Business Owner

Prevent Your Employees from Making Costly Mistakes

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Mistakes.2As a boss, how do you take an active role in preventing your employees from making costly mistakes?

  • -Address and simplify written employee policies and company procedures.
  • -Develop mentoring programs to help everyone navigate unwritten rules.
  • -Review practices employees have inadvertently created.
  • -Have an open door and open mind to hear what employees are telling you.

As you implement the above actions, be aware:

  • -In the U.S., average reading accuracy and comprehension is 8th-grade level or below. (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development)
  • -Many workers lack experience on how to prevent mistakes from occurring.
  • -Many fail to understand that shortcutting has an impact on others.
  • -Many employees lack the confidence to stand up and speak up.
  • -Employees are afraid of the repercussions from unwritten rules. This often includes “don’t tell or else.”

The good news is, mistakes can be prevented with awareness, training, and focused action.

Pay Now or Pay Later

Take Responsibility. When your employees suspect a problem, don’t downplay their concerns. If you do, you are less likely to hear about future issues. Never assume theft, harassment, or safety violations can’t happen on your watch.

Hire and Promote for Job Fit. When people fit their jobs and have strong work ethics, they are interested in doing their jobs well. Studies show job fit reduces costly mistakes in communication, ability to work with others, and work habits. Job fit also improves effectiveness in handling challenges. Use a scientifically validated assessment tool to determine job fit. Don’t forget to use an honesty and integrity assessment to uncover information about the theft and/or other previous employment issues not found in public background checks.

Review Confidentiality Requirements. People love to gossip. But, you never know who is listening at the next table. When insider information is shared, it hurts sales opportunities, funding, and the ability to launch new products. Remind everyone of their confidentiality agreements and advise them to keep sensitive information private.

Talk It Out. Talk It Out! Preventing mistakes can be a challenge since many people don’t believe there is a problem until after a mistake has occurred. Ethical issues are more challenging since spinning the facts has become an acceptable excuse. Remember, the truth will come out! When mistakes occur, your job is to listen with the intention of uncovering the facts. Investigate immediately before addressing with the person or persons directly involved. Be resilient in ensuring the right things are being done the best way for everyone.

Review Systems. When was the last time you and your employees reviewed policies, procedures, systems, and protocols? (In my experience, these are done maybe once and never reviewed again.) What needs to be updated? Periodically, facilitate a review with your employees. Provide training for how to handle concerns and make changes for the benefit of everyone.

These practices are how you can take a proactive role in preventing mistakes from occurring, now and in the future.

©Jeannette Seibly, 2019

For the past 26 years, Jeannette Seibly has been a champion for people achieving results. She has helped 100s of bosses create more fun, 6-figure incomes, and success when working through confusing situations. To ensure you are preventing mistakes from occurring, contact Jeannette for straight talk with dynamic results.

Successful bosses have coaches! Sign up for our weekly newsletter to learn how to solve your 3-P concerns (people, project, and performance). When you register, you will receive FREE “How to Select the Best Coach for You!”

Bosses Build Valuable Team Loyalty Each and Every Day

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Portrait of business people discussing a new strategy at a seminar
Portrait of business people discussing a new strategy at a seminar

One of the biggest challenges many bosses are facing today is a lack of loyalty.

  • -Employees leave for lunch and don’t return … the boss has been ghosted.
  • -Team goals don’t align with the company’s values … the team doesn’t “feel” the values meet the customer’s needs.
  • -Bosses talk the talk, but, don’t walk the walk … employees are circulating resumes to find trustworthy bosses.
  • -Employees fail to stand up and speak up … they don’t feel valued, heard, or appreciated.

Recently, I talked with a boss who only wanted his employees to show up and do their work.  “I know what needs to be done; they simply need to do what I tell them to do.”

While this type of mindset may have worked a decade ago, it won’t create employee loyalty today. In fact, it will do the exact opposite.

Today’s bosses need to focus on developing their teams. In turn, loyalty will be created while improving profits and performance.

Build Loyalty, Not Followers

Ask for Input. Many employees love sharing their ideas. As a boss, it’s important to listen for the gold. When you focus your attention on building the team’s performance, they will learn how to brainstorm, listen, build alignment, and develop solutions. As one client stated, “We have 100’s of ideas, but usually only one has the ROI to meet the needs of both our company and our customers.”

