Everyone experiences uncertainty when working towards an intended result. But it’s the person who keeps moving forward through the fog who wins.” Jeannette Seibly

Many teams today are ineffective. Only about 10% actually achieve intended results. (It’s scary, isn’t it?) Yet many leaders and team members still excuse their ineffectiveness, “We lacked clarity about where to go and how to get there.”

The truth? The teams lacked initiative, resilience, resourcefulness, and the ability to operate in the fog of uncertainty to get to clarity.

Today, we allow ourselves to get stopped by uncertainty (aka fog). Yet there are no guarantees in life or business. Outside‑the‑company factors can impede results, and inside‑the‑company issues, such as silos, factions, and other mischief can do the same. This is how excuses and poor results become the acceptable norm.

But how we relate to uncertainty hurts leadership growth and prevent building a highly effective team.

How to Relate and Navigate Through Fog‑Like Conditions

  • Own your role in the outcome, not the story about why it’s hard.
  • Stay in motion even when the path isn’t fully visible.
  • Take initiative to find solutions and avoid letting issues or situations derail progress.
  • The right team. Select team members who have the interest, willingness, and capacity to do the work, not just what’s listed on the resume.
  • Ask questions. Curiosity and open‑ended questions clarify concerns and uncover blind spots.
  • Hear what people are actually saying, not what you assume they mean. Create psychological safety by listening for learning moments that come from mistakes, miscalculations, or miscommunication … they will spotlight solutions.
  • Keep conversations active so issues don’t grow in the fog of uncertainty.
  • Awaken inner power. Strengthen confidence by working through self‑doubt instead of waiting for certainty. Also, learn to take time and sit with uncertainty in silent reflection.
  • Coachable and responsible. Talk with your executive coach, industry expert, and internal mentor to learn what they and others have done in similar situations. Don’t naysay the people, situation, or process. Remember, these experts are not there to do the work for you.

If you’re leading a team through fog right now, don’t wait for perfect clarity. That’s not leadership; that’s hesitation or avoidance dressed up as caution. Take the next step. Start the conversation. Raise the standard.

©Jeannette Seibly 2026 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is a Leadership Results Coach, Talent Advisor, and Business Author with 33 years of experience guiding leaders and executives to achieve exceptional results. She delivers practical coaching and innovative solutions for hiring, leadership development, and performance success. Successful leaders have coaches—connect with Jeannette to elevate your results and impact in 2026.

Equip your team with resilience, accountability, and the ability to perform in the face of uncertainty. Help your leaders move through the fog instead of getting lost or stopped by it. If you’re ready to explore what’s getting in the way, let’s talk. Together, we can identify the blind spots and strengthen you and your team’s ability to achieve intended results.

NOTE: A new presentation, Psychological Safety: The Leadership Advantage You Can’t Ignore, is now available. If you’d like to bring this conversation to your business leaders, bosses, or managers, reach out and I’ll share the details.

Are You Growing Your Career Value Through Skill Stacking?

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“Skill stacking improves the value and impact you build today; they become your legacy footprint for tomorrow.” Jeannette Seibly

Are you bored with your job? Lack clarity about how to improve your paycheck? Want a promotion that just isn’t happening? Skill stacking gives you a practical way to grow your value without waiting for someone else to hand you the next step.

What is skill stacking?

Skill stacking is when you build a set of skills that fit well together. These skills help you become more valuable and able to handle different tasks at work. Instead of trying to be the very best at one thing, you strategically and intentionally develop and grow a mix of skills that work together and open the door to new opportunities.

Why is this important?

Every legacy is built one skill, one insight, and one decision at a time. Most people don’t realize that the careers they admire, and the confidence they wish they had, are often the result of something simple and accessible: stacking skills over time.

When Daniel became a team leader, he wasn’t the most experienced person in the room. But he started stacking small skills that made a big difference. He learned how to run an effective meeting. Then he practiced giving feedback that people could actually use. Later, he took a short course on reading financial reports so he could understand how his team’s work affected the company.

None of these skills made him a superstar overnight. But together, they changed how people saw him. His team trusted him more. His decisions improved. Other departments began asking for his input because he understood the bigger picture.

