Entrepreneur

Do you have the potential for becoming wildly successful? But, feel your success is elusive? You believe it’s not happening fast enough?

Just because you want your success now, doesn’t mean you’re ready for it.

Many potentially successful employees hurt their career opportunities when they:

• -Are promoted or advanced too quickly
• -Don’t have the resilience to learn from mistakes
• -Fail to take the initiative to hire the right coach and mentor
• -Lack awareness of the impact on others
• -Rely only on themselves and don’t build a strong network
• -Focus solely on the potential paycheck

“Yes, I want to have a bigger home, car, and bank account, but, I want to enjoy the process of getting there.” A Long-time Successful Business Owner

Pursuing a successful career is admirable. But, if you want to be happy and enjoy the process, there are three keys to success that you cannot overlook.

Three Timeless Keys for Faster Success

1.Hire the Right Mentor and Right Coach. Select a mentor from your company, profession and/or industry. The right mentor accelerates the learning process and guides you in building stronger relationships. Hire the right external coach. This person will confidentially talk you through upsets and build solutions for faster success.

2.Job Fit Assessments. Job fit is the number one reason people are successful (Harvard Business Review)! Sadly, many professionals pursue occupations they believe will make them the most money and make them happy. But, poor job fit doesn’t build a strong financial future or make you happy. Also, it can hurt your self-esteem and ability to bounce back after failure.  Clarify job fit by using a scientifically validated job fit assessment. Review the results with your mentor and coach. Focusing on the right job and career path now will speed up your success.

3.Stand-up and Speak-up. Raise your hand and volunteer for new experiences. Learn how to share your ideas.

Use opportunities to learn and grow. Raise your hand and:

• -Be on a nonprofit board
• -Participate in a cross-department company project
• -Volunteer for a humanitarian interest group

And, develop your skills for success by:

• -Listening more than talk
• -Doing what you say you’ll do
• -Influencing new ideas
• -Appreciating others’ efforts

Remember, developing these three key success factors will help boost your success faster.

©Jeannette L. 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, success, and inspiring results. Contact Jeannette for straight talk with dynamic results.

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With 2019 beckoning, are you ready to create an amazing future?

Start with focusing on what will support all areas of your life. Review your job, relationships, finances, personal pursuits, and other matters in your life. What needs improvement?

Remember, what you do today will impact the quality of your future opportunities.

Take Responsibility Now to Impact Your Future

Clarity.  Take time to know yourself and what your goals and values are. Write them down. Know they can change over time. Remember, success is an inside job. Broaden your focus beyond more money, bigger homes, or other material items. These won’t make you a happier person. Instead, make a commitment to honor what is most important to you, your family and your business.

Career Fitness. Job fit is still the #1 reason (Harvard Business Review) people succeed in their jobs. Do you fit your job? 70 percent would say “no.” Focus on building your strengths and be aware of the impact your strengths have on attracting new opportunities to grow.

Right Coach. The right coach helps you focus on what is most important. The right coach helps you achieve your goals faster and easier. Plus, along the way, you’ll make more money, have more fun, and enjoy unprecedented results too!

Get Your Brag On. Self-promotion is important today. It helps you differentiate your skills, education, and experience from others. Brag savvy awareness provides pay increases, promotions, and opportunities you deserve.

Appreciation. Speak up and share the value and efforts of others!  Say please and thank you.  Apologize for mistakes. Acknowledge each person’s efforts. These are simple examples of how to bring out the best in you and others. The rewards are amazing!

©Jeannette Seibly, 2018

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. Contact Jeannette for straight talk with dynamic results.

A sales rep believed she was doing a great job because she hit her sales quota every quarter. However, her boss saw it differently. He believed she overreacted in situations. He blamed her for asking too many questions and not getting along with team members. Instead of giving her effective feedback and coaching, he let her go when sales hit an all-time low.

After she was fired from her next job, she hired a coach. They talked through the issues and she took a job fit assessment to learn more about herself and how to better manage her strengths and weaknesses. She learned that her communication style got in the way of her success, and how to resolve disagreements for win-win outcomes. She also learned how to stand up and speak up for herself when blamed. Now, she was ready for her next job.

