Business

Are You Inspiring Focused Action for Results?

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Many companies have business plans, 3-year goals and other strategic programs written down. As the leader, the challenge is taking them out, dusting them off and getting into focused action. Pronto! You have plenty of time to achieve your 2015 goals, if you start now. Get in communication with your team and inspire them forward for success.

Success requires effective communication

As a leader, it’s your job to communicate the goals of the organization, while ensuring the game plan is being played in alignment with the core values of the company. Consistent and frequent communication is critical to fulfill the goals you want, while getting and keeping everyone on the same page, moving forward together.

5 key questions to ask yourself:

  1. How well do you communicate the current mission and future vision?
  2. Have you put together a strategic blueprint to fulfill the goals?
  3. What focused actions are you and your team taking to fulfill them?
  4. Are those actions achieving the intended results?
  5. If not, have you contacted your business advisor for laser-sharp coaching?

Winning the game requires consistent and frequent communication

Be a parrot! Consistent and frequent repetition reminds you and your team of the purpose and the intended results. This keeps the team focused and on the same page, ensuring buy-in. When team members don’t buy-in they will unconsciously sabotage efforts. Their unwillingness to rock the boat can get in the way of moving forward.

Walk the talk. If you do not have a clear plan and are not equipped to climb that mountain towards the goals, your employees won’t be either. Manage your words and communication efforts to inspire focused-actions. Handle all internal obstacles that get in the way. If you don’t, top talent will leave to showcase their capabilities elsewhere.

Come down to reality. Stop the 3,000-foot helicopter view and get out of the world of “should’s”. Roll up your sleeves and become a resource for brainstorming, problem solving and resolving challenges together with your team. Do not change the goal to accommodate activities – instead help them blast through their fears and move outside of their comfort zones.

Ask for input. Busy work and excuses don’t equal focused action. And, rarely leads to achieving intended results. Don’t just tell people what you expect — ask for their input. Instead of saying “yes” or “no” to their ideas, ask them “how?”

Acknowledgement. Consistent verbal praise is required to transform old thinking styles and habits. The key is to provide acknowledgement of all efforts, no matter how small.

It’s critical that you, as the leader, are communicating to inspire focused action and take responsibility to get, and keep, everyone on the same page. Start now — there’s still time to achieve amazing results in 2015!

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. Her unique combination of strategic and tactical people and business experiences includes being execution-oriented, customer-focused and business results-focused. She has guided the creation of three millionaires and countless million-dollar results for companies and not-for-profits. She is an innovator who loves producing amazing results with and through others, on time and within budget, as a team.

©Jeannette Seibly, 2015

7 Sure-Fire Ways to Derail Your Leadership

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Leaders today are busy addressing new challenges in this growing economy, many times without considering their own behaviors and attitudes and how others perceive them. This can be detrimental. Leaders need followers: loyal employees, suppliers, vendors and customers. It may be time to slow down, assess and repair any damage before it’s too late.

You cannot transform anything without getting to the source of the issue. And the issue may be your leadership style.

Ask yourself if you are derailing your leadership with these 7 behaviors:

Speaking up without thought. Don’t confuse fearlessness with confidence. Be responsible for what and how you say anything, both spoken and in writing. Otherwise, people will tune you out. Those taken aback by your message will scrutinize your actions. Truly listen. Hear things you don’t want to hear. Respond diplomatically. Become genuinely effective.

Accusing others of sending spam or junk. Too often social media connections are viewed as a way of accumulating numbers. Accusing others of sending spam or junk when they reach out to you can hurt your ability to attract new clients. You never know who they know! Relationships are important … develop them now. Conversely, learn to reach out to others to make a difference – not just make a sale— and respond appropriately. If you don’t wish to receive their information, simply unsubscribe.

Not following up. Many people today don’t follow up if they don’t readily see a purpose in doing so (Think, Hot prospect ready to buy now). Unfortunately, people can be very shrewd about what they share with you. Too often you find out later they purchased from your competitor who did follow up. Learn to listen and hear more than just the words. Probe and be open to learning more about the customer’s company, products and needs first.