Over time, Daniel’s stacked skills shaped his leadership style, and his legacy. He didn’t become a great leader because of one big moment. He became one by building skills that worked together and made a lasting impact.

Remember, skill stacking is about strategically and intentionally growing your value so your work, your impact, and your future reflect the legacy you want to leave.

4 Ways to Start Stacking Skills That Make You a More Valuable Leader

Learn the basics. Knowing how to place numbers in the right boxes doesn’t mean you know if they’re accurate or how they were created. Learn! Understanding the fundamentals gives you the confidence to ask better questions, catch mistakes, and see patterns others miss.

Expand your current skills beyond what you currently do. You may be able to do your job well, but do you understand what happens next, beyond the catchphrases you were taught to say? Understanding the upstream and downstream impact of your work helps you anticipate needs, solve problems earlier, and communicate more effectively with other departments.

Develop the depth and breadth of job responsibilities. Often, this requires meeting with industry experts and company mentors. The more you learn about your industry and profession, and learn how to use that knowledge well, the more valuable you become. Depth gives you credibility. Breadth gives you adaptability. Together, they shape a professional identity that stands out.

Engage in curiosity and ask open-ended questions. Take time to learn more from customers, coworkers, and others about your job or profession … and theirs too. This information can create new insights into how to do your job so that your company and its clients benefit. Along the way, you become a stronger employee and leader. Curiosity naturally expands your understanding, relationships, and influence.

Skill stacking is one of the simplest ways to grow your value without waiting for permission or a promotion. Each new layer of understanding, mastering the basics, expanding your role, deepening industry knowledge, and asking better questions, builds a stronger, more adaptable you.

As these steps compound, your professional identity stands out, your opportunities expand, and your confidence grows. Skill stacking isn’t about becoming everything to everyone; it’s about strategically and intentionally building strengths that make you unmistakably valuable to employers and clients.

© Jeannette Seibly 2026 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is a Leadership Results Coach, Talent Advisor, and Business Author with 33 years of experience activating greatness in leaders and companies. She delivers practical coaching and solutions that elevate performance today, build legacies that stand the test of time, and support people in empowering themselves to lead with clarity and impact.

Legacies aren’t built at the finish line; they’re built in the skills you sharpen every day. Stack them with purpose. Strengthen one, stretch another, and stay curious. Ready to grow your impact? Contact me.

Leaders, Your Results Suffer When People Feel Excluded

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“The quality of your results are impacted when employees feel excluded.” Jeannette Seibly

Even small acts of exclusion, like taking sides or avoiding one another, can ripple outward, but they are preventable. Years ago, I worked with a manager I admired. Whenever her employees didn’t get along, she’d seat them next to one another. Eventually, they learned how to work well together. This simple tactic prevented people from taking sides and reduced the likelihood of coworkers feeling excluded now and in the future. She understood that effective collaboration mattered to the entire company and its customers.

Today’s leaders face far more complex forms of exclusion, and the impact can be much greater than two people who don’t get along. When employees feel excluded, they become isolated, less able to do their jobs well, and more disengaged.

People knowingly and unknowingly create silos, factions, and cliques that gossip, limit productivity, and make it difficult to achieve quality results because not everyone is invited or included. These groups quietly undermine collaboration, slow down decisions, and create costly barriers.

The costs show up in delayed customer responses, rework caused by withheld information, turnover ripple effects, and even legal exposure when patterns of exclusion go unaddressed (e.g., harassment, discrimination).

When people don’t feel invited to contribute or are prevented from participating, collaboration breaks down, productivity drops, and your best talent quietly disengages.

Leaders unintentionally enable exclusion when they ignore subtle behaviors, reward “insider” groups, or allow cliques to dominate conversations or decisions. Leadership awareness requires noticing these patterns early and addressing them directly.

What Can You Do as a Leader?

Hold Weekly Team Meetings. Address: What’s been working? What do you need help with? Share updates on new issues or concerns. Acknowledge successes. These conversations help people feel included and strengthen teamwork.

Develop Facilitation Skills. Develop strong facilitation skills for on-site, hybrid, and remote meetings to ensure all voices are heard and no one feels sidelined.

