Assessments

 

You are leading a meeting and need to have a detail handled. You ask the person taking notes to record a comment a team member just made.  He declines, saying, “I didn’t write down your comments so I’m not going to write down his comments either.”

You think, “Huh?”  Then, to keep the meeting moving forward, you simply start creating your own notes for future reference.  

In case you’re not sure, that was an early warning sign that you may have a disgruntled team member.

Unfortunately, disgruntled team members can subtly appear out of nowhere! They are often unaware of their reason for being upset and so they project their dissatisfaction onto you. Left unaddressed, they will disrupt a team, diminish team members’ efforts and hurt the results of a project. Ignoring them isn’t an option.

Why Must They Be Addressed Now?

Creep Factor.  Negativity expands faster than positivity. While it may start with subtle comments made by one or two team members, it can grow exponentially—even if no one understands what the real issue is. Other signals include disregard for the group’s (or company’s) rules, disparaging remarks or gossip, reluctance to share ideas, being late for meetings and assignment deadlines, etc.

Bias Barriers. Even when they’ve had awareness training about harassment, learning differences and life choices, team members often don’t know how to work with and through different perceptions.

Team Cynics. Your team cynics may be bored or don’t feel heard and will undermine you, the project or others’ efforts. They lack the appropriate communication skills to build agreement in a positive and profitable manner.

Avoiding the Inevitable. If you create ways to work around disruptive team members instead of addressing the issue, you will thwart the process, deplete everyone’s energy and blow the budget. Failure to effectively address issues now will sideline and potentially kill your career.

How Do You Address Disgruntled Team Members?

Voice It. There are times you’ll need to stop a meeting and voice the issue. Ask everyone for their input. Initially, they may deny there is a problem. Share your perception and wait it out. Don’t allow external blame or “everyone’s tired” to be the excuse. The core issue must be identified in order to transform it. Putting beautiful decorations on a mud pie still leaves you with a mud pie. Get rid of the decorations and dig into the mud to see what the real issues are. This may be messy … but doing it allows you to identify and address the necessary changes.

Hold Them Accountable. Integrity issues (lies, theft, mischief and gossiping) will sabotage the team and its goals. Taking a hard line will be unpopular; however, uncovering what’s in the “mud” will pay off in the end.

Stick with the Facts. Facts are important. Make sure they are accurate and share them. The team skeptic(s) will challenge you, and initially others may readily agree with them. Encourage everyone to share their point of view. While uncovering misperceptions, offer reminders about the facts and goals – this process will realign team members to get everyone on same page.

Ongoing Training. Team members today love to blame conflict on personality differences, believing it lets them off the hook … so they stop listening and fail to resolve the issue. Use qualified assessments to identify and talk through differences – we are all unique in our own ways. Team training should be an ongoing part of your team development process.

Review Project Scope. Team members will bicker when the project isn’t stretching their capabilities … mostly because they are bored. Delegate key opportunities, consider alternatives and think about monetizing the project in other areas of the company. Strategic visioning, true brainstorming and training (how to handle the technology, communication and people aspects of meetings) are required for each team member to interact, expand and excel.

Talk with Your Coach. As the leader, you are ultimately responsible for the project outcome and the team’s experience of getting there. Going it alone is not a good option! Get help now before you have lost the team, and their respect, forever.

Disgruntled team members can be a blessing if you are willing to dig into what’s behind their behavior and address the real issues.

©Jeannette Seibly, 2017

Need a speaker or facilitator for your company’s executive group? Have issues to address? Conflicts to resolve? Contact Jeannette Seibly. She will provide confidential, laser-focused coaching that works! 

Jeannette Seibly is celebrating 25 years as a business coach, advisor and consultant. Do you have a project that needs outside intervention to achieve the intended results on time and within budget? Check out her website , or contact Jeannette for a free confidential conversation.

Bosses, do you constantly criticize your employees? Did you know this nitpicking style sabotages your employees’ successes as well as your own (think: career, paycheck, bonuses and promotions)?

