Articles

Is your ethical compass spinning?

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When ethical issues get overlooked during the design and implementation of a project, everyone blames somebody else. It’s very easy to succumb to the strongest advocate’s point of view that ethical issues won’t matter. But the problems created by lies or by dismissing the truth won’t resolve themselves. As the leader, you need to guide your team on how to proceed. Make it easy for your employees and peers to bring these types of concerns to your attention—discovering ethical issues down the road usually makes them more costly, if not impossible, to fix. Don’t shoot the messenger! Don’t blame the informer for someone else’s theft or violation of company policy. Is your ethical compass still spinning? Now is the time to call a highly experienced business advisor, someone who can confidentially bring clarity on how to resolve ethical issues. Remember, ethical doesn’t always mean easy!  http://SeibCo.com/contact

(c)Jeannette L. Seibly, 2013

How do you handle the company bully?

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People can be difficult to converse with when they are being bullies constantly in search of special favors. As an executive, you don’t have the luxury of avoiding them. However, you can minimize and structure your interactions to be effective. First, listen to their request. Don’t dismiss it simply based on who’s asking. Second, ask what the return on investment is. Third, have them put it in writing. Fourth, make a decision that works best for the company. For additional insights on how to handle difficult interactions, get your copy of Most Discussions Require More Than 140 Characters! https://seibco.com/books/eguides/

(c)Jeannette L. Seibly, 2013

Innovation frauds

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Many professionals make changes for the sake of making changes. Some hope change will be recognized as a good thing and keep them employed. The bottom line? Change can be disruptive to any business when modifications are made without a specific goal others can agree upon. Remind new hires to learn the current way your company conducts business before offering any recommendations for changes, at least for 30 days. Just because it worked with their former employer or is considered the industry norm does not mean a change will produce the required results in your environment. Teach everyone how to ask the right questions of their teammates and brainstorm possible adjustments before making any agreed-upon changes. For a new system to work profitably, it must include everyone’s input into its design and alignment.

(c)Jeannette L. Seibly, 2013

How does “new normal” impact your leadership?

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The new normal is a paradigm shift. Old thoughts and beliefs are being replaced with new expectations about sustaining and growing our businesses. We may have to take new actions in order to acquire new clients and embrace new technology to meet expanding needs. We may need to refine marketing, sales, and hiring systems or give them a complete overhaul. But we will still need to measure successful operations, financial growth, and strategic planning against the company’s actual results to ensure we’re headed where we want to go. Integrity and ethics will be increasingly scrutinized by prospective customers and prospective top talent in the new normal.  Sometimes these shifts are for the better, and sometimes they are simply a passing fad.

A new executive kept telling the CEO they needed to make changes in their marketing plan and sales activities to attract larger companies. The CEO kept reminding her that “bigger clients are not always better ones, nor do they necessarily provide bigger ROIs.” The company’s strategic plan was deliberately focused on small to medium-sized clients. The new executive was unwilling to adapt and left because of poor job fit after 18 months—and the company grew and prospered because her replacement embraced the company’s strategic vision.

What is your responsibility as a leader? Stay consciously aware of shifting criteria. Some principles will start quietly until they become so loud that they demand your attention. Others are much more subtle and may only hang around until they are replaced by a newer craze or trend. Regardless, don’t follow blindly along. Take charge of defining which changes will work well for your company. Infuse as much objectivity as possible when making any modifications, and don’t forget the human factors, regardless of how small the modification. Your employees’ emotional reactions will create a smooth or difficult transition.

“The grass is greener at other companies” is a myth many job-hoppers believed when taking new positions that promise increased pay and work responsibilities. They may find that their new employer does not offer the same benefits package and other perks as their old one, or that their new bosses are not better people and project managers. Increased work responsibilities could instead simply mean working longer hours with fewer resources!

The key? Don’t become an ostrich with your head in the sand. Investigate and explore the potential impact of any new normal. Consciously choose when, where, why, and how to follow—or not! You don’t want to be left scrambling to refocus on the right things.