Honor Each Person’s Ideas. Some ideas may evoke laughter or scrutiny, but leaders must recognize when reactions create alienation. Acknowledge all ideas and ensure everyone feels psychologically safe to contribute.

Provide Frequent Feedback. Offer insights to people who are causing logjams or difficulties for customers or coworkers. Clear feedback helps prevent behaviors that exclude others from participating fully.

Ask the Employee. When creating a project or event, invite people directly and let them decide yes or no. Too often, leaders assume someone doesn’t want to participate because they’ve declined in the past or because someone else is quietly excluding them.

Counsel Future Leaders About the Cost of Exclusion. Instead of communicating, people of all ages will exclude others as a power play, to show they’re upset, or simply because they don’t like someone. In effective teams and profitable companies, future leaders must work well with anyone, anytime, and anywhere to ensure no one is left out.

Become Aware of the Cost, Legalities, and Psychological Safety. Ignoring people being or feeling excluded is expensive. When good people leave, the time, money, and energy invested in them walk out the door … and they are often followed by other employees and customers.

Building Strong Team Results. Be intentional about team-building activities. Not everyone plays golf, wants to ride a horse, or can climb a wall. These activities naturally exclude people. Instead, focus on communication and getting to know one another as people. Tools like PXT Select® help teams understand strengths and communication styles, making inclusion easier and more natural. Note: PXT Select also improves job fit. Miscommunication and misinformation often come from people who are not fully engaged in their roles.

When leaders address exclusion early, they strengthen trust, improve results, and create workplaces where people want to stay and contribute.

©Jeannette Seibly 2026 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is a Leadership Results Coach, Talent Advisor, and Business Author with 33 years of experience guiding leaders and executives to achieve exceptional results. She delivers practical coaching and innovative solutions for hiring, leadership development, and performance success. Successful leaders have coaches—connect with Jeannette to elevate your results and impact in 2026.

As a leader, ensuring everyone on your team feels included is essential to serving the company and its clients. Small groups can quietly undermine collaboration, slow down decisions, and create costly barriers. If you’re seeing signs of exclusion and are unsure how to address them, contact me for a confidential conversation so we can identify the blind spots and strengthen your team’s ability to work well together.

NOTE: A new presentation, Psychological Safety: The Leadership Advantage, is one you cannot ignore. Contact me for details on presenting this information to your business leaders, bosses, and managers.

What Are You Waiting For? Your Legacy Needs You

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“We have way too many excuses for not doing what we desire to do. But those excuses will turn into long-term regrets if not acted on now.” Jeannette Seibly

Many of us who are 55+ are still waiting; and plenty of younger people are waiting too. Waiting for inspiration, motivation, money, freedom, permission, or time. The problem? These excuses will continue hanging around until you get into focused action. And with people living longer, healthier, and more active lives than ever before, waiting only delays the impact you could be making right now.

Activate Your Inner “Can Do” Leader

Clarity. Yes, we all love to wait until we’re “clear” about what we want to do. News flash: you already know. Most people 55+ have ideas that have been tapping them on the shoulder for years; and those of you who are younger also know what you want to do. But, to make something happen, you must develop a better relationship with uncertainty and take small steps forward. Clarity grows through action, not contemplation.

Action Creates Motivation. Waiting and waiting and waiting some more won’t change anything … except maybe your excuses. The key: you already know the general direction you want to go. Writing a book. Creating a time‑saving invention. Designing a new app. Redesigning your home or backyard. Getting promoted. Launching a consulting practice. The list goes on and on. Take action. Neuroscience shows that even tiny steps forward create momentum and confidence.

Create a 10‑Word Goal. Anything longer becomes word soup. It’s meaningless and camouflages what you really want to accomplish. These ten words focus clarity and commitment.

Do Your Homework. If you want an investor, a new job, or a promotion, you must learn how to brag about what you’ve already accomplished. Get Your Brag On! will guide you in how to pitch your achievements with confidence and credibility, a skill many 55+ (and younger) professionals underestimate but desperately need.

