Business

How to Address Unconscious Biases When Managing Employees

by

UnconsciousBiasMany of us believe we are not judgmental people. Yet we must make judgments every day about everything from what to wear to work and eat for lunch to who is the best person to handle a project. These often-subjective decisions normally reflect biases that we may not be aware of (pants vs. dresses, sandwiches vs. salads—and our favorite go-to employee vs. our less-favorite employees).

It starts with each of us. As a boss, it’s important to become aware of and responsible for our unconscious biases, especially as they pertain to race, age, gender and culture. If we are not aware of them, these biases will influence our interactions with employees, how we make our decisions and how we manage our teams.

As bosses, we most frequently run up against our unconscious biases while hiring, coaching, managing and training employees. Whether we agree we have them or not, these biases are usually evident to others, especially when we hire and manage based solely on our guts. They will also show up when we communicate in an insensitive manner or make decisions without factual data. They determine the company’s culture.

Biases always impact the company’s ability to hire the right person for the job, coach each employee to succeed, train each team member to develop skills, and manage everyone to meet the customers’ needs in an effective and non-discriminatory manner. Failure to be responsible for our biases impacts our ability to create positive and productive workplaces for everyone.

How to Create a Responsible Workplace Culture:

  • Provide communication and sensitivity training to boost awareness for everyone.
  • Conduct mandatory bias-awareness training for all employees, including how to handle perceived biases, and repeat this training quarterly.
  • Train bosses on techniques for coaching and managing all of their employees.
  • Review job evaluations and stats on promotions, hires and pay to determine biases.
  • Put together a strategic and tactical plan to correct inequities, and execute it.
  • Pay attention to the words you use when interacting with employees.
  • Stop trusting your gut when making hiring and promotion decisions–objective information will always improve these decisions.
  • Become aware of stereotypes and how your brain will trick you into thinking jokes, comments or innuendos based on race, age, gender and culture are funny.
  • Use qualified assessments to help you better hire, coach, manage and train your employees. These objective tools create awareness that each employee has unique skills, behaviors, interests and learning styles beyond your biased perception of who they are. Also, qualified assessments provide a foundation for employees to learn and appreciate each other in a positive manner.

If you want to build a positive and productive workplace culture, it’s critical to become aware of unconscious biases and be responsible for them.

©Jeannette Seibly, 2018

Jeannette Seibly  has been an executive coach, business advisor and management consultant for over 25 years. What coaching and guidance do you need to improve your managerial, executive and leadership styles? Are you ready to let go of what you’ve been doing to do something new? Contact Jeannette for a free confidential conversation.

How to Become Unstoppable and Achieve Results

by

strategic hiringWhenever projects or programs don’t go as planned, we stop. We focus on issues that we believe are in our way. Then, when we don’t uncover those roadblocks, we start blaming ourselves and others. These five often-overlooked areas will help you get back on track to achieve your intended results—and become unstoppable.

5 C’s to Becoming Unstoppable

Commitment. Everyone says they are committed. Yet if you look at their actions, attitudes and behaviors, they rarely hide the truth: They are not committed to results. Commitment starts with being results-oriented and doing the work to get there. Ask yourself: What do I truly want? What does the team want? What’s in the way to fulfill our commitment?

Choice. We often falsely believe that if we had more choices or resources, we could succeed. However, there are many success stories in the news that showcase people who have succeeded without a lot of readily available resources. Set aside your many excuses and get into focused action. Choose to take the initiative. Choose to be resourceful. And, choose to be willing to step outside your comfort zone.

Collaboration. When a project or plan isn’t gaining traction, it might be that team members simply don’t have the interests, skills or willingness to do the work … no matter what they tell you. Actions always speak louder than words. Bring in an outside facilitator to uncover underlying team issues. Use a qualified assessment to help individuals better understand themselves and each other, and what keeps getting in their way.

Communication. Communicating frequently via emails, texts and conference calls is very important.  Without good communication, people will forget their commitment, find distractions to focus on, and attempt to be lone rangers. It’s your job to keep them focused on the project, goal and guidelines, check on progress, and be readily available for questions.

Coaching. How often do you have partner who is 100% committed to your success?  What value do you get from someone who doesn’t allow your doubts and frustrations to get in the way?  When you have a coach, you can share your concerns, come down to reality and get out of your own way. Then, you’ll be unstoppable in achieving unprecedented results.