While bosses need to ensure employees are providing great customer service and quality products, only focusing on the negative hurts everyone. There is a fine line between ensuring the best results and nitpicking. It starts with your ability to focus on what needs to improve and having the right attitude and behavior when working with and through others to make necessary changes.

You Determine the Outcome

Your Lack of Clarity. Many times, bosses manage others without having learned the tasks themselves. Then, they believe they know how to do the work better than their employees and start nitpicking. This 30,000-foot critical view doesn’t build new awareness and skills for either party.

Your Fear Works Two Ways. When you want your employees to fear you, you come on too strong and loud. This can be belittling. When you fear they won’t like you or will gossip about you, you may make poor decisions, gloss over specific areas that need improvement or work late fixing the issues yourself.

Your Choice of Words. Poor coaching and management skills will only make the issues worse. But clamming up is no better. Not saying anything will not change anything.

Stop. Ask for Help. Fine-Tune Your Skills.

Develop Your Style. Hire an external coach and internal mentor. Be open with them when sharing what is working and what is getting in your way. Participate in workshops and attend trade conferences to build your inner awareness and confidence. This will improve your openness to learning from employees and talking with them effectively. It will also help you treat them as smart and skilled people.

Learn from Your Mistakes. We all make mistakes. Admitting them is key. Learning from failure is critical. Sharing mistakes can also help when done appropriately. This will lessen your need to uber-control others, hoping they won’t make mistakes. When mistakes are made (it’s inevitable), use them as mutual teaching/learning opportunities. Together review the processes or interactions to determine where changes can be made next time. This will bolster your confidence and their willingness to learn from you.

Build Your Confidence. Being a new boss can be a challenge when you are promoted from within the company and former co-workers are now your employees. Being a boss with a new employer can also be a challenge if there are employees who felt they should have been given the job. Take time to talk with each and every employee. Learn from them. Listen to their ideas and brainstorm solutions (nitpicking is not allowed here – save the details for later). When you value them, they will in turn learn to value you as their boss.

As a boss, stop nitpicking. Learn how to work with and through others in a positive manner. It will determine your success.

©Jeannette Seibly, 2017

Need a speaker or facilitator for your company’s executive group? Have issues to address? Conflicts to resolve? Contact Jeannette Seibly. She will provide confidential, laser-focused coaching that works! 

Jeannette Seibly is celebrating 25 years as a business coach, advisor and consultant. Are you a boss who wants to excel? Are you willing to make simple and effective changes? Check out her website , or contact Jeannette for a free confidential conversation.

Being a boss today is not easy and learning how to excel is surprisingly not hard. But it does take time, energy and an interest in developing and using the necessary skills.

According to a Gallup poll, over 71 percent of employees are in jobs that don’t fit them (and includes people in “boss” positions). Bosses with poor managerial styles are often the No. 1 reason employees leave.

So, although it is not easy being a boss today, you can improve your boss savvy. Here’s how.

First, Not Everyone Should Be a Boss! (We need to get this out of the way.)

See if any of these situations apply to you:

• -If you have been (or are) a top performer, you excelled as an independent contributor. While you may have the necessary people or project management skills, many times you don’t have the interest in managing people on a daily basis. If this is the case, redesigning your job responsibilities or going back to being an independent contributor would be best for your career.
• -If you do have the interest in developing the skills, ask for help. The key is to hire a coach and follow through as part of your normal daily actions.
• -Remember, if you are fired, talk about your failures and successes with a therapist or career coach who can help you get real about future careers that fit you!

Second, Improving Your Boss Skills Requires Interest, Time and Energy on a Daily Basis

First, ask yourself if you are really interested in putting in the time and energy to develop yourself to be a great boss. If you answered yes, here are actions you can take:

• -Take workshops to develop project and people management skills (e.g., learn how to hire well, coach people, manage for unprecedented results, make better decisions, etc.).
• -Select an internal company mentor. He or she can help you navigate written policies and unwritten expectations.
• -Hire an external coach to confidentially eliminate the controversial “shoulds” of how employees are supposed to act. Being able to vent and not worry about future promotions and job opportunities is critical. Work with a coach who uses qualified assessments and qualified 360-feedback assessments to guide you in developing a natural style that works for you and others!