Her newest boss was unafraid to talk straight and manage the dynamics of the whole team. Each team member was expected to respect one another and resolve conflicts in a win-win manner. This new boss was great at providing her with immediate feedback and laser-like coaching. As a result, she and her team members each excelled. They surpassed their team’s sales quota each quarter.

When bosses fail to provide effective feedback and coaching, employees fail to improve.

Providing effective feedback and coaching to teams can be tough…receiving it can be tougher. No one likes to hear they are doing their job wrong, even when are. Plus, everyone fails when bosses allow drama, gossip, and emotional meltdowns to get in the way of providing feedback and coaching. Even worse, when bosses wait…conflicts increase and customer satisfaction scores plummet.

As a boss, it’s important for you to remember some emotional reactions are normal during any feedback and coaching session. Instead of interrupting the conversation and failing to provide the needed insights, have a box of tissues handy. It’s your responsibility to set the expectations for your teams. And, it’s up to you to provide immediate feedback and laser-like coaching so each person can succeed.

6 Tips for Effective Feedback and Coaching

Talk Straight. It’s up to you to talk straight. Don’t let eye daggers, hand gestures, or inappropriate comments will get in the way of building a good team.

Be a Role-Model.  To encourage openness and honesty, you must be open and honest. Take responsibility for your actions and words. When you make a mistake, own it. Apologies work wonders. Guide your employees to do the same.

Practice Tough Conversations. Role-play with your coach before having tough conversations. Use mirror work to help you become more comfortable with delivering bad news. If you don’t sincerely want the person to succeed, you are not ready to talk with them. Keep practicing.

Get Real. Many employees want constructive feedback. And, would love to have a coach to help guide them! As their boss, get real and take responsibility for providing laser-like coaching and effective feedback.

Ensure Job Fit. Over 70 percent of employees don’t fit their jobs (Gallup). This leads to employee and boss frustration, unproductive work habits, and poor communication styles. In other words, job fit impacts everyone. When you use scientifically validated job fit assessments, you will get answers as to why employees excel and why they do not. These tools will give you what you need to provide effective feedback and laser-like coaching.

Create a Learning Environment. A well-designed learning environment creates more openness for feedback and coaching. Create micro-learning opportunities to develop technical and soft skills. Don’t forget to include sessions on moral responsibility, integrity, and honesty so everyone understands that every choice and decision has a benefit and a consequence.

When you make effective feedback and coaching a priority, your team’s results will skyrocket.

©Jeannette Seibly, 2018

For the past 26 years, Jeannette Seibly has been recognized as a catalyst and leadership expert. As an executive coach, speaker, and author, she provides straight talk with dynamic results. Improve your team’s results by learning how to provide effective feedback and laser-like coaching for each person’s success. Contact Jeannette for a preliminary confidential conversation.

“Creating positive team dynamics is a skill that can be learned.” Jeannette Seibly

Team dynamics will make or break any group. As a boss and leader, it’s important to learn how to manage work teams, projects, and boards to be effective. What you don’t know can sabotage you, sabotage your team members and sabotage your project. The key is to act quickly and objectively when team dynamics go off-track.

Over the past several decades, I have coached teams and leaders in managing 100’s of projects. Most were successful. Some were not. This article focuses on six key elements that make or break your team’s dynamics.

A sales team met as a group twice a month. There were members that took the time to develop good working relationships with each other. And, there were those whose excuse was they were too busy. When several team members began criticizing a top producer, many took sides without first getting the facts. Unfortunately, the VP of Sales failed to step in and resolve the issue. When the top producer left, so did several others. It didn’t stop the backstabbing. Sales plummeted. Finally, the CEO hired a business advisor to work with the new VP of Sales and remaining team members. They had a candid come-down-to-reality conversation and set up ongoing coaching sessions to stop the bad behaviors. As a result, their team dynamics improved…and so did their sales!   

The 6 Key Elements to Understand Group and Team Dynamics

The Basics. Establish the basic rules and guidelines so everyone can freely participate. Remember, whatever you set up, everyone will forget and need to be reminded.