Telling employees, “Do it my way.” Leaders in their quest to keep their bottom lines positive forget that their employees usually know their jobs better than their bosses do. Stop pretending to listen to their ideas! Ask employees for their input and incorporate their ideas appropriately. Ensure they feel valued. Make ongoing training and development a priority.

Making decisions based on fragments of information. We make decisions and declarations based upon the tiniest pieces of information. Many times there is no factual basis for the decision. This behavior will make others see you as a poor decision-maker. Respect differences in opinion and balance them with facts. Disparaging or bullying others to your way to thinking will not elicit the best response from others or improve your decisions.

Delaying important decisions. Uncertainty about which path to choose is understandable. Continually using it as an excuse is not. Your co-workers and employees are tired of hearing about it! Ask the right people for input – not just what you want to hear. Hire a business advisor for guidance. Make certain you understand the pros and cons of an issue. Don’t dismiss legal and financial implications as unimportant or as something that won’t happen to you. Develop sustainable practices to ensure replicable results. Don’t put off today what needs to be done today … or you’ll lose credibility and top employees.

Having no strategic direction. It’s time to dust off your goals for 2015. Review, recharge and get back in action to wrap up Q3 and generate a positive Q4. Work with your business coach to determine which goals that seemed promising last January will provide the best ROI now. Reliance on your own mental monologue will not provide the clarity required to move forward. Establish focused action steps and stay away from busywork. Learn how to manage for results while building your team for success.

©Jeannette Seibly, 2015

Jeannette Seibly has been a business advisor and facilitator for over 23 years; she guides the creation of new solutions for business challenges and is the author of over 300 articles and 4 books designed to help business leaders lead successfully. Check out her website: http://SeibCo.com or contact Jeannette at http://SeibCo.com/contact.

Re-hire the Right Employees the Right Way

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Employees who have left your organization may be the best candidates to provide the help and insight needed to take your company to the next level. Regardless of their contributions in the past, keep in mind they will usually bring new experiences to give you a fresh competitive edge. Their fit with your current corporate culture depends on their attitude and willingness to leave the past behind and their ability to adapt to the current way the company operates.

3 Keys to Onboard Former Employees for Success

Conduct complete due diligence – as you would unknown candidates. Be clear as to why you want them to return. Take the time to talk through changes in systems, procedures, culture and clients. Some former top performers may no longer fit the company, and may be unable to effectively work within the new structures that evolved during their absences.

Take the blinders off. Even though you think you know them well, use qualified validated assessment tools to help determine current job fit. Conduct the same strategic interview process as you would for lesser-known candidates. Remember the challenge isn’t what you can see and remember — it’s what you don’t see or have forgotten about the former employees. Just because they were top performers in the past does not necessarily mean they will be able to perform at that same level now. Listen to their cheerleaders and naysayers, but be shy about relying 100% on their input. (Too often the cheerleaders simply want someone who is known, while the naysayers are afraid of changing the current status quo.) Addressing everyone’s perspectives upfront and realistically will support the returning employees’ abilities to get their jobs done and help you move the company forward.

Prepare them for success. Many returning employees fail to understand change is inevitable. They may understand it conceptually, but, may have a difficult time acclimating if they have not acquired the right additional skills during the time they were gone. Review the organization’s changes – both good and bad – to the mission, values, systems, procedures, culture, company direction, employees, products, services, vendors, and clients. Inevitably, standard operating procedures will have changed, written or not. This can impede people from quickly getting on track if they are relying upon their memories of how it used to be. Or, they will run into unresolved brick walls when they attempt to make changes too fast. While they may be more aware of the company and its history, it’s critical they participate in an employee onboarding program as if they are new. Team them up with internal mentors who can help them navigate changes that may not be readily apparent.

When you re-hire the right employees the right way, often times, they can be great resources and assets.