Don’t Create Change for the Sake of Change. Many bosses today create change to embellish their resume for the next promotion. (It’s why over 30% of executives fail in the first 18 months in a new job.) These self-focused bosses end up creating uncertainty and distrust. Remember, change is a process, not an event. Listen more than talk to determine teams’ and customers’ concerns. Allow employees to spearhead these new initiatives. Ensure they are aware of the impact they have on the company and its customers. A new VP already believed he knew what was best for his new employer. While he listened to his team’s ideas, he had no intention of incorporating any of them. He thought he knew what was best. When his ideas failed to make a positive difference, he was fired six months later.

Hold the Team Accountable. When you change the goal to fit the results the team has achieved, everyone loses credibility. It’s demoralizing. Instead, hold the team accountable for achieving the intended results. Your focus is to coach the team on how to handle team dynamics (e.g., conflicts, egos, and shiny object syndromes). When they become stuck, don’t swoop in to fix it. Instead, focus on providing them the resources, initiatives, and encouragement to excel. That builds loyalty and trust.

Appreciate Everyone. Sincerely appreciating your employees is easy to do. Yet, many bosses fail to acknowledge and brag about their teams. Take time each and every day to do so. It builds better loyalty, trust, and better results.

©Jeannette Seibly, 2019

For the past 26 years, Jeannette Seibly has been recognized as a catalyst and leadership expert. She has helped 100s of bosses create more fun, 6-figure incomes, and success when working through confusing situations. To build employee loyalty, contact Jeannette for straight talk with dynamic results.

Successful bosses have coaches! Sign up for our weekly newsletter to learn how to solve your 3-P concerns (people, project, and performance). When you register, you will receive FREE “How to Select the Best Coach for You!”

 

Does Gratitude Make You a Better Boss?

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Thank you.BossAbsolutely! Expressing gratitude shows that you care about your employees, job, clients, and boss. It’s a smart way to motivate others and keep morale up, particularly when faced with challenges.

When bosses and leaders are grateful for their employees, these employees will be 50% more productive. (Wharton School of Business study)

Expressing your gratitude can be done both verbally and in writing. Remember, your words and actions make a big difference in keeping talent and building a positive workplace culture.

Ways to Express Gratitude

Brag! Bragging about your employees sets an example for them to brag about each other. Include the small wins as well as the bigger ones!

Be Sincere. When expressing gratitude, it must be sincere. That will develop trust and increase job satisfaction. Set aside your ego. Learn to acknowledge others for each and every effort, even if it’s part of their everyday job.

Be Specific. Vague feedback or compliments are meaningless. Talk straight about the specific behavior or action an employee or boss has taken when expressing gratitude. This provides clarity about behaviors, attitudes, and actions they should repeat.  For example, say to an employee, “Thank you for taking the extra time to work with the client. They expressed to me their appreciation for your patience.”

Set an Example. Be humble and acknowledge specific roles people played in helping you and your team achieve the goals. For example, “Thank you for your great ideas during our brainstorming session. Because of your willingness to think outside the box, we nailed the issue and successfully completed our last project on time and within budget.”

Be Positive. Being grateful is not a one-time expression. It’s being thankful, even in the face of challenges. For example, when an employee hands in an assignment late, express appreciation to start a conversation in a positive tone. Then, you can delve into the challenges that need to be addressed to have assignments done on-time in the future.

Say Please & Thank You! These two powerful phrases still express a lot of gratitude when said with sincerity. Use frequently for best results!

So here we go … Thank you for reading this post! You are appreciated. (It felt good, didn’t it?!)

Remember, developing gratitude is learned by practicing it over and over (on a daily basis) until it becomes a natural part of who you are as a boss!

©Jeannette Seibly, 2019

Jeannette Seibly is an award-winning speaker, coach, and business owner. During the past 26 years, she has guided bosses to create more fun, money, and success when working through confusing situations. Stuck in a project or other situation?  Contact Jeannette for straight talk with dynamic results.

Are you a millennial boss that wants to make a positive difference? Sign up for our weekly newsletter to learn about people, projects, and productivity solutions. When you register, you will receive FREE “How to Select the Best Coach for You!”