(c)Jeannette L. Seibly, 2013

Rewire Your Leadership

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  • Are there rumblings about you that are becoming harder to ignore?
  • Is your boss or board upset over something you’ve done and you’re unclear why?
  • Did you fail to meet budget or ROI requirements when executing a project?
  • Are disgruntled employees or peers pointing fingers at you?

Business is rapidly changing. We need to change too! It’s time to rewire our leadership! As many successful executives will tell you, hiring the right business advisor/executive coach and being coachable are two primary ingredients for success. It’s lonely at the top! The feedback you’re looking for within your organization can be hard to come by or fraught with ambiguities.

Too often we are unaware that our job is about to be sidelined or could soon end. Even when there are clear signs that we’ve made mistakes or ignored less-clear indicators, we fail to act in a proactive and positive way. Unfortunately, some C-suite bosses will delay in making the inevitable decision to terminate, and leave us with a false sense of hope that all is well.

 

A high-level manager with 20 years of experience worked at a subsidiary of a Fortune 500 company. She asked her boss’s boss the wrong question at the wrong time. He took it personally and began a covert crusade to get her fired. She sensed something was wrong and contacted me. We resolved the problem within 30 days! Soon thereafter she applied for and accepted a new position with a salary increase, a job that wouldn’t have been offered to her without the work we did. We kept talking to ensure she didn’t inadvertently step on any new land mines or shoot at any sacred cows in her new job. Several years later she retired, received an early retirement package, and is now happily traveling around the United States and Europe.

 

Regardless of your years of experience, job knowledge, and allies, you can still say or do something that sidelines your career. Although you may lack clarity as to what happened or rely on others’ friendly sentiments that it will all work out, there are always signals to pay attention to and handle immediately with outside guidance. (Insiders may be less willing to get involved for fear of reprisals.)

 

A man who had many years of executive experience finally got an opportunity he really wanted. He started the job with bravado and relied on promises of advancement. Although it was a poor strategy for a leader, his primary goal was to be liked. He failed to discern what needed to be done to move the company forward—even though he was apprised of the required results. Soon he was dragging through his days. Employees stopped talking to him. His boss sidelined him by ignoring him or going on a rampage over his mediocre results. He refused outside coaching and clung to the false belief that he “knew what needed to be done.” After several less-than-subtle conversations with his boss to try and rectify the situation, he was fired. Unfortunately, his anger will keep him unemployed for a long time.

 

Instead of listening and learning, we rationalize or justify our beliefs about “how things should be.” We fail to do what is necessary or fail to understand why it’s in our best interests to clean up problems in our working relationships. Then, we are mystified when people stop talking to us or stop providing us with critical information. Subtly we withdraw from the team and become overly critical of the company’s direction or activities. None of these unconscious strategies work well for anyone’s career.

 

“Jeannette’s work with executive and leadership teams is targeted and focused in a way that will align the people side of your business with its goals and growth objectives.” —Nikki Ellison, Co-Founder, ELEVATE

 

Rewire your leadership provides clarity, knowledge, and best practices to rectify the situation through executive coaching customized for your challenges. The mark of a great leader is learning how and when to effectively clean up mistakes and focus on ignored issues while developing positive relationships. Many executives have poor project management skills. Learning how and when to get help can be a challenge. Outside objectivity is the key to your success.

Your first step is to call SeibCo—we have been providing qualified business advisory services for over 21 years to over 75 executives; along the way, three became millionaires.

We can help you make the difference to keep your job title, paycheck, renew your commit to doing the right things in your job, achieve the required results, improve your declining reputation and likeability, and stay employed.

The key is to do it now before it is too late.

Only you can do the work. Do it the right way for the right results. Don’t go it alone.

Contact me today!

Contact Jeannette Seibly today: http://SeibCo.com/contact.

To read Jeannette’s profile, recommendations, and endorsements, go to www.linkedin.com/in/jeannetteseibly/

(c)Jeannette L. Seibly, 2013  All Rights Reserved

What do you do when your boss keeps making the same mistakes?