Third, It’s No Longer Just About You

And, here’s why…

• -Being a great boss means it’s no longer about you! (Yes, that needed to be repeated!) You need to be available for your employees, find them the necessary resources and support their efforts.
• -You have a responsibility to balance the needs of the company, your peers and all employees in an ethical and fair manner, while supporting customers and vendors too!
• -You have to be willing to do the right things the right way by following policies and procedures. AND, you have to know when to step outside of the norm to handle special circumstances.
• -Lack of integrity (e.g., fudging numbers, gossiping, theft, playing favorites), lack of compassion, failing to listen or stealing others’ ideas are the fastest ways to torpedo your success.
• -Your potentially biggest pitfall? If you want to be liked more than respected. Many times, this type of boss makes ineffective or inappropriate decisions. Great bosses are both liked and respected.

Fourth, Ongoing Development Is Required

What does that mean?

• -Great bosses hire a coach and do the work. They know there are no shortcuts.
• -Take courses or programs (e.g., supervisory, communication, leadership and project management) designed to help you understand yourself and your hidden biases. Workshops give you insights into fine-tuning your approach to get the results you want to achieve.
• -Annually (yes, once a year) take a refresher course on employment and legal updates. Focus on how to prevent negative issues from occurring.

By paying attention to the challenges and solutions raised in this article, you will learn how to excel and be a great boss…if you have the interest to do so.

©Jeannette Seibly, 2017

Need a speaker or facilitator for your company’s executive group? Have issues to address? Conflicts to resolve? Contact Jeannette Seibly. She will provide confidential, laser-focused coaching that works! 

Jeannette Seibly is celebrating 25 years as a business coach, advisor and consultant. Are you a boss who wants to excel? Are you willing to make simple and effective changes? Check out her website , or contact Jeannette for a free confidential conversation.

The old mindset of how to identify future leaders has changed. Due to technology advancements, geographical influences, and financial and people demands, leadership requirements have evolved to a new level. As a result, many companies have waited too long. They now are having difficulty finding and developing the right leadership to handle today’s business challenges.

How are you identifying future leaders for your company? How are you developing them now?

First, Identify and Qualify Them

Competence.  What is their current skill set compared to the skills required of future leaders? Are they able to effectively talk and work with anyone, anywhere, at any time? Can they execute plans and achieve intended results? Do they understand P&Ls? Are they up-to-date on successful marketing and sales programs?

Qualified Assessments. Use them. Start now. They help uncover what you don’t know about them as future leaders. This critical information can come back to haunt you if it is left hidden. Because of the high level accuracy, qualified assessments are invaluable in helping guide the development of future leaders in your company.

Be Responsible for Biases. Identify your own biases and those of the executive team. Set them aside when creating a succession plan and identifying future leaders in your company.

A business owner was having a hard time hiring the right person to take over running his company. He had failed several times. His bias was to hire people he liked who had the right title, the right credentials and came with the right connections. Unfortunately, relying on these biases as criteria to choose a leader did not translate into being able to effectively run and build a financially successful company.

Don’t Promote Too Soon. This is a company’s biggest unrealized expense, whether they know it or not. When managers promote someone who is not ready, lacks the resilience to handle challenges or conflicts, or does not have the interest in developing the skills to be a leader (regardless of what they tell you), they leave. Often, they take training skills and materials, clients and key contact lists, proprietary information and key employees with them when they go. Use incremental titles to help keep Millennials interested and happy in their jobs.