Why the Best Bosses Are Humble

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Bosses ListenBosses have a lot of power. It comes with the title, paycheck, and job description. However, when bosses lack true inner confidence, they become egotistical. They focus on their own self-interests and fail to create win-win-win outcomes.

Humble bosses understand outer power can be easily taken away. It’s why they are committed to quietly creating confident teams and positive results, creating humbleness.

7 Tips to Dial-Up Your Humility and Dial-Down Your Ego

Have Interest in Others. Being committed to the success of others is critical as a humble boss. When you remember the job is not about you, you make better decisions when focusing on what’s best for everyone.

Be Approachable. Make it easy for your employees to communicate with you. Get rid of gatekeepers that only tell you what you want to hear and shield you from the facts.

Develop Compassion. Coming from the heart and knowing everyone has their struggles is important. Be responsible for how you talk to and about people.

Share the Brags! You didn’t achieve the goal or success on your own! You did it with your team. Acknowledge them. Brag about them. Be a great team player and boss.

Be Curious. Be inquisitive by asking questions and listening. Learn from others. Incorporate their ideas into projects or decisions.

Be Respectful. Welcome others and their differing POVs. Encourage your team to share ideas and embrace these ideas. Engage them in the decision-making process by developing their critical thinking skills.

Admit mistakes. This is one of the most difficult for bosses to master. No one is perfect. Admit your mistakes and don’t blame others.

Humble bosses quietly create confident teams with positive results. Be a humble boss.

©Jeannette Seibly, 2019

For the past 26 years, Jeannette Seibly has been recognized as a catalyst and leadership expert. She has helped 100s of bosses create more fun, money, and success when working through confusing situations. To develop your inner confidence and become a humble boss, contact Jeannette for straight talk with dynamic results.

Are you a millennial boss that wants to make a positive difference? Sign up for our weekly newsletter to learn about people, project, and productivity solutions. When you register, you will receive FREE “How to Select the Best Coach for You!”

Failure to Listen Can Be Costly to You

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Bosses Listen2Many bosses need to learn how to really listen. It requires more than just hearing the words and being able to repeat them back to the person. If you don’t master this fundamental skill, you will fail in your career.

Bosses, especially newer ones, want to express their ideas and convince others they are right. They are not interested in feedback or having conversations to build new outcomes. Instead, when they fail to really listen, they experience higher turnover, errors in system design and project overruns. These failures could have been prevented by listening and engaging their teams.

A 2018 article from Harvard Business Review states “managers who listen well are perceived as people leaders, generate more trust, instill higher job satisfaction, and increase their team’s creativity.” They also save their companies millions of dollars!

If you want to lead, you’ve got to use your ears. John Maxwell

Watch out for these pitfalls:

Being a Know-It-All. If you always believe your ideas are the best ones, you stop listening. Hanging onto your POV limits your ability to turn around projects and teams. Listen and gain insight from others. It often saves time and money… and can save your job.

Too Much Story Telling. Do you love to tell stories and feel it motivates others? If you are a highly sociable boss, you love to talk, but, usually don’t listen. You will often step over other’s ideas and experiences because you’re talking. Remember, your team has the technical skills to get the job done right the first time. Listen and encourage them to tell their stories, not just listen to yours!

When Your Team Fails to Take Responsibility. When a team shuts down and only does the minimum required to keep their jobs, it’s due to not being heard. The reason is you are not really listening. Your job is to guide them to take initiatives and trust them to become resourceful when stuck.  Listen and learn from them.

Experiencing Resistance from Your Team. Teams will resist your ideas by failing to incorporate them when they don’t believe your ideas will work. Take time to talk through your assumptions with the team. Listen to their ideas. Elicit feedback. If there is conflict, talk it through to build alignment. If you are still uncertain about what to do, talk it out and listen to your business coach.

Fighting to Be Right. Do you love to be right? Most people do. However, when your team says or does something inappropriate, turn it into a learning moment. For example, a team member comments, “don’t be such a girl.” Reply, “I’m curious, what do you mean by that?”

Being a great boss requires really listening…way beyond just the words! This skill is your most important asset to be mastered as a boss!