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This can happen for a variety of reasons. One is that bosses don’t recognize their errors—they miscalculate the impact of their decisions because they are focused on the big picture and overlook the details, or vice versa. Or, they rely upon their financial, technical, and system interests while failing to include the human aspects required for a successful outcome. When bosses are clueless about their oversights and fail to ask the right questions, they normally blame others for not providing the whole picture. Don’t be passive. Become effective in recommending solutions. Take time to research and provide two or three alternatives, along with details for the execution of each proposed solution. Present these ideas both from a factual and a human perspective by introducing information that is the boss’s primary interest first, and then share the other important pros and cons.

(c)Jeannette L. Seibly, 2013

What process do you use to effectively work with your boss?

Are your hiring practices sane?

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Recent research data revealed by Google’s head of HR, Laszlo Bock, showed that brainteaser interview questions, unstructured interviews, student GPAs or test scores, and conducting more than four interviews all had little or no predictive value for success of job candidates! (http://www.ere.net/tags/backgroundchecking) Designing a simple yet predictive hiring system means thinking through your approach from the both sides of the desk: the applicant’s and the hiring manager’s. Infuse objectivity early in your process (http://wp.me/p2POui-nj) and use qualified assessments with high predictive values to help determine job fit. For other ideas, get your copy of “Hire Amazing Employees.” (http://BizSavvyHire.com)

(c)Jeannette L. Seibly, 2013

 

 

Use an outside sounding board to get you out of the mind-forest.

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“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” —Albert Einstein

When you’re immersed in the mind-forest of logic and/or emotions, your inner monologue can disguise the best path for your company to follow. You usually find yourself in these predicaments when there is a lack of clarity in the direction you’ve taken or a lack of integrity in the decisions you’ve made. Many times the problem could have been prevented if you had used an outside sounding board (e.g., a mentor, business advisor, or advisory board). It is easier for someone on the outside to point out the current or predicted obstacles, because they are not attached to the inner workings of your business. They can help you generate a new commitment to develop and execute a workable solution while creating an ethical, but not always easy, best course of action to achieve the right results.

(c)Jeannette L. Seibly, 2013

Who have you talked with on the outside to get a clearer view of the inside of your company?

Leaders talk straight —or their company fails.

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There are many schools, workshops, and programs focused on developing leaders’ abilities to communicate effectively. The problem is they are not focused on how to elicit the best in others and are concentrated on rote comments or insincere platitudes. Some executives lack experience or basic emotional intelligence when conversing with others, while other business professionals are afraid to hear the truth, particularly when they fear what their bosses, employees or clients have to say.

In this geographically diverse business market, the challenge of pulling everyone onto the same page can be a daunting due to differing cultural perceptions. As a leader, it’s your responsibility to learn how to converse with others in a manner that gets everyone on board in a reasonable period of time. Relying on emails or texts can actually cause more harm than good, since communication is filtered through cultural experience. There is greater probability of your intentions being misinterpreted due to differing reading levels or misinterpretation of jargon, slang, etc. Remember, a conversation may take 20 minutes and elicit a truer picture.

If you, as the leader, are a poor communicator and don’t take responsibility for your interactions, your enterprise can quickly lose market share, top talent, and desired outcomes. Think through your messages and tailor them to your audiences. Write a draft and have it reviewed by another to ensure you are capturing the tone of the message you wish to send. In your closing comments, be sure to invite feedback and be open to hearing what others have to share—those insights could make all the difference in correctly tweaking the actions required to achieve intended results.

(c)Jeannette L. Seibly

What practices do you use to ensure your messages are conveyed in a way others hear them?

Small business owners should roll up their sleeves.

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Get involved in the day-to-day activities of your small business—it’s important for many reasons. It keeps you sane about your decisions instead of in the clouds. It helps you better understand employee challenges that you otherwise might disregard, and it helps you avoid inappropriate comments such as “They simply need to work harder.” It provides you with realistic expectations of how a job is done and brings an awareness of each job’s nuances while fostering loyalty and trust.

(c)Jeannette L. Seibly, 2013

 What have you done to foster loyalty and trust inside your company?