Build a Team. Yes, you will need a team. They may help once, or they may help you full time. Have conversations and build the support you need. And stop using these excuses as reasons why you cannot start.

Solutions to your excuses. If your excuse is that you need to:

  • Crunch financial numbers, instead hire a bookkeeper.
  • Create a website, instead hire a technology expert.
  • Edit your book, instead hire an editor and coach to guide you.

Hire a teacher for anything you don’t know or don’t understand. DIY is not a badge of honor when the project fails because you were unwilling or unable to ask for help.

Move Past the “I’m Bored” Stage. Every project has a lull. This is the point where many people stop and never return. This is where dreams quietly die, but not entirely. They keep hanging around, tapping you on the shoulder and whispering in your ear until they get tired of waiting. Hire a coach. Do the work. Every step taken moves you closer to achieving your goal.

Celebrate Every Step with a “Yes! I Did it!” Every task, celebrate with a “Yea!” You get the idea: stop being so hard on yourself and celebrate along the way. Celebration reinforces progress and keeps your brain engaged. Read Get Your Brag On! for ideas to keep you in motion moving forward.

Waiting for the “right moment” only creates more waiting. Your ideas don’t disappear. They simply linger, nudge, and whisper until you finally take that first step. Focused action, especially small steps, is what brings your legacy to life.

© Jeannette Seibly 2026 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is a Leadership Results Coach, Talent Advisor, and Business Author with 33 years of experience activating greatness in leaders and companies. She delivers practical coaching and solutions that elevate performance today, build legacies that stand the test of time, and support people in empowering themselves to lead with clarity and impact.

If you’re ready to stop postponing your dreams and start moving forward with clarity and confidence, contact me. I’ll help you get into focused action now and build the legacy you’ve been wishing for and talking about for far too long.

Psychological Safety: The Leadership Advantage You Can’t Ignore

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“Psychological safety isn’t optional. It’s a leadership responsibility.” Jeannette Seibly

Psychological safety is an often-overlooked leadership issue gaining more and more attention due to rising employment litigation, turnover, disengaged employees, and shaky bottom lines.

As a leader, you are responsible for creating and maintaining an environment where team members feel safe speaking up, taking risks, and expressing their thoughts without fear of reprisal. In addition, you are responsibility for making sure there is no subtle retaliation affecting promotions, pay increases, assignments, or professional reputation.

What Leaders Overlook About Psychological Safety 

  • Harsh or public criticism for mistakes
  • Micromanagement of projects or tasks
  • Dismissing ideas as “stupid,” causing embarrassment or humiliation
  • Creating fear, doubt, or anxiety through unpredictable behavior
  • Squashing creativity and solutions
  • Team members feeling unvalued, unheard, or disrespected
  • Hesitating to challenge or talk through poor decisions
  • Avoiding admitting mistakes or failures
  • Allowing poor quality or inefficiencies due to fear of giving feedback
  • Retaliation, subtle or overt, impacting compensation, opportunities, or visibility

Leaders who foster psychological safety encourage innovation, honest feedback, and healthier workplace dynamics. It starts with awareness and a conscious commitment to how you develop and support your team.

Strategies to Create a Psychologically Safe Workplace

Share Authentically. When leaders admit their own mistakes or uncertainties, it signals that learning and growth matter more than unachievable perfection. Team members open up more readily when you model vulnerability. They also bounce back faster when they hear your stories of lessons learned.

Solution: Practice storytelling with an executive coach. Meandering or overexplaining will lose your audience.

Encourage Open Dialogue. Actively invite team members to share their thoughts, ideas, and concerns. Use open-ended questions and listen with genuine curiosity.

Solution: Phrases like “What do you think?” and “I’d love to hear your perspective” create engagement. Just be sure you truly listen.

Provide Constructive Feedback. Frame mistakes as learning opportunities rather than failures. Replace blame with questions like, “What can we/you learn from this?” or “How can we/you improve next time?”

Solution: Use the sandwich or direct approach depending on the person and situation. Always provide feedback in private.

Model Active Listening. Show engagement through eye contact, nodding, and summarizing what you heard. Avoid nonverbal behaviors that signal distraction such as multitasking, doodling, checking your phone, or tapping on the table.