©Jeannette Seibly, 2019

For the past 26 years, Jeannette Seibly has been recognized as a catalyst and leadership expert. She has helped 100s of bosses create more fun, money, and success when working through confusing situations. To develop your listening skills and improve your results, contact Jeannette for straight talk with dynamic results.

Are you a millennial boss that wants to make a positive difference? Sign up for our weekly newsletter to learn about people, project, and productivity solutions. When you register, you will receive FREE “How to Select the Best Coach for You!”

How to Handle Rejection as the Boss

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women-business-rejectionEvery boss has experienced rejection from their employees. Today, younger employees are more vocal and dismissive about what they will and won’t do. Older employees will question and rebuff the decisions made by their younger bosses.

More so than ever, learning how to handle rejection is critical for a boss’s success.

If the fear of rejection is getting in your way, you’re not alone. It takes courage, communication, and the right coach to work through your fear and experience of rejection.

Your future success requires you to do so quickly or you will derail your career.

Overcoming the Fear of Rejection

Don’t Take “No” Personally. If team members are not accepting or not getting assignments done, it’s not personal. Use a qualified job fit tool to determine why. The assessment will clarify the person’s strengths and interests. Now, you can assign projects based on their strengths.  For example, if you need numbers crunched, ask the team member with the financial skills and interest to get the job done.

Get Over the Need to be Well-Liked. Most bosses want to be well-liked. But, remember being well-liked does not make you a better boss. Instead of wanting to be well-liked, focus on gaining respect. Give all team members the chance to shine and stop giving the best assignments to the team members you like.

Make Your Requests Positive. When you fear the word, “no,” your words and gestures will convey your fears. Move past this fear by having every request include how it will benefit the person, your boss, and/or team.  For example, “Joe, our team needs this projection for our next meeting. It will get us all on the same page. Can you help us?”

Seek Out “No’s.”  To get comfortable hearing this two-letter word, seek it out. Make requests of people daily who will normally say, “no.” For example, “Can you loan me a million dollars?” “Do you want to buy this product now?” Remember, “no” is not a personal rejection.

Develop Resilience. Embracing your fear of rejection will help you develop resilience. Hire the right coach to talk you through how to make requests, shake off past experiences, work with difficult employees, and embrace rejection. It will make you a better boss.

To be a great boss, learn how to handle rejection as a normal part of being a boss. Your career will thank you.

©Jeannette Seibly, 2019

For the past 26 years, Jeannette Seibly has been recognized as a catalyst and leadership expert. She has helped 100s of millennial bosses create more fun, money, and success when working through confusing situations. To develop your resilience, contact Jeannette for straight talk with dynamic results.

Are you a millennial boss that wants to make a positive difference? Sign up for our weekly newsletter to learn about people, project, and productivity solutions. When you register, you will receive FREE “How to Select the Best Coach for You!”

Critical Thinking is the Most Important Business Skill to Teach

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Critical Thinking.3

Unfortunately, many people today rely on information posted on the internet and sound bites offered by thought leaders to make their decisions. They don’t engage in a healthy sense of skepticism and question the validity of what they are reading. And, often, they don’t consider how to use the information effectively in business today.

Bosses and leaders must focus on developing critical thinking. It’s one of the most important business skills required today for success.

Create a culture where it is considered productive to question ideas, people’s motives, and other information used to make good decisions. Critical thinking skills are required to build a strong, resilient, and agile workforce.

Develop Your People to Build Critical Thinking Skills

Engage in Brainstorming. The brainstorming process is priceless. It encourages everyone to share their ideas and learn from each other. It helps the team get beneath the surface of information and determine its validity. As a result, better decisions will be made to address the current issue, challenge or project.

Think and Talk Through the Process. Too often, your people operate as independent thinkers. They want to figure out the answers for themselves. But, relying on one person’s answer negates others’ contributions, slowing down the process. Often, it also fails to address critical components. Building a strong productive team requires trusting the process. Teach your team how to talk and think through a process as a group. It’s critical. Engaging everyone in the process encourages them to take responsibility for the results.

Encourage Curiosity. Being curious is a good thing. Addressing the why’s can create new ideas. Curiosity also uncovers the validity of assumptions. Train your team in the basics of finance, marketing, sales, people management, and operations. These basics encourage curiosity and provide a foundation to build on, reducing costly trial and error. When mistakes happen (and they will), it provides clarity for what to do next.