©Jeannette Seibly, 2015

Jeannette Seibly has been a business advisor and facilitator for over 23 years; she guides the creation of new solutions for business challenges and is the author of Hire Amazing Employees (http://BizSavvyHire.com). Check out her website: http://SeibCo.com or contact Jeannette at http://SeibCo.com/contact.

Poorly Managing Conflict Will Derail Your Success

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When you handle conflict poorly—by overreacting to it, ignoring it, or avoiding it by failing to speak up with your concerns— it hurts your business and career opportunities. The yelling boss whom everyone complains about is no different from the silent screamer who fails to notify someone in authority of a problem. Both cause loss of customers, poor-quality products and services, and disregard for others.

As the leader, it’s vitally important to learn how to step up when no one agrees with you in order to make a difference! However, it’s more important to recognize when you are the cause of the conflict!

A long-term employee questioned her boss’s boss in front of her team. She didn’t understand why he wanted to move in a different direction when the facts didn’t support it. He didn’t know why either. Instead of admitting it and creating a win-win conversation, he took the bully approach and wanted her fired! She stepped up to the plate by having a one-on-one conversation with her boss after the meeting; then, coached him on how to have the necessary conversation with his boss about the direction he wanted to take. Because she was able to turn the disagreement into a constructive process, she was given a promotion and pay increase.

While you may want to fire those who do not rubber-stamp your ideas or get rid of your boss for not hearing your concerns, failure to listen to what you don’t want to hear creates conflict and consequences. The truth is, when employees speak up without fear of retaliation, they share great ideas and find hidden resources! It’s your job as a leader to uncover workable and win-win solutions. This means you need to get out of the way, listen to what you don’t want to hear and handle disagreements along the way.

3 Ways You Can Reduce Conflict

Honor Your Word. Little white lies build up over time, and others stop trusting what you have to say. When you’re a naysayer, you stymie a conversation before it begins because you’ve not listened to others in the past or don’t follow through on promises you’ve made! Before these upsets escalate beyond your control, listen and learn about the heart of the matter. While human emotions are rarely based on facts and change frequently, this doesn’t mean there is not value in them. Welcome others’ input by brainstorming ideas and creating win-win conversations to elicit workable resolutions. Then follow up and follow through to ensure intended results.

Listen to Others. You’ve lulled yourself into thinking, If it doesn’t matter to me it shouldn’t matter to others. As a result, you block out annoying suggestions made by your employees, even your bosses! Once the company has closed its doors or lost a big contract, these same employees dissect and voice what went wrong – including critiquing your behavior and attitude. Step up and be the leader others want to follow! Listen! And don’t just talk about it— take focused action steps to resolve it!

Maintain a Sense of Urgency. You have become adept at putting off handling issues as they arise, thinking you’ll handle them when you have enough time. However, that time never comes without more upset and conflict being created first. If you took the same amount of energy to resolve the problems that you use to deflect them, your business would flourish and your career would be unstoppable. Pose these three important questions to the right people now: What is the preferred outcome? What needs to happen? What can be done to resolve the issue? Handling issues as they arise will prevent conflicts from becoming long-term unresolvable elephants.

©Jeannette Seibly 2015

Jeannette Seibly has been a business advisor and facilitator for over 23 years; she guides the creation of new solutions for business challenges and is the author of over 300 articles and 4 books designed to help business leaders lead successfully. Check out her website: http://SeibCo.com or contact Jeannette at http://SeibCo.com/contact.

Optimize Your Selection Process to Attract the Best

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As a business leader, it’s important now, more than ever, to have a well-defined selection process, regardless of your company’s size and revenues. Attracting the right people in a job market where job seekers have become more selective can make it more of a challenge to hire the best candidates. Remember, the right employees will help you build a sustainable and profitable company. The wrong ones will have you close the doors, lose a lot of money or have you wanting to leave your own company!

The challenge today is many job seekers have become critical of how a company recruits and selects the best ones. They are focused on your ability to communicate the company’s vision well, have written expectations and have transparency about who you are and what you do. They will also have their own questions that need to be asked and answered before joining your team.