Solution: Stop multitasking. Be present and mindful, focusing fully on the conversation in front of you.

Set Clear Expectations and Hold Team Members Accountable. Clarify that feedback, honesty, and thoughtful risk-taking are valued. People won’t speak up if they fear negative repercussions. And many won’t deliver consistently without accountability.

Solution: Hold employees accountable for quality work, positive client interactions, and meeting deadlines, because consistent accountability helps everyone feel they’re part of a strong, high-performing team.

Recognize and Reward Effort. Learning to brag about successful outcomes, individually and as a team, is essential. Recognize people for trying new approaches, solving problems creatively and resourcefully, or helping others.

Solution: Brag about their accomplishments and ideas to others. Public recognition done in a business professional manner builds confidence and reinforces desired behaviors.

Promote Inclusivity. Ensure all voices are heard, especially those who are quiet or hesitant. Encourage diverse perspectives and stay mindful of power dynamics that may silence some individuals.

Solution: Go around the table at least twice to ensure everyone has a chance to contribute. Reinforce respect for all ideas.

Psychological safety isn’t a one-time effort. It requires consistent reinforcement. When done well, it transforms teams, strengthens trust, and fuels innovation.

© Jeannette Seibly 2025–2026 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is a Leadership Results Coach, Talent Advisor, and Business Author with 33 years of experience guiding leaders and executives to achieve exceptional results. She delivers practical coaching and innovative solutions for hiring, leadership development, and performance success. Successful leaders have coaches—connect with Jeannette to elevate your results and impact in 2026.

As a leader, being responsible for psychological safety will ensure team members have the resources, responsibilities, and support needed to excel. If you’re unsure how to make meaningful changes, contact me.

NOTE: A new presentation, Psychological Safety: Workplace Solutions, is now available for your business leaders, bosses, and managers. Contact me for details.

What Do You Focus on as a Leader?

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“Focusing on problems limits solutions. Focusing on new possibilities and ideas multiplies solutions.” Jeannette Seibly

We’ve all heard the saying, “What you focus on expands.” We nod, but are not clear about what that really means.

Most leaders and bosses focus on:

  • The problem at hand and various ways to fix it in that moment
  • Something someone said and allow it to be replayed over and over, usually perceived as negative
  • An upset with a neighbor or family member who is not behaving according to their standards and allow it to take up mental and emotional space

Yet, the problems persist because we continue to focus on them.

You mistakenly believe by continually replaying the problem in your mind, that you’ll find the answer and will uncover something new. But in truth, your awareness is only focused on right v. wrong, and not on solving the issue.

Why do you keep replaying problems?

  • The issue seems insurmountable and hopeless
  • You tried once and failed
  • The other person isn’t listening and is wrong in their point of view
  • Your boss or team got upset when the issue was mentioned
  • You consider yourself a firefighter, not a solution provider

These patterns keep you stuck in the problem instead of moving toward solutions.

How to Create Solutions

Recognizing the above listed patterns is the first step, and intentionally shifting your focus toward solutions is the next, with each step building on the others to move you from problem‑fixation to solution‑focused leadership.

Engage in Curiosity. Too often, you fail to look at an issue from someone else’s point of view. You don’t ask open‑ended questions and assume you know the answers.

A team member who continually arrives late causes everyone to start the meeting over. This can be very annoying. But when talking with him, you find out it’s a child‑care issue. If you scheduled the meeting a half hour later, he’d be there when it started. This is what focusing on solutions looks like … asking questions to shift from assumptions to understanding.

Address the Core Issue. Once curiosity opens the door, the next step is addressing what’s really going on. It seems easier to place a band‑aid on everything. You and others claim, “We fixed it.” You may have for the moment, but in the very near future, it’ll only get worse since the core issue wasn’t addressed. This costs the company time, money, and retention of employees and customers.

Customer service had to do double entry when a customer called in. The tech people shrugged their shoulders and said, “It is the way it is.” When talking with a testing company, they said, “Look for this core coding issue.” They did, and were able to solve the problem. Productivity and customer and employee satisfaction rose.