©Jeannette Seibly, 2018

Are you ready to create a robust Q2? Jeannette will guide you and your team through a set of powerful exercises designed to get everyone back on track. Her clients have gone through this process, uncovered issues that were in the way, and resolved them, achieving their intended results. To learn more, contact Jeannette Seibly at https://seibco.com/contact/. 

Jeannette Seibly is celebrating 25 years as a business coach, advisor and consultant. Do you and your employees need to learn how to work together as a team, conduct effective meetings and develop powerful solutions during 2018? Check out her website, or contact Jeannette for a free confidential conversation.

Coaching for Success Is the Boss’s No. 1 Job

by

coachable3In our current employment environment, it’s more important than ever for bosses to become coaches. Unemployment is at an all-time low, qualified candidates have become passive job seekers and bosses are still cited as the No. 1 reason employees leave. Instead of relying on performance improvement plans when the employee fails to meet expectations, it’s time to focus on developing employees’ soft skills, their ability to follow established systems and procedures, and a can-do attitude in the face of challenges throughout their employment.

For Success, Become Your Employees’ Job Coach

Coaching is needed at all levels within an organization. Being a boss who coaches employees is important. If you don’t have the interest, make sure to hire an experienced coach to help you and your team succeed.

Use Qualified Assessments. This is where you start. As the boss, understanding who your employees really are is required before you can coach for success. Without this, both you and your employee will feel frustrated. Qualified assessments provide coaching, team and managerial reports to clarify specific areas for coaching. For example, a top-level saleswoman had been achieving great results by opening up new markets for her company. In an effort to help broaden her skills, and improve her patience and diplomacy, her company reassigned her to work larger prospects with a much longer sales cycle. Because she was unable to close a sale quickly and change her personality (remember, you can’t fix and change a person), she left and joined a company where her skill set and job fit mattered.

Focus on Strengths. Focusing on weaknesses is a colossal waste of time. Instead, hire the right people for the right job. Build on their strengths to grow their effectiveness.  For example: A customer service rep was having a difficult time working with a system that did not have a procedural manual. To develop her strengths, her boss advised her work with a longtime employee, take notes and create a procedural manual.  Now, she’s the go-to person when something isn’t working and training is required.

Meet Weekly. It’s important to meet with your employees frequently. When someone is struggling, it’s even more important. Meeting weekly will help them fine-tune their skills and approach, and help you uncover any bad habits early. While habits can be transformed, first the employee must become aware of them and then you must customize an approach that works.

Hire Yourself a Coach. To become your employees’ job coach, it’s important for you to have your own coach to help you move forward. With your own coach, you will uncover your blind spots and improve your decision-making, project management and communication skills.

Hire a Team Facilitator. For those bosses who are not interested in being their employees’ job coach, hire a facilitator. A facilitator will help improve team meetings and communication skills, and keep your team focused on achieving success.

For those of you who doubt the importance of these techniques, one of my clients used all of the methods above, and each of his employees went from managing $750K to managing $1.25M.

©Jeannette Seibly, 2018

Jeannette Seibly has been called a catalyst. She is celebrating 25 years as a business coach, advisor and consultant who guides her clients to achieve unprecedented results. Remember, being your employees’ job coach will be effective, fun and rewarding!  Are you ready? Step up now! Check out her website, or contact Jeannette for a preliminary confidential, laser-focused conversation.

4 Important Reasons to Stop Hiring with Your Gut

by

hiring costsAs busy bosses, we often rely on our gut to determine who to hire and why. We falsely believe our intuitive abilities make us foolproof. Yet we are often wrong and our results suffer, clients stray, miscommunication becomes the norm and team conflicts erupt. And, even more sadly, our key employees often leave!

All of this is preventable.

The truth is, objective data will improve hiring decisions!

Facts will always matter!

Why Do You Often Ignore Facts?

  • You’re busy putting out fires and rely solely on resumes to select who to interview. (By the way, 70 percent contain inaccuracies, and we spend less than 6 seconds reviewing each resume.)
  • Statistically, 86 percent of the time you’re unable to discern the lies offered by job candidates.
  • You believe candidates when they say they want to work for you.
  • You believe it’s too expensive to incorporate objective data into your decision-making process.
  • You rely mostly on feelings (your gut) about how the candidate looks, talks and interacts. (Remember, the right person will be trainable.)

4 Often-Overlooked Reasons Why Facts Will Always Matter

Your lack of objectivity will cause stress for everyone. In today’s job market, every employee has other alternatives … they can leave.