7 Keys to Attract and Hire the Best

To shorten your time-to-hire, be on the lookout for great talent, anywhere and anytime. Invite them to apply at the time you talk with them.

1.Use an on-line applicant tracking system (ATS) that is easily accessed via mobile platforms. This will help you track those interested in working with you now and in the future. Stay in communication by inviting them to connect via social media. Review your application to ensure it is in compliance with local, state and federal statutes. For example, asking “Date of Birth” is not legal. Asking are you older than 18 is.

“70% of job seekers say the application process experience impacts their decision to accept a company’s position or not.” 2015 Hiring Trends, Jobvite, August 2015

2.Use a qualified direct-admissions core value assessment. Spending time interviewing someone with what appears to be great resume (most have over 71% inaccuracies), is a colossal time waster if they don’t possess the integrity and honesty (core values) you require. You will also overlook great candidates, with less impressive resumes, when not using this high-value, inexpensive tool.

3.Follow-Up and Follow-Through. First impressions impact a candidate’s interest in continuing in the company’s selection process. Immediately respond to their application and provide promised information. Stay in contact and provide candidates updates on the interview process via your ATS. Beware, these traits also impact their decision to buy your products and services!

4.Keep your social media fed proactively. Currently LinkedIn and Facebook are the leading venues used when searching for applicants! Use these media outlets to keep applicants interested by sharing PR posts; favorable employee comments; and other socially relevant interests to tell the story about your company.

“People are like icebergs: they only let you see what they want you to see – what you don’t see is more significant than what you do see!” John W. Howard, PhD

5.Job-fit is important. Use qualified assessments to ensure who you are talking with in the interview is the same person that shows up on the job! Hiring the best person the first time helps companies achieve their intended results faster and keeps other top performers.

6.Ask the right questions. (And, legal ones.) Ask questions focused on the job, work requirements, and other important considerations. Today’s applicants, specifically millennials, are savvier and pickier about who they will work for. Asking meaningless questions or those with an underlying intention of “analyzing” them usually will back fire. Use qualified core value and job fit assessments and ask the interview questions contained in those reports. Be prepared — gone are the days of “winging-it” and having one-sided interviews.

7.Job offers. Compensation is the top reason candidates will select your job offer over others. Younger employees only plan to stay for 1 to 3 years before finding their next job. To keep them, ensure they have a great boss, and interesting and challenging work. Keep your compensation, benefits and other perks up-to-date and meaningful to your employees.

By using the best selection process, you will attract the best.

©Jeannette Seibly, 2015

Jeannette Seibly has been a business advisor and facilitator for over 23 years; she guides the creation of new solutions for business challenges and is the author of Hire Amazing Employees (http://BizSavvyHire.com). Check out her website: http://SeibCo.com or contact Jeannette at http://SeibCo.com/contact

10 Career Mistakes You Will Make

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I recently talked with a company president, who wasn’t enjoying his job and doing what he did best, sell. As a result, the company was suffering because he wasn’t happy. With my help, he hired a general manager and focused his attention on developing his sales team to sell. He learned by correcting his mistake and moving forward with intentionality — enjoying his job again. The company quickly regained profitability.

Throughout my 23 years of executive coaching, I discovered there are business professionals that quickly excel, and some that take longer than others to “get it.” Some never get there and relive their mistakes, instead of learning from them. Those that move forward in their careers faster know it requires self-awareness, willingness to roll-up your sleeves to learn the job and ability to work with and through others to achieve the intended results.

The common factor for those who moved forward and excelled quickly is they hired an executive coach – to talk and walk them through their career mistakes. Whether you believe you will make mistakes or not – rest assured you will make them. By working with an executive coach, you will be able to identify mistakes quickly and use them as learning opportunities.