Second, Develop Them

Recognize Lone Rangers. Many leaders refuse to take advice. These DIYers will take the company and management team down with them rather than ask for help. Provide them board and management team training designed to teach them how to work with and through others, manage conflicting opinions and execute changes. If they are unwilling to participate, change your succession plan now.

Proper Preparation. Assign identified future leaders team projects and have them participate in trade association events and boards. Include them in high-level discussions and ask their opinions. This will help them understand there is more to leadership than having the title. They will either relish the opportunities or dread them. Do not assume they are ready to take on the next leadership role – some may need more time before they are promotable.

The Right Coaching. The laser-like ability to develop talent is a critical skill many current leaders, executives and business owners do not have. Provide key employees with an internal mentor and an external coach to help groom them as future leaders. Help establish specific attainable goals for each quarterly coaching program and check in to ensure they are on the right track as a future leader.

Delegate Projects. As you develop your future leaders, provide written expected outcomes, a budget and team members for the projects you delegate. Check on progress weekly and ensure situations, people and outcomes are not being overlooked. Remember, success is a process of working through issues — pay attention to their ability and willingness to stretch and meet the new level of accountability required as a future leader.

What If Future Leaders in Your Company Are Not Ready?

As you develop your future leaders, there may come a time when you need to bring in someone from the outside to build your future leaders and keep the company on track. Ask your network for recommendations. Have more than one conversation to ensure they can do the job and will achieve the results with the least amount of disruption. Ensure the new leader is able to develop a successful succession plan, work through family business or existing business plan challenges, and navigate internal company politics. Don’t forget to negotiate a win-win exit plan for them when the future leaders are ready.

©Jeannette Seibly, 2017

What are you waiting for? This is the last month of Q3! The question is, are you in action to accomplish your 2017 goals or have you already given up? If you are stuck, contact Jeannette Seibly. She will provide you the insight required for you to move forward powerfully!

Jeannette Seibly has been a business advisor and executive coach for over 24 years; along the way, she’s guided the creation of three millionaires. She is laser sharp at identifying the leverage points that will take a business and its team to the next level of performance and success. She also has extensive experience coaching leaders and developing future leaders for unprecedented results. Check out her website , or contact Jeannette for a free confidential conversation.

Too often, words come out of our mouths that we vowed we would never say. And, to make matters worse, our tone sounds harsh or critical. Believe it or not, as bosses we often sound like our parents did when we were growing up. Imagine sounding like your critical parents when you’re speaking to your employees. Yikes!

Stop sounding like a critical parent when communicating with your adult employees.

Why Is This Important?

Statistically, employees leave their employers because of their boss! But, they will often tell their employer they’re leaving because of lack of pay, benefits, immediate opportunities and other perks. Usually, it is because of their boss’s poor communication skills: lack of respect, tone of voice, words used, promises not kept and promotions that never happened. Right or wrong, they blame the boss!

9 Ways to Communicate as a Great Boss

One. It’s an Inside Job. You are responsible for setting aside your inner judgments and beliefs regarding how people should think, act, talk, dress … ad nauseam. Remember, simply using the right words or jargon will not prevent others from “hearing” what you really believe or think about them (over 80 percent of communication is non-verbal!).

Two. Influence. Learn to influence others instead of telling them what to do, how to do it and when to do it in a commanding tone. Engage them by sharing the bigger picture, and allow them to handle the details without being micromanaged.

Three. Listen! Develop a positive attitude and authentic belief that others have great solutions! (Really, they do!) Listen and learn from others’ ideas, incorporate them and give each person credit.

Four. Treat People Right. Treat people with respect by developing “boss smarts.” Hang around other managers who have a great track record of interacting well with their employees. Take away insights that will work for you and help you respect others. (Hint: Understand you will never be just like them!)

Five. Understand Your People. Use qualified assessment tools to understand why employees either work well together or are not an effective team. These objective products provide incredibly accurate insights and turn you into a perceptive coach your employees will value. When you understand your people, they enjoy coming to work each day!