Participate in Brainstorming. Once the core issue is identified, brainstorming opens up new possibilities.

As a leader or boss, too often, the following get in the way of true brainstorming, and limits your ability to focus on broader possibilities:

  • You have a false belief you must know all the answers. This is nonsense and limits potential solutions.
  • You’re afraid of the time and energy required to brainstorm, or like most leaders, you lack the skills to be an effective facilitator.
  • When someone makes off‑the‑wall statements, you roll your eyes and shake your head. You just don’t have the patience to listen to another bad idea. After all, you think, “We should be focused on the problem.”
  • Your biases limit hearing what’s possible (e.g., the person offering the idea). This keeps you focused on the problem and leaves your team feeling disempowered to solve it.

Facilitation tips:

  • Consider creating five reasons why any idea could work.
  • Ask open‑ended questions to get people thinking outside the norm.
  • Don’t be afraid of silence. This will force people to offer ideas that they’re afraid to say.

A department was struggling with missed deadlines. During a brainstorming session, one team member suggested eliminating two long‑standing reports. The leader almost dismissed the idea as “ridiculous” since those reports had been required for years. But after asking for five reasons the idea could work, the team discovered no one actually used the reports anymore. Eliminating them freed up hours each week, reduced errors, and improved turnaround time. What looked like a “ridiculous idea” became the breakthrough solution.

Take Action Now. Brainstorming only works when followed by action. Now that you have a proposed solution, assign tasks and get into action. Thinking about or talking more about it only keeps the problem around longer. Yes, there will be fine‑tuning required and needed conversations that were previously overlooked (e.g., getting input from employees who are directly impacted).

As you move forward, be flexible while focused on the solution.

When a large company made a major change to their technology platform, they forgot to ask the users for their input fearing it would take too much time. The results were horrendous and expensive. It was the main reason it took years before another company would buy out their assets.

© Jeannette Seibly 2026 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is a Leadership Results Coach, Talent Advisor, and Business Author with 33 years of experience activating greatness in leaders and companies. She delivers practical coaching and solutions that elevate performance today, build legacies that stand the test of time, and support people empowering themselves to lead with clarity and impact.

Ready to shift your focus from problems to solutions? When you take this simple but not easy step, your solutions expand and so does your impact as a leader. It may feel unclear at first, especially when old habits keep pulling your attention back to what’s wrong. Don’t let that stall your progress. Contact me to get into focused action and start now.

When Good Employees Stop Communicating

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“When an employee goes out of communication, good leaders step in and resolve the issue.” Jeannette Seibly

It’s important for leaders and bosses, actually crucial, to recognize when employees stop asking for help, information, or background insight when addressing and learning about a new assignment, new client, or workplace changes.

When employees, even top talent, fail to ask or update you, it’s not because they already know their job so well. It’s because they remember the bad vibe they received the last time they asked you for help. Or, they lack insight into potential challenges or opportunities. Or, it’s because they have simply given up.

Silence is rarely about whether or not your employees knowing their job. It’s almost always about psychological safety, trust, or past experiences.

A few of the many red flags to pay attention to and resolve:

  • Drop in quality
  • Errors rise
  • Morale erodes
  • Attitude shift from positive to neutral or negative
  • Assignments are late
  • Team members or customers are complaining

As the leader and boss, being proactive can prevent upsets, frustrations, and miscommunication. Ignoring the red flags only widens the communication gap and makes a good employee-leader relationship harder.

Solutions to Resolve an Employee’s Lack of Communication

Communication Is Required for Successful Employee-Boss Interactions

When making new assignments, or when there has been a change in client engagements, even slight, it’s important to have a pow‑wow and talk through these small but never insignificant changes. Even if it is about a co‑worker or team issue, talking it out instead of waiting it out keeps people communicating and intended results occurring. Silence grows in spaces where leaders assume instead of ask.

Solution: Embrace the tough conversations; these can offer the greatest rewards. Get in communication with your executive coach if you’re concerned about what and how to do this.