10 Key Traits that Make a Difference

  1. It’s not about you. This is probably the biggest error you will make. You will allow your ego to get in the way, and make the career journey all about you — your wants and your desires. Focus on developing your people by practicing humility and appreciation for others.
  2. Be respected and liked. While it’s important to be both, you will probably focus on being liked at the expense of being respected. Unfortunately, likeability is fickle. In order to attract and keep great clients and top employees, learn how to make tough, and at times, unpopular decisions.
  3. Do the right things the right way. It requires taking the time to investigate, ask the right questions and ensure the workability of any idea or change. Too often in your haste — mostly due to lack of experience and failure to listen — the expedient route is taken. This quick fix derails results and deters people from following your leadership.
  4. Patience is not a virtue. While everything is not urgent, having too much patience will actually send the wrong message to your team, clients and bosses. Develop the ability to get priorities done in a timely manner. Design systems to ensure the customer (internal and external) are consistently served in a timely way. Be sure the procedures and policies are being followed.
  5. Healthy conflict. Become a healthy leader by knowing how to disagree without creating a battle, or war. Be comfortable sharing differing ideas and concerns through brainstorming to ensure everyone is heard. This is a great opportunity for you to become a strong facilitator that ensures win-win outcomes.
  6. Build trust. Elicit the best in others — it will build loyalty. Stop using language like punish, discipline and other demeaning words. People do not take well to threats of losing their job, pay raise, bonus, etc. Employees are adults. It’s important for you to treat them as peers.
  7. Compassion. It’s important to empathize with others and their challenges – personal issues will occur. Allow them opportunities to process their grief and upset in a manner that doesn’t detract from the group. However, be aware of employees who create mischief or have too many excuses for not getting their work done. They are often in the wrong job.
  8. Entrepreneurial mindset. Too often you love to talk about the “big” picture, believing you have the greatest insights. However, all talk and no action limits your career. Roll-up your sleeves, brainstorm ideas, create the right team, and design workable action plans. Then, manage the milestones along the way to ensure intended results, optimal performance and profitability.
  9. Take responsibility. With the title and paycheck comes the responsibility for how well your team achieves the intended results, and the process of how they get there. Without micro-managing, check in and ensure people are on-track, customer complaints are handled effectively, and any problems are quickly resolved before they become future elephants.
  10. Have fun and celebrate. Daily, weekly, monthly and/or quarterly take time to acknowledge any and all achievements with the team. Objectively review those items that didn’t work out as expected. Create do-able goals for the next time period and know that together the people on the team can achieve anything.

If your career is not moving upward, talk with an executive coach to help you focus on the issues that will make a positive and powerful difference for you, your team and company.

©Jeannette Seibly, 2015

Jeannette Seibly has been a business advisor and facilitator for over 23 years; she guides the creation of new solutions for business challenges and is the author of two books, Hire Amazing Employees (BizSavvyHire.com) and It’s Time to Brag! (Time2Brag.com). Check out her website: http://SeibCo.com or contact Jeannette at http://SeibCo.com/contact.

To get career fit, contact SeibCo today: http://SeibCo.com/contact

To purchase the book, “It’s Time to Brag! Career Edition” go to: http://Time2Brag.com  

How to Create a Sales Smart Team

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Top sales performers sell up to six times more than their average team members. They fit their jobs and are business savvy when building relationships, facilitating the buyer’s decision-making process, and delivering as promised. Also, they have taken the time and have the interest to learn how to use the company’s products and services correctly. Hiring and developing top sales performers create sales smart teams — they make the difference between an adequate bottom line and a great financial outcome.

4 Actions to Create a Sales Smart Team

1. Disregard old myths. Too often we hire for perceived job skills and fire for poor job fit. Many sales managers still rely upon their gut to determine a candidate’s ability to sell their product or service. When hiring, many sales managers are seduced by a candidate’s verbal ability to talk the talk or believe younger candidates have higher energy levels than older people. As a result, sales managers fail to hire the right people. They also lose top performers, who want to work with winning teams.