Six. Understand Your Style. Use qualified assessment and 360-degree feedback tools to help understand your style now that you are a boss. Review the feedback with your coach, mentor and employees to uncover actual strengths and weaknesses, and develop methods to help you become a more effective boss. (Most important: Never hold their comments against them.)

Seven. Tone and Word Choice. The words and tone of voice you use tell a much deeper story than you may realize. Work with an experienced executive coach or licensed therapist to role-play your choice of words in upcoming situations. Learn how to speak with others when describing challenges and opportunities. As you become a more confident communicator, your tone of voice will naturally change.

Eight. Journal for Clarity. This is a great way to see, in black and white, your thoughts about people and/or situations. It gives you a chance to work through complex issues in a more objective and helpful manner. Then, shred. NEVER send a letter spewing your upsets, no matter how justified you believe you are.

Nine. Confidence. Often, your innermost and deepest fear is that you are a fraud and everyone is going to find out. To awaken your internal communication talent, get the book It’s Time to Brag! Business Edition, and do the work in order to communicate with confidence. Remember, there are no shortcuts!

Being a great boss requires improving your communication to elicit the best from your employees, others and yourself.

©Jeannette Seibly, 2017

Are you experiencing challenges that are causing sleepless nights? Is your team avoiding eye contact with you? Are you avoiding anyone on your team? To turn this around quickly … now is the time to talk. Contact Jeannette for a free confidential conversation at http://SeibCo.com/contact/.

Jeannette Seibly has been a business advisor and executive coach for over 24 years; along the way she’s guided the creation of three millionaires. She is laser sharp at identifying the leverage points that will take a business and its team to the next level of performance and success. Check out her website, http://SeibCo.com, or contact Jeannette for a free, confidential conversation at http://SeibCo.com/contact.

No one is born a leader—leadership skills are built over time as a result of experience, practice, commitment and then mastery. When we attain a leadership position within our company, it’s important that we have already learned how to work with and through others to get the job done on time and within budget. Now it’s time to take those basic skills and hone them. At every level of leadership comes a new level of responsibility and opportunity. Are you ready to build on those skills to successfully support yourself and the people you lead?

7 Keys to Being a Leader Who Leads

Engage Others. Forcing others due to your job title, manipulating outcomes or attempting to out-talk your team will not support your efforts to manage effectively. Once your team and others within the company are upset with you, it becomes harder to get them to perform at their best, listen to your ideas and work with you. Acknowledge their great ideas and efforts, and work with them by rolling up your sleeves to produce intended outcomes in a win-win-win manner.

Integrity Is Key. Good people don’t like to work for someone who cuts corners and overlooks important details. Making decisions based upon how you feel rarely works out well either. Learn how to brainstorm for solutions, work through legal and financial considerations, and set up true strategies. Remember, the best solutions may not follow the easiest and fastest pathways. When a mistake is made, own it, apologize and clean it up! It sets a great example for others.

Listen for New Possibilities in ALL Ideas. Being a leader who actually leads means you have really great listening skills. You’ve put down your electronic gadgets and are hearing the spoken words and unspoken messages that are being conveyed. You are able to ask the right questions to elicit the best from others and build on their ideas—no matter how off-the-wall they may initially seem. You become a leader whom others enjoy working with to create solutions.

Respect Others. Your job isn’t to be a critical parent, particularly when some of the people you may be managing are older than you and have lots of great work experience and ideas. Learn to pick everybody’s brains and rely on them to get the job done without micromanaging. Stay aware of the results your employees produce. Acknowledge any progress made, no matter how small. Respect will build an effective team.

Keep Your Skills Sharp. Take management courses to clean out any cobwebs that impede your ability to work effectively with others—it will keep you sharp. Remember, the higher up in the corporate world you climb, the more your people skills will matter (even more than your technical knowledge). Those same skills make being a leader a lot easier too.