1.Job Seekers. They are savvier today than ever before, and unemployment is at an all-time low. It’s harder than ever to attract qualified candidates. It costs a lot of time, money and energy to interview people who are not well-suited for the position, or who do not have a real interest in the job or company. Remember, the right job candidate is out there, waiting to be found. Also, job candidates will decline job offers when they don’t trust interviewers to hire the right way. (They think, Where else is this potential boss cutting corners?)

A job candidate is impressed by:

2.Employees. They are tired of training new people who leave through a revolving door, and of attempting to clean up messes that could have been prevented. So, instead, they update their resumes and reach out to others in their networks. They leave you still hiring the way you’ve always done … by how you feel. They leave you sitting at your desk, frustrated at losing another good person, wishing there had been more money in the budget to keep them. Hint: The No. 1 reason employees leave today is because of their boss, not their paycheck!

3.Customers. They are also tired of training new hires or employees who transferred into positions they don’t fit. I remember calling a company, needing to have a question answered. After I repeated my request a couple of times, I asked the receptionist what else she was doing. I could hear tapping in the background. Her reply: “I’m multi-tasking and typing up a report for my boss.” Needless to say, I did not feel like a valued customer and didn’t get my question answered. I became another lost customer.

4.Vendors. They can be great allies in helping build your company. However, their job and paycheck are dependent on helping as many customers as they can, not training yet another new person who doesn’t have the interest or willingness to do the job. The wrong employee can also hurt long-time vendor relationships by making uninformed decisions about the products and services and by changing agreements, causing chaos throughout the company and hurting customer relationships.

Obtaining objective data is easy. It can also save your own career! Remember, everyone affiliated with your company is depending on you to objectively hire employees based on facts, not on your gut.

©Jeannette Seibly, 2018

Jeannette Seibly is celebrating 25 years as a business coach, advisor and consultant. Are you ignoring facts? Are you aware of how much this is costing your company? Are you willing to make simple and effective changes in your hiring process? First, you have to step up! Check out her website , or contact Jeannette for a free confidential conversation.

How to Turn Around Management Team Conflicts

by

Millennials Lead.2We all want to believe that key employees, leaders and executives get along with one another. However, when issues arise, so do people’s egos. Information silos, inappropriate comments and an inability to resolve differences often get in the way of supporting the company’s success. These conflicts can hurt the profitability, performance and productivity of any company.

While differing opinions and managed discussions can create better decisions, they require using high-level emotional intelligence, listening to understand and employing good business practices. And, when you put the collective success of the company’s management team first, great results can be achieved.

The Only Thing That Matters Is Being Responsible for the Team’s Success

There is no magic formula, and there are no quick answers. Get real and be responsible for your team’s success.

Hire a business advisor. Using the same thinking that created the problem will not provide the solution. I’ve seen companies rely on books, a team member’s strong personality and other non-contributing factors, and still they fail to resolve the true underlying issues. Hoping and waiting for everything to work out is a default strategy that rarely makes a positive difference. Instead, hire a business advisor who can uncover the real issues (not the surface issues) and guide team members to get everyone on the same page by making the required, and sometimes difficult, changes.

Use Qualified Assessments. When attempting to make positive changes, you cannot transform a team without first addressing the truth in a respectful manner. Objective data about the team’s personality can provide insight into how to move everyone forward together.  For example: If you have a team that primarily relies on their feelings to make decisions, interjecting factual information will help everyone move forward.

Listen to Understand.  I remember years ago a business owner stating, “This listening takes too much work.” He’s right. It can when you haven’t developed the necessary communication skills. Always remember when you are feeling impatient that if you take the time to address concerns now, you’ll save a lot of time, money and energy later.

Manage Conflict. Differing opinions, thoughts and feelings can make for better decisions. To make it easier for others to hear you, state your opinions, thoughts and feelings as your own:  “I believe …” “In my opinion …” When listening to others, repeat what you heard them say first and clarify before offering your opinion. You will be amazed at the results. When you see that you agree on some points and agree to disagree on others, you can build better win-win decisions.

Talk Straight When Apologizing. Instead of further upsetting the situation with excuses about why you said what you said, simply say, “I’m sorry.” Then, be quiet! While it’s important that leaders develop a thicker skin, it’s also important to be responsible for what you say and do.