Take the time to discover the true costs of your hiring mistakes and conduct a utility analysis on your current team. This information will provide clarity on where you need to focus your attention in order to create a sales smart team. (Contact SeibCo for the complimentary tools http://SeibCo.com/contact)

2. Job fit is key. Use scientifically qualified assessment products to accurately assess job fit. Can the sales person sell? How will they sell? What will they sell? These tools will make all the difference in hiring the right person and providing coaching information you can readily use. If they don’t fit the job, you cannot change and fix them. Studies have found that assessing for thinking style will account for 50 percent of a person’s success. The other 50 percent is a combination of core behaviors (can they prospect, engage and close?) and occupational interests (do they possess up-to-date info?). All three are essential and will provide a clear snapshot of the whole person and his/her ability to sell your products and services.

3. Utilize on-line due diligence. Use an on-line application process, knock-out questions and core value assessments to attract more of the right candidates. Before conducting face-to-face interviews, conduct initial phone screens and use job fit assessments to determine their sales strengths. These simple steps will save you a great deal of time, money and energy in the long run.

4. Focus on the whole picture for sales smart results. Metrics are important and can help you gauge the effectiveness of your sales team. However, this will not tell you the whole story about your team’s results. Investigate: Are your sales people following your system? Are they generating enough leads? Are they getting in front of the right people? By utilizing the coaching information from the qualified assessment, you can provide the clarity required to develop and train with laser-like precision.

Sales smart companies understand that job fit is the number one reason they are able to create sales smart teams. Are you ready to enjoy exponential sales growth, while having fun?

©Jeannette Seibly, 2010-2015

Jeannette Seibly has been a business advisor and facilitator for over 23 years; she guides the creation of new solutions for business challenges and is the author of Hire Amazing Employees (http://BizSavvyHire.com). Check out her website: http://SeibCo.com or contact Jeannette at http://SeibCo.com/contact.

Do you need caffeine to do your job?

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“Your best performance of today must become your normal performance of tomorrow.” James Arthur Ray, author of the book, Life Unleased: A Blueprint for Ultimate Human Performance

 

According to a Gallup poll, over 71 percent of us get up every morning and go to jobs we hate.

Having a job you enjoy, engaging in work responsibilities that keep you awake and excelling in your career is a gift to you, your family and your employer! It reduces the ever-present need for caffeine to stay awake. It also helps you avoid boredom and surpass your norm—which can be very inspiring to you and others!

5 ways to stay off the caffeine

How can you use your current position to build a career that fits you and provides a positive difference in the quality of your life—professionally and personally?

  1. Learn the basics of the job, company and industry. Many of us fail to learn the basics of any job assignment. The key to learning any job is drilling down to the finer points. This requires rolling up your sleeves and not hovering at 30,000 feet. By doing so, you will uncover new opportunities and be able to incorporate technology to make the job easier and create new efficiencies. Don’t forget to inquire about the legal ramifications, P&L, ROI and other business metrics, and other important data required to make better decisions. Learn how to use this information effectively and communicate it appropriately—it will advance your career quickly.
  2. Build on the basics to develop mastery in your work—however beware of jumping from 0 to 100 and skipping all the steps in between. Learning your job is a process, and overestimating your skills and knowledge will create internal chaos and stress for you and others.
  3. Get out of the office and become a business partner. Meet with others during their coffee break. Never eat lunch alone. Set up one-on-one meetings. Interview other employees and management about how to improve the services and quality your department provides to achieve the company’s mission and vision.
  4. Network outside your company and develop a reputation of being the go-to person. Get to know others in your profession and industry, including their challenges and solutions. This will keep you out of “know-it-all” thinking that is often internally bred and can derail future career choices and options.
  5. Join a trade or professional organization—attend meetings and participate in events. Talk with others to expand your thinking and how to address ever-present issues and develop new solutions.