Take Care of Yourself. While it’s critical that you take care of your employees and ensure they have the resources they need to get their jobs done, it’s equally important that you take care of yourself. Schedule time to spend with your family and friends having fun! Get involved in activities outside of work that you enjoy (e.g., golf, reading, travel, volunteering, etc.). A happy leader is more likely to have happy and productive employees.

Great Leaders Have Coaches. Don’t be afraid to hire an executive coach to help you navigate the challenges you will inevitably face. The right one will help you make better and timely decisions. Plus, having a coach will help you understand how to be a leader others want to follow!

Being a leader who actually leads comes with a new level of responsibility to others. Review the seven keys. Now ask yourself … are you ready?

©Jeannette Seibly, 2017

Are you experiencing challenges that are causing sleepless nights? Is your team avoiding eye contact with you? Are you avoiding anyone on your team? Now is the time to talk while there is time to turn this around quickly. Contact Jeannette for a free confidential conversation at http://SeibCo.com/contact/.

Jeannette Seibly has been a business advisor and executive coach for over 24 years; along the way she’s guided the creation of three millionaires. She is laser sharp at identifying the leverage points that will take a business and its team to the next level of performance and success. Check out her website, http://SeibCo.com, or contact Jeannette for a free, confidential conversation at http://SeibCo.com/contact.

Ask yourself: The last time you made a mistake, did you try to bury it or openly learn from it?

No one likes to fail, yet managing failure is the key to success. It’s how we learn to blast through our fear of making mistakes. Bosses, leaders and executives today must inspire their employees to want to learn, take risks and be willing to make mistakes. By providing them with opportunities to build determination, curiosity and resilience—the attributes required for success—employees will learn how to work through failure and become strong team members.

When Failure Occurs, Learn from It

The Human Factor in Projects. Too often, we fall into the trap of bashing the concept or idea behind a project when it fails. In reality, people’s attitudes, abilities and willingness to learn will often make or break a project! Coach your team members (or hire a seasoned coach) to work effectively through conflicts, egos and misperceptions. Provide ongoing interpersonal skill development to ensure your employees are present, listening and building alignment in all conversations.

Conduct Effective Meetings. Meetings can be very boring! Because of this, frequently meetings are the source of mistakes and misperceptions. Train yourself and all of your employees to conduct effective meetings and encourage everyone to participate to reduce the probability of overlooking good ideas or buying into false information.

Understand Why. Qualified assessments give you the ability to manage and coach with a high degree of clarity. These superior tools provide insights into how the person (and team) communicates, works with others, sells, manages projects, etc. While nothing is 100 percent accurate, qualified assessments help bosses manage in an effective manner (and look good doing so!). They clarify why employees (and the team) do what they do. Their accuracy can turn good employees into great ones and help employees turn failures into successes.

What Worked? Instead of looking at results in a black-and-white fashion of success versus failure, objectively review what happened. What worked and what didn’t work? There will always be positive learning moments in any project if you take the time to review. Have your employees do this as a team to learn from one another. This builds awareness, clarifies misperceptions and solidifies a group of individuals into a successful team.

Teach Ethics. Integrity builds our brand and reputation … personally, professionally and as a company. It may seem easier to cut corners and develop great excuses when mistakes are made, because we usually don’t believe anyone will ever know the truth! Instead, train by example: it’s better to admit a mistake and rectify it than constantly create lies to cover up failures. Remember, the truth will eventually be told!

©Jeannette Seibly, 2017

Are you a results producer failing to produce intended results? Are you a leader or executive who needs to fine-tune your management style? Contact Jeannette for a free confidential conversation. She has helped thousands become successful due to her uncanny ability to pinpoint concerns and provide insights on how to be successful.

Jeannette Seibly is laser sharp at identifying the leverage points that will take a business and its team to the next level of performance and success. She has been a business advisor and executive coach for over 24 years; along the way, she’s guided the creation of three millionaires and million-dollar results for employers across the United States and Canada. Also, she is a PXT Select^TM Certified Professional and Authorized Partner. Check out her website, or contact Jeannette for a free confidential conversation.