Share Your Decision-Making Process. Share the financial, marketing, sales, operations, and human elements that impact your decisions. Be open to talking through your teams’ questions. Set aside your ego and understand you may be wrong in your assumptions. Remember, building critical thinking skills is a process that occurs on a daily basis.

Ask Them to Take Part in Making Decisions. When you do this, you will gain insight into what they are thinking and how they arrive at their decisions. Now, you know what to focus on to build better outcomes for your company, systems, financials, employees, and customers. Remember, during this process, ask and answer why.

Build a culture that understands critical thinking is a process and required skill for today’s success. Start now to teach your team members how to become decision makers.

©Jeannette Seibly, 2019

For the past 26 years, Jeannette Seibly has been recognized as a catalyst and leadership expert. She has helped 1,000s of people create more fun, money, and inspiring results. To learn more about building a culture of critical thinking, contact Jeannette for straight talk with dynamic results.

Are you a millennial boss wanting to make a positive difference? Sign up for our weekly newsletter to learn about people, project, and productivity solutions. When you register, you will receive FREE “How to Select the Best Coach for You!”

How to Simplify the Work Process and Enjoy More Personal Time

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KeyFinding time to pursue interests outside of work is important. Keeping your team on track and productive is also important. When you simplify and structure your work process, you and your team will have more time to pursue personal interests. (Also, it makes for happier employees!)

Five Keys to Simplify and Structure

Clarify Goal, Purpose, and Actions. Clarity about the goal and purpose of a project, task, or interaction will speed up achieving the results. Also, don’t forget to include any limitations mandated by the customer or boss. Work with your team to brainstorm a strategy and create a focused-action plan and checklist. Then, manage the team to ensure focused-action is being taken. Quickly address overlooked items and obstacles. Do not procrastinate on this.

Write It Down. Written goals and focused-action plans move ideas out of people’s heads and onto paper. These critical processes will get everyone on the same page and make it easier to see what is missing. It also limits distractions or side activities that detract from achieving the goal. Use a written timeline as a checklist to determine the progress you and your team are making. Writing it down gives you more personal time.

Communication. Communicate with the team on a frequent basis. Use team meetings, 1:1 meetings, emails, and electronic messaging to keep everyone up-to-date. Don’t forget to include brags about each and every team member’s achievements.

Delegate. Know the strengths of each team member, including yours. For example, if someone is great at cost analysis, use him or her to create the ROI. Provide cross-training whenever possible. It builds a resilient team when mistakes or the unexpected happens.

Integrity. The most important key is to do what you say you will do by when you say you will do it. (This sentence is worth reading again!) When something happens that is not in your plan, immediately get in communication to resolve it. Remember, your team is following your lead!

These five keys will not only allow for a high level of productivity, they will also provide you and your team time to pursue personal interests.

©Jeannette Seibly, 2019

For the past 26 years, Jeannette Seibly has been recognized as a catalyst and leadership expert. She has helped 1,000s of people create more fun, money, and inspiring results. To learn more about building a productive and resilient team while gaining more personal time, contact Jeannette for straight talk with dynamic results.

To receive our keys to your success, sign up to receive our weekly newsletter. When you register, you will receive FREE “How to Select the Best Coach for You!”

How to Win and Blast Past Procrastination

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procrastination“Procrastinating today will limit tomorrow’s opportunities.” Jeannette Seibly

Everyone has ideas, thoughts, and plans they would love to achieve. They dream and visualize the results and outcomes. Yet, they don’t take action. Instead, they use excuses and blame procrastination, creating a no-win game!

Why do we procrastinate? The reality is, it doesn’t matter because we all have 100’s of reasons why.

Procrastination is a common phenomenon that you create!

The good news is, you create procrastination, so you can win by blasting past it.

Start by asking yourself these two questions:

  • What would happen if I took action today?
  • How will this support me in one month, one quarter, or one year?

Take Action Today!

Write it down. Knowing what you really really really want is important. Writing it down makes it real!

Recently I worked with a woman who had retired to pursue her dream of becoming a best-selling author. We completed her past accomplishments and created her goal. But, during the process, she shared her true dream of travel. Her fear was she couldn’t afford it. She had stopped believing in her ability to have her dream come true. The first step, she wrote down her true goal and blasted past procrastination.