Ensure you’re on the career path that fits you and prepares you for future opportunities

The Pathway PlannerTM, based upon the world’s largest validation and reliability studies, uses the same assessment information that thousands of companies use to hire. (For more information, contact http://SeibCo.com/contact.) This educational and career planning tool helps people discover what career possibilities best suit them at any age (16++). The key, like anything, is taking action and learn about different career paths that may fit. SeibCo provides the how-to in the book It’s Time to Brag! Career Edition, (Time2Brag.com). This book also includes networking and interviewing advice for success.

To get career fit, contact SeibCo today: http://SeibCo.com/contact

To purchase the book, It’s Time to Brag! Career Edition, go to http://Time2Brag.com 

Jeannette Seibly is an award-winning and internationally recognized business advisor. For the past 23 years, she has helped thousands of people work smarter, enjoy financial freedom, and realize their dreams now. She has an uncanny ability to help her clients identify roadblocks and help them focus to quickly produce unprecedented results. Each client brings their own unique challenges; Jeannette’s gift is helping each one create their success in their own unique way. Along the way, with her commitment she helped create three millionaires.

It’s Time for a Breakthrough — Stop Being a Critical Manager

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  • Do you always find fault with whatever someone does?
  • Do you believe your way is the only right way?
  • Do you praise privately but rebuke openly?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, it’s time for a breakthrough. Your attitude and behavior can make it difficult to work with you and nearly impossible to learn from you.

5 ways to stop being a critical manager … and, start transforming your ability to lead a high functioning group

1) Look for opportunities to praise. Acknowledge others for a job well done, even if it’s a small step or contribution. Consider ideas that may initially seem off-the-wall, or inappropriate, and acknowledge contributions in a positive manner. Your openness will encourage everyone to stretch their thinking and behavior to improve their skills.

2) Learn from their mistakes. Every mistake can be turned into a learning moment. It’s important to understand the difference between a Zero Tolerance Policy for unacceptable behaviors, versus, a tolerance for mistakes. Employees will inevitably make some mistakes when they learn a new task, take on a new project, or work with new clients. Ensure your systems are up-to-date, and all your employees are well-trained to minimize errors at repetitive tasks. Develop an infrastructure for creating and executing non-repetitive opportunities.

3) Make 2-2-2 your paradigm. Acknowledge two positive things they have done well. Then, share very specific areas for improvement, no more than two. Wrap-up with two positives they have done well. This makes feedback easier to give, and receive!

4) Walk around. Get out from behind your desk and talk with people. Your intention is to listen and learn from others – without offering your opinion about how they should be doing their job – if there is a problem, talk with their supervisor.

5) Hire a coach. It’s important for your own career and business development that you learn to effectively work with and through people to get the job done. Effective management practices produce win/wins on a regular basis.

©Jeannette Seibly, 2010-2015

Jeannette Seibly is a business advisor for business owners and executives of $5MM to $30MM enterprises creating million dollar results, and along the way guided the creation of three millionaires. Contact her at JLSeibly@SeibCo.com for a free consultation of how to achieve amazing results.

Handling Devious Corporate Foxes

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(Originally posted on July 31, 2013)

“Foxes are devious—have you given one of them the keys to your office?”

Last Friday I had someone tweet me in response to the above posted caption. The person had given trust to another, and it turned out to be bad news. I’m sure many of you can personally and professionally relate to this experience. I know I can.

Unfortunately, foxes are devious and manipulative creatures. It’s simply their nature. But for people, being devious is often unconscious and based on fear of failure. The key is to become aware of devious people as quickly as possible by listening to your inner leader, or voice. Don’t second-guess yourself based upon your most recent interaction with the person, or your fear of not being strong enough to handle the situation.

Don’t immediately fire someone without conducting proper due diligence, stick your head in the sand hoping it will go away on its own, or jump into a new project, career, or job. These types of knee-jerk reactions will follow you.

First, look within to see what the life lesson is. Second, discuss the situation with your business advisor or executive coach for any additional insights. Now, make your decision and follow through on making the appropriate changes from a place of inner strength and leadership.

How have you successfully handled a devious fox in your company? How did it impact your career?

©Jeannette L. Seibly, 2013

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