Encourage Team Members to Work It Out Now. Another benefit to using a qualified assessment is that the results can be a starting point for difficult conversations. First, have team members review each other’s results, one-on-one. Second, talk about where you are similar and where there are differences. (Remember: Results are not good or bad, right or wrong). When two strong-willed executives started making negative comments about one another, their coach told them to sit down and work it out now. They used the assessment as their starting point. They learned why they were frustrated with each other’s different work and communication styles. They now have an amicable work relationship that they value.

Stop It Now! If you sense a problem brewing, don’t wait. It’s easier to understand the crux of the problem at its infancy then if you wait until it has become a full-blown problem and everyone has taken an inflexible position.

When the Problem Is You. Each person on a management team is responsible for its success. If you and others are not good facilitators, get the team trained now! Learn how to listen to one another’s points of view, value each person’s input, build on others’ ideas and acknowledge each and every person’s contributions. This will build a strong, successful team and company.

If you truly want to master turning around management team conflicts, use these tools for taking responsibility. When every team member takes responsibility, you will be able to build a successful company.

©Jeannette Seibly, 2018

Need a speaker or facilitator to successfully address company issues? As a leader, it’s very important for you to know how to facilitate a group, even if you are not the one leading it. Contact Jeannette Seibly. She will provide confidential, laser-focused coaching that works! 

Jeannette Seibly has been called a catalyst. She is celebrating 25 years as a business coach, advisor and consultant who guides her clients to achieve unprecedented results. Remember, meetings can be effective, fun and rewarding! And, they require everyone to become a meeting facilitator. Are you ready? Step up now! Check out her website, or contact Jeannette for a preliminary confidential conversation.

Listening to Understand Will Make You a Powerful Leader

by

talk_to_the_handHow do we listen as leaders? We listen through a filter—a filter that supports our feelings, thoughts and opinions about the person talking, the person or situation being gossiped about, or a topic we may or may not have an interest in. The bottom line is that we listen to see if we agree or disagree. As a result, we miss out on a lot of information that could give us insight to create positive and profitable changes. As leaders, we don’t have the luxury of not hearing what others are saying. Failure to listen will negatively impact our businesses, customers, employees and our own careers.

6 Ways to Listen to Understand

1.Quiet the Chatterbox. Everyone has an ongoing internal mental monologue that never stops, except when we sleep. We have become unconscious to it, yet it automatically reengages each time we are awake! Practice silence through meditation and pay attention to what you are thinking about. This will help you take charge of your chatterbox.

2.Be Present. Instead of rehearsing your rebuttal in your head, first listen to understand the other person’s point of view. When you are truly present to what is being said, you will know how to respond. Remember, you don’t need to fill silence with needless chatter as you think out loud. Ask questions to clarify what the other person is trying to convey, and engage in a dialogue. You will be amazed how quickly and easily you can become an active listener—and how rewarding it can be.

3.Put Away Distractions. This very bad habit gets in our way every time, particularly as leaders. Not only is multitasking a no-no, we lie to ourselves (and others) that we are really listening each time we glance at our electronic gadgets. When you get distracted from the person speaking, they assume you are not listening. Why? Because you’re not listening … you’ve allowed your mind to wander! Put away gadgets, papers and other distractions to keep you focused and in the conversation.

4.Build Win-Win Outcomes. Building agreement through conversation is not a lost art. It’s simply one that few practice. As a result, people become upset when others disagree with them. When conflicts erupt, employees will head for the cover of their cubicle, work, electronic gadgets, or they’ll check out of the conversation while sitting in the meeting. Instead, listen and build the habit of hearing what others are saying. You will find points of agreement. Acknowledge them and build on them.

5.Release Emotional Attachments. Remember, emotions take over common sense. Adding facts will help the conversation. However, when black-and-white data is not forwarding a conversation, share your thoughts and feelings by owning them (“I believe …” “I feel …” “In my opinion …”). Don’t be afraid to remind people that you are speaking from your own beliefs. If you’re open to releasing emotional attachments, you will expand your ability to see both sides of the topic being discussed.

6.Engage in Real Brainstorming. This lost art is truly lost when people grasp on to the first good idea or check out when a person in a position of power declares an idea to be the right one. It’s important to stay in the conversation and continue to toss out additional ideas. If not, you may be supporting a project or plan you (and others) don’t agree with. Use persuasive listening, facilitation and strong emotional intelligence skills to share your ideas and open up the conversation to create win-win-win results.