Be Clear. Once, you’re clear about your true dream, it’s time to write. At the top of a clean sheet of paper, write down the real goal. At the bottom of that page, write down where you are now. Your fears and excuses will come up, procrastination will take over. It may feel like looking up the side of a steep daunting mountainside. To blast past procrastination, successful climbers know to focus on one step at a time.

Breathe and Move Forward! Once you take your first step, you are on your way. Your fear of failure, success or anything else will naturally fall by the wayside as you take one step at a time. Remember, avoid engaging in the “someday, maybe” syndrome that will sabotage you. And, remember, keep breathing as you move forward today in pursuit of your goal.

Honor Your Commitment. Focused action steps speak louder than whatever you tell yourself and others. It’s a step by step process, not a sprint to the goal line. (Think, climbing a mountainside.) Create a focused action plan. Write the milestones on the sheet of paper with your goal to track your progress. Whenever, you feel procrastination beckoning (and, it will), review your progress. Create brags and post them on your mirror. These reminders will fuel more progress and keep you committed.

Talk It Out. When procrastination hits and you get distracted by the shiny object syndrome or run into avoidable problems, talk it out. Hire a coach to guide you through the process. Hire an accountant to create a realistic return on investment (real numbers, not fantasy ones will keep you in action). Find mentors that can provide contacts and insights about your idea or project (use a Non-Disclosure Agreement). Remember, talking it out will provide the critical thinking required to achieve your goal!

Celebrate. Celebrate each and every step and accomplishment. Update your “brags.” As you move forward, notice how other areas of your life expand. Celebrate them too!

Remember, procrastinating today will limit tomorrow’s opportunities.

©Jeannette Seibly, 2019

For the past 26 years, Jeannette Seibly has been recognized as a catalyst and leadership expert. She has helped 1,000s of people create more fun, money, and inspiring results. To learn more about kicking procrastinations butt, contact Jeannette for straight talk with dynamic results.

To receive our keys to your success, sign up to receive our weekly newsletter. When you register, you will receive FREE “How to Select the Best Coach for You!”

 

Leaders Need to Build Trust to be Successful

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Listen.2Many leaders grapple with building trust. Yet, trust is critical in today’s ever-changing workplace. If employees or customers don’t trust you to take care of them, they will leave and find someone who will.

Employees and customers won’t trust you if you:

  • -Are unable to communicate in a positive and caring manner
  • -Find fault with others’ concerns and ideas
  • -Make decisions based on how you feel
  • -Fail to honor your commitments

If you are a leader that fails to consider others, you are training others not to trust you to do the right things the right way.

It’s important to understand that trust begins with you.

Trust starts with an awareness of how you ask questions, make your decisions, and honor your commitments.

Remember, trust is a building process with others that requires your daily attention.

Build Trust Each and Every Day

Be Present. When you multi-task or allow other distractions, you stop being present and hearing what is said. Active listening is crucial toward building trust. The quality of questions you ask and the decisions you make as a result of these interactions will build trust, or diminish it.

Honor Facts and Intuition. Intuition can be wrong due to your biases and other feelings that limit objectivity. But, 100 percent reliance on data can send you down the wrong path too. Remember, 90 percent of the world’s information is not on the internet, but, in people’s heads on how to make things work. Trust the process of building alignment from team members. Listen to a select few business advisors (too many will only create indecision). Yes, the process may take longer, but, trusting the process will save you a lot of time and money in the future.

Integrity. Honoring your word (whether you remember giving it or not) not only allows you to trust yourself it encourages others to trust you too. Be present and actively take part in conversations.  Always take time to complete conversations by asking, “To be sure I’m clear, what do you need for me to do?”

Successful leaders are open to building trust daily. When you practice being present, honoring facts and intuition, and honoring your word, the results will amaze you.

©Jeannette Seibly, 2019

For the past 26 years, Jeannette Seibly has been recognized as a catalyst and leadership expert. She has helped 1,000s of people create more fun, money, and inspiring results. To learn more about building trust, contact Jeannette for straight talk with dynamic results.

To receive our ongoing keys to your success, sign up to receive our weekly newsletter. When you register, you will receive FREE “How to Select the Best Coach for You!”