The Employee Was Moved to a Different Position or Given Responsibilities That Don’t Fit Them

Too often, we ignore job fit as an important component of someone’s success in the job. But when you place employees in jobs that don’t fit them, silence ensues. Misalignment creates insecurity, and insecurity shuts down communication. Not only does this diminish the employee feeling valued, it’s the most expensive and overlooked issue in companies today.

Ask these questions, “Have you placed:

  • A detail‑oriented person in a high‑ambiguity role?
  • A creative thinker in repetitive tasks?
  • A technical expert into a manager role?
  • A conflict‑averse employee in a negotiation role?”

These scenarios don’t support their growth, and they will avoid you out of fear of you finding out they are failing.

One company took a top‑producing inside sales person and placed him in an outside sales role in a different state per the employee’s request. He failed miserably, and the few times he asked for help, the boss didn’t know how to help him since he didn’t have objective data to guide him or the knowledge of how to best coach the person. The employee eventually took a job with a competitor. Job fit isn’t optional … it’s foundational.

Solution: Get employees back in jobs that naturally fit them, even if they made the request for a job change. Without objective data, you cannot make a valid decision and will make an error in changing their job.

Check in on You: A Change in Your Leadership Habits

Answer these questions:

  • Are you normally good at responding to your employees? But now are short-tempered.
  • Do you keep the door open for their questions? But now keep it closed?
  • Have you had a difficult interaction with your boss, board, co‑workers, or other team members?
  • Have you failed to get the issue resolved?
  • Have you experienced a personal or professional failure or mistake?

If you’ve answered yes to more than one of these questions, its impacting employees feeling comfortable talking with you. Yes, really. Remember, nonverbal communication accounts for more than 90 percent of what someone is communicating (gestures, tone, energy level).

Leaders and bosses love to think staying quiet about their own challenges protect their employees, and hope the issue resolve itself. It rarely does. Staying quiet and withdrawing actually leaks into other areas of your leadership and management styles. Employees stop wanting to talk with you since you’re not focused on them, just yourself. Your silence signals that communication isn’t valued, even if that’s not your intention.

Solution: Hire an executive coach and get this handled ASAP. Waiting only makes it worse and can take a small issue and balloon it into a huge one.

© Jeannette Seibly 2026 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is a Leadership Results Coach, Talent Advisor, and Business Author with 33 years of experience guiding leaders and executives to achieve exceptional results. She delivers practical coaching and innovative solutions for hiring, leadership development, and performance success. Successful leaders have coaches—connect with Jeannette to elevate your results and impact in 2026.

Communication is the backbone of any employee‑leader/boss relationship. If an employee has gone quiet, it’s up to you to resolve the issue. Contact me for a confidential conversation to identify the gaps and strengthen your impact as a leader.

You’re Too Young to Be Complacent About Your Dreams and Ideas

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“We all have ideas bouncing around in our heads. The time to unleash and release them is now, or forever regret it.” Jeannette Seibly

You’re too young, at any age, to be complacent about your dreams and ideas. Complacency is not your friend, especially when goals, desires, and unfinished projects are still waiting to be started or shared. Regrets don’t come from ideas pursued; they come from doing nothing with them. And those regrets last a lifetime.

We like to believe we have time to create and leave our legacy. But tomorrow, next year, or “someday” is not guaranteed. Five people in my life recently passed away, still young, still full of dreams. Time doesn’t wait.

So, what are you waiting for?

Many of us are waiting for:

  • Permission from people who are not going to give it
  • Signs from the universe that you’ve already missed, if they existed at all
  • Money or inheritance from a fictional ancestor
  • Motivation to get started

Now is the time to get into action by taking small steps forward.

Tips to Move Forward Now

Get it out of your head. We all have ideas and goals that have lived in our heads for a while. But dreams die if we don’t take action. Giving your idea or dreams to someone else may be the answer, but they won’t fulfill on them the same way you would, won’t have the same vision, or may not do anything at all since the idea wasn’t theirs.

Write it down, draw it, or code it. Do NOT edit or review while unloading your thoughts. Make notes about research to be done, but do NOT conduct the research yet.