©Jeannette Seibly, 2018

Need a speaker or facilitator to successfully address company issues? As a leader, it’s very important to listen to understand. While this may seem like a difficult skill to acquire, contact Jeannette Seibly to refine your ability to be an effective communicator. She will provide confidential, laser-focused coaching that works! 

Jeannette Seibly has been called a catalyst. She is celebrating 25 years as a business coach, advisor and consultant who guides her clients to achieve unprecedented results. Remember, listening to understand and utilizing persuasive listening skills are required to be a powerful leader. Are you ready? First, you must step up! Check out her website, or contact Jeannette for a preliminary confidential conversation.

 

Secrets for Positive Change: Speak Up and Be Heard

by

Listen.2Many leaders and employees today have become overly sensitized to how they talk and respond to others. Due to the fear of saying the wrong things or responding the wrong way, they feel like they are walking on eggshells. This hurts everyone’s ability to speak up and be heard.

To create positive change, people need to responsibly say what needs to be said, address the proverbial elephant in the room and effectively work through differing opinions to reach better solutions.

Communication is, and will continue to be, our number one way of working with and through others to create positive change. It requires everyone to step up, speak up, listen and become a responsible communicator.

8 Secrets to Become a Responsible Communicator

1.Don’t Confuse Fearlessness with Rudeness. It’s rude to bulldoze others by talking over them and failing to listen. Instead, be fearless and responsible for saying what needs to be said in a manner that elicits the best from others.

2.Be Open to Building. Allow others to speak up and be heard. It gives you the opportunity to build on their ideas and encourage them to support the change you are advocating. Remember, you don’t have all the answers.  Ninety percent of the world’s information is in other people’s heads.

3.Words Matter. Remember, your choice of words and phrases reflects your true thoughts, opinions and feelings about an issue. Using words like “can’t,” ”should,” “try” or ”won’t” limits what is possible. Choose your words responsibly.

4.Patience Is Required. Hear what others are saying, regardless of how busy you are. It can eliminate a lot of time resolving hurt feelings or issues that could have been prevented.  Remember, people can be poor communicators, so ask them to show you the problem or draw a picture if you don’t understand their concerns.

5.Willingness Is the Key. When facing challenges or when you are stuck, it’s surprising how your willingness to truly listen can create synergy for positive change.

6.Advocate for Something. While activism will rally people, it usually has little lasting impact when it is against something. Instead, work with your coach to learn the communication skills required to bring people together to advocate for positive outcomes.

7.Handle Trigger Points. It’s important to develop a thick skin that doesn’t make you upset or deter you when others make negative comments. Being and staying offended makes it difficult to bring together the right people and resources.  Also, to avoid triggering others, let them know that what you are about to say may be controversial. That will encourage them to openly listen to your point of view.

8.Embrace Integrity. People have a difficult time listening to you when you are not walking your talk and being transparent. Work with your coach now to embrace these skills. Being aware of how to appropriately handle ethical, fiduciary and legal issues in a responsible manner can allow you to spearhead change.

Positive change requires speaking up and being heard. It starts with being a responsible communicator.

©Jeannette Seibly, 2018

Need a speaker or facilitator to successfully address company issues? As a future leader, it’s important to develop being a positive communicator who creates positive change now. Contact Jeannette Seibly. She will provide confidential, laser-focused coaching that works! 

Jeannette Seibly has been called a catalyst. She is celebrating 25 years as a business coach, advisor and consultant who guides her clients to achieve unprecedented results. Remember, everyone can be a leader … it requires you to communicate in a manner that elicits the best from others. First, you must step up! Check out her website, or contact Jeannette for a preliminary confidential conversation.

How to Be a Leader Without the Title

by

executive.coach

Note: For those readers with a title, I encourage you to share this article with future leaders.

No one is born a leader. It comes from practice, practice and more practice … until it becomes a natural part of who you are. Developing the right mindset, habits and skills now makes it easier to lead after you’ve received your promotion and title. However, waiting to develop the skills after you become a leader with the title will have you faltering to catch up, if you ever can.

The fastest and easiest way to step up and develop your leadership skills now is to hire a coach to guide you along the way.

8 Important Skills to Develop Now!

1.Listening. This cannot be said often enough! Listen and learn, then listen and learn some more. Fine-tuning this skill will help you hear what others are missing.

2.Decision-Making. Take time to get both sides of an issue–the facts and others’ opinions—before making decisions. Do not rely on tiny fragments of information or base your decisions on your feelings or other biases about the topic or people. Your goal is to develop win-win-win outcomes with those involved.

