Bosses Build Valuable Team Loyalty Each and Every Day

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.

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Does Gratitude Make You a Better Boss?

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

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

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

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

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!”