  • Write that first terrible draft for a book or article. Don’t beat yourself up. It won’t be perfect or publishable. If you’re comparing yourself to published authors, remember: you’re looking at their finished book while you’re still on Chapter 1. They took the time to write, rewrite, and get help.
  • Draw the first schematic or outline the initial system for any technology or mechanical initiative.
  • Have conversations about the program, nonprofit, or project. Some people won’t agree or may want to take it in a different direction. Don’t overlook their input. When working with a group, it’s important to build alignment. Bigger and better ideas are often the result.

Walk away (1 hour or 1 day), then review. Conduct research. Rewrite or reconfigure. Also, check viability.

Here’s why:

  • When writing historical fiction, it’s easier to see the time period may not match the situation at hand.
  • When I sought funding for a 501(c)3, I was told it would take two years. Even though I got it done in three months without investors, it took conversations and openness to others’ input.

Beware of the “Boring Arena.” This is where many people give up and quit. It’s time to do the real work that produces results. Before you can launch an idea, the work or prototype must be completed. This is the real work.

  • During this time, new ideas will pop up. Put them in a file.
  • Shiny Object Syndrome will activate. Thank it for sharing. STAY FOCUSED.
  • It can be tedious writing a set number of words per day, redrafting to meet specs, finding more issues than solutions. STAY WITH IT.
  • Consider: Can you delegate or ask for help? Is there part of the process someone can take over? NOW, ASK.
  • Problems will seem insurmountable. Remember: every problem is an opportunity in disguise. But only if you look. Many times, these opportunities create “eureka moments!” TALK WITH YOUR COACH.

Example: I had many ideas and new characters show up while writing my first historical novel, The Old Wooden Rocker, The Illusion of Family: Book 1. But I stayed focused. Now Books 2 through 5 of The Illusion of Family series are being written.

Remember, not everyone, especially you, will be excited about this phase of the process. But the work must be done after the initial excitement has died.

Stay focused and honor your commitment. Results will happen!

Recently, my neighbor and I conducted a drive for items to donate to a homeless pets’ nonprofit. We didn’t belabor the idea. We agreed, got outside support, and made it happen (flyers, boxes, reminders). Then came the boring part: waiting. Some days, no one added anything to the boxes. Yet, when the drive ended, we had a lot of items to deliver.

Let others have the critical eye. When you’ve done what you can, share appropriately. Editors, bosses, or customers will have questions. Be prepared. If you don’t know the answer, say, “I don’t know yet. What are your thoughts?” Write them down. Conduct research.

Unless your project or book is only for friends and family, do NOT overlook getting outside help. Many books fail due to DIY poor editing, cover design, and formatting. They forget the book or project is for readers and recipients. Many book and projects get tabled because they don’t stand out from everything else on the market.

Other often-overlooked complacency considerations:

  • Use copyrights on all creative endeavors. Google “copyright” for more information. (Remember: unless otherwise agreed, any work done on company time is owned by the company.)
  • At one point, you will be uncomfortable. Your excuses will get louder. Ask yourself, “Am I more committed to my excuses or my commitment?” I ask myself when complacency sets in, “If I only had six months to live, would this be important?” If yes, I get busy.
  • You may give in to thinking this is not meant to be. Yes, publishing a book takes time and money. No, you likely won’t get a big-name publisher offering big bucks. Become resourceful. There are many ways to get a project, book, or idea funded. Talk with investors, objective people with nothing to gain, and your boss or team members.
  • When sharing an idea outside your employer (and sometimes inside), have an NDA (non-disclosure agreement) signed. I once told an inventor to get an NDA. He didn’t. The company he pitched to, violated their verbal promise and went to market faster than he could … they had the money, he lost out.

Your dreams, projects, and ideas are counting on you. Honor them. Start now.  When complacency kicks in, take the next small step and keep going until the work is done.

© Jeannette Seibly 2026 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is a Leadership Results Coach, Talent Advisor, and Business Author with 33 years of experience activating greatness in leaders and companies. She delivers practical coaching and solutions that elevate performance today, build legacies that stand the test of time, and support people empowering themselves to lead with clarity and impact.

Complacency happens frequently for many people with great ideas. Don’t let it get in the way of you achieving your dreams, goals, and purpose. Contact me to get into focused action and start now.