3.Resilience. Your ability to rally quickly after mistakes and learn from them helps you develop greater confidence. Remember, the key to developing resiliency is to work through the disappointment, embarrassment and other feelings you and your team may experience. Denying these feelings and their impact will come back to haunt you later.

4.Rallying Others. Even without the title, you can learn how to influence others by your actions and attitudes. It starts with supporting the company’s mission, your boss and your team members.

5.Initiatives and Resourcefulness. The mark of a good future leader is stepping up and making things happen, regardless of the budget, or your job title. Become a catalyst for exploring new ideas, creating solutions and understanding financial impacts by working with and through others.

6.Ethics. Be aware of your company’s policies and follow them. If they are not working, rather than ignoring them, recommend changes by communicating with your boss, co-workers and others. Honor your promises, contracts and other agreements, whether they are done verbally or in writing.

7.Developing the Team. To grow into being a savvy future leader, be supportive of others’ efforts. Get involved in the hiring, coaching, managing and training processes!

8.Building on Strengths. We all have inherent business strengths and weaknesses. It helps to clarify them by using qualified assessments and 360-degree feedback tools. The best way to build effective strategic and tactical skills is allowing your coach to be your guide when working on specific challenges.

By developing these skills, you will learn a lot about yourself and what it takes to become a great leader, with or without the title!

©Jeannette Seibly, 2018

Need a speaker or facilitator to successfully address company issues? As a future leader, are you ready to develop the key skills now? Contact Jeannette Seibly. She will provide confidential, laser-focused coaching that works! 

Jeannette Seibly has been called a catalyst. She is celebrating 25 years as a business coach, advisor and consultant who guides her clients to achieve unprecedented results. Remember, everyone can be a leader, with or without the title. First, you must step up! Check out her website, or contact Jeannette for a preliminary confidential conversation.

It’s Your Responsibility to Get Me to Listen

by

Listen.2Yes, you read that correctly. And, the truth is, it’s everyone’s responsibility to listen to one another!

Many leaders, bosses and employees claim to be too busy to listen. They say it’s other people’s fault when they don’t listen. I would like you to try on this idea: Your busyness is a direct reflection of how well you do or don’t listen! Many of us attempt to hide our poor listening skills by jumping ahead in a conversation, making snide comments, playing with electronic gadgets, entertaining our inner monologue or blaming others when miscommunication occurs. And, this is only a few of the bad habits we’ve developed.

When you take responsibility for listening, you will naturally reduce your busyness. You will hear solutions you previously overlooked. You and your team now have the opportunity to find the right resources, delegate to the right person, focus and build on ideas that can save time and money, and motivate each other to take initiatives. All because you started to listen!

Communication is everything. If you’re unable to listen and hear what others are saying, you and everyone around you loses!

10 Tips to Slow Down and Listen

1.Engage Others. It’s everyone’s responsibility to set an example of how to listen. Ask questions for clarification. Get feedback on agreements to ensure everyone is on the same page (e.g., “I just want to be sure we’re on the same page, could you tell me what we’ve agreed to do? What’s our next step?”)

2.Shorter Is Better. Attention spans today have grown shorter. Put together short agendas for all meetings, whether they’re one-on-one, team or otherwise. Stay on point when sharing your thoughts. When you need to disrupt wandering minds, make a bold statement. This will bring people back to the conversation.

3.Focus on the Topic. One reason people stop listening is that the conversation goes off topic. Every team member is responsible for staying on point. When the conversation goes off-track, restate the purpose for the meeting and summarize the most recent comments. Be aware, however: when you are too strict and don’t allow detours, you may miss the off-the-wall comments that can improve morale, generate new ideas and create possible solutions.

4.Repeat. There are times you’ll need to repeat yourself. While those listening may get annoyed, it’s important for everyone to be on the same page. For example, say, “I am going to repeat what I just said (or have been saying) to make sure we’re all on the same page.”

5.Set Aside Your Fears. Fear of hearing a differing opinion is the No. 1 reason people fail to listen. Instead of being fearful and checking out, listen to find common ground. It’s easier than you think. And, you will learn something new from others.

6.Use Silence. There will be times when others are not listening or are engaging in side conversations. Instead of being frustrated, stop talking and use silence to wait them out.

7.Minimize Distractions. Take responsibility for setting up the room so that everyone is seated at the table and can be easily heard. Have a basket at the door to collect everyone’s electronic gadgets. A University of Michigan study has shown that laptops are also a distraction. Make sure paper and pens are available.

8.Deal with Ramblers. Be patient when people ramble on. They have been rehearsing their concerns for a while. Asking them questions midpoint will only cause them to start over at the beginning. Instead, gently guide them by asking, “Your point is …?” “How can we help you?” “What do you need from us?”

9.Be Aware of Trigger Points. When you are about to make a statement that others may not want to hear, soften it by saying, “You may not like what I’m about to say, and …” Remember, different people and company cultures will have different triggers.

10.Manage Critical Thinking. Problem- solving processes require talking, listening and using conflict resolution skills. Remember, 90% of the information required to create a solution resides in other people’s heads, not on the Internet! Listen and engage everyone when generating ideas and brainstorming outcomes. Then, and only then, design action plans.

Implementing these 10 tips will make you responsible for getting others to listen. Having everyone follow these tips will create unimaginable results.

©Jeannette Seibly, 2018

Need a speaker or facilitator to successfully address company issues? How many of the 10 tips have you been ignoring? How is that impacting your 2018? Contact Jeannette Seibly. She will provide confidential, laser-focused coaching that works! 

Jeannette Seibly has been called a catalyst. She is celebrating 25 years as a business coach, advisor and consultant who guides her clients to achieve unprecedented results. Remember, everyone has a voice! Listen, engage and build solutions together. Check out her website , or contact Jeannette for a free confidential conversation.

How to Design Your Workplace to Excel!

by

Culture 2Designing your workplace to excel goes beyond the physical layout of the work space and its location. While these are very important components to consider, the design and development of the company’s culture are often overlooked. (Yes, everyone has a say.) As the leader, you are responsible for a workplace that values and respects people, and promotes opportunities for everyone to excel.

7 Key Elements to Excel

1.Each and every employee is important. Set aside your biases, and value each employee’s contribution. Playing favorites, offering the best opportunities to only a few and dismissing employees’ ideas will hurt workplace morale and team spirit. Design reward programs for both teams and individuals that acknowledge everyone’s efforts.

2.Focus on Work Skills. First, judging work quality and quantity is important. When problems occur, focus on the job skills required, not on the person’s personality. Provide specifically focused training and development programs designed for each person’s needs.

3.Provide Soft Skills Training. Communication, problem-solving, negotiation, critical thinking and other soft skills training is often overlooked. In addition to offering it, provide internal mentors who can be a sounding board for employees and help them fine-tune these skills. Hire an executive coach to guide the resolution of project management challenges and resolve management and leadership snafus.

4.Follow Company Policies. They were designed for a reason … to establish a strong foundation for everyone’s success. They reflect the company’s values, mission and work rules, so it’s important for you and your team to follow them! Be open to expanding on them as needed, when it’s in the best interest of the company.

5.Be a Positive Example. Your leadership style, communication skills and ability to pull together your team are important. Participate in leadership workshops and continue to improve your skills, expand your perspective and be responsible for how, when and why you make changes in your company.

6.Plan Your Work and Work Your Plan. Changing for the sake of change rarely works, and even worse, it can hinder your workplace’s ability to excel. Provide clarity on work assignments and management expectations. This allows employees to feel confident and competent in handling their daily work activities, sharing ideas and developing their skills.

7.Select the Right Person for the Right Job. Job fit is the No. 1 reason employees will excel or fail in their work activities. When your people have work responsibilities that fit their thinking style, core behaviors and occupational interests, they will communicate better, be a valued member of the team and help customers resolve their issues the first time. Remember, a well-designed strategic selection process that objectively recognizes job fit is critical in determining if a person can and will do the job successfully. Don’t forget to customize onboarding and learning and development opportunities to personally and professionally grow each employee.

Design a workplace where everyone can excel to make it a culturally rewarding place to work!

©Jeannette Seibly, 2018

Need a speaker or facilitator to successfully address company issues? Which of the seven key elements have you been ignoring that need to be resolved for a successful 2018? Contact Jeannette Seibly. She will provide confidential, laser-focused coaching that works! 

Jeannette Seibly has been called a catalyst. She is celebrating 25 years as a business coach, advisor and consultant who guides her clients to achieve unprecedented results. Remember, everyone has a say when designing a workplace that promotes positive interactions, teamwork and learning and development opportunities. Check out her website , or contact Jeannette for a free confidential conversation.