Effective Meetings. Training your team on how to conduct an effective meeting is paramount. Bring in an outside consultant to provide annual training to get everyone on the same page. Don’t forget to include soft skills training (e.g., conflict resolution, building agreement, persuasive listening, etc.).  Note: High-performance teams have a coach available for objective review and input. It saves them time, money and eruptions from frustrated team members.

Lead by Example. Issues arise any time there are two or more people involved! When they occur, address them quickly and objectively. First, objectively review options and goals with your coach. That process will remove emotional barriers and create better decisions. Role-play difficult conversations and focus on win-win outcomes for everyone, not blame.

Deep Dive. When issues arise (and they always do), start with the following questions to focus on the issue.

• -Did I handle the logistics appropriately (e.g., Is everyone receiving group notifications? Was the room or electronic conference setup before the start time? Did the meeting start and end on time. Etc.).
• -Am I actively listening or multitasking by handling my electronic messages?
• -Do I encourage new ideas or am I shutting them down prematurely?
• -Am I addressing issues as they arise or hoping they will go away on their own?
• -Am I encouraging team members to work through their differences or taking sides?
• -Do I come prepared for the meeting?
• -How did I do to prepare others for the meeting?

No Saboteurs Allowed. Be proactive when gossip, backstabbing, and other nefarious activities occur. Otherwise, the damage is already done by waiting too long. First, immediately talk with your coach to avoid creating a bigger issue. Then, use candid come-down-to-reality conversations to clean-up and create powerful team dynamics.

Acknowledge and Celebrate. Practice appreciation and acknowledgment of group members on a daily basis. Good team dynamics occur when you learn about each other’s activities and successes. Complete the exercise of what worked and didn’t work. Do this weekly, monthly and/or quarterly for best results.

©Jeannette Seibly, 2018

For the past 26 years, Jeannette Seibly has been recognized as a catalyst and leadership expert. As an executive coach, speaker, and author, she provides straight talk with dynamic results. Improve your team’s results by championing positive and effective team dynamics. Contact Jeannette for a preliminary confidential conversation.

Millennials and GenZs will comprise two-thirds of our workforce in 2019! As a result, high-impact hiring practices must be designed to attract and keep top talent.

First, Get Real about the Costs

Many companies fail to make real changes in their hiring practices. Why? They believe since their turnover is less than the industry average, they are doing as well as they can. The sad truth is, it costs $37B (yes, billion) to keep unproductive employees. This alone will deter top talent from working with you. They want to work with successful companies that hire, manage, coach and train the right way. If you don’t know the costs (most people don’t), use our Hiring Calculator to get real data about your hiring costs!

Second, Review Often Overlooked Issues

Candid Interviews. Today’s candidates will decline job offers if interviewers use canned responses. They want real conversations with real answers to their questions. Schedule interviewer training today for everyone.

Shorten Interview Processes. Many companies lose out on top talent because they take too long to make job offers. Improve the decision-making process by using objective data. It will always help you make your decisions faster and easier.

Job-Specific Questions. Failure to ask job-specific questions during an interview creates a false impression about the job. These candidates will accept the job offer and ghost you afterward.

Recruiter and Interviewer Biases. Yes, they do exist…and good job candidates know it. These biases can hurt your company’s reputation now and in the future. Improve your decision-making process by collecting objective data with legally validated tools to help eliminate biases.

Assessment Tools. Most do not meet the Department of Labor’s 13 guidelines for pre-employment and selection purposes. Companies too often rely on tools that provide subjective data of how well the person fits the job vs. scientifically validated job fit tools that provide objective data of how well the person fits the job (and meet the DOL). Choosing the right assessment will dramatically improve hiring results and reduce turnover. (Review Hire Amazing Employees – Chapter 11 – Assess for Job Fit-Use Qualified Assessments)

Third, Develop High-Impact Hiring Practices for Amazing Results

Define an Exceptional Hire. Ask yourself and your team, “What does an amazing hire look like today? In three months? Six months? A year from now?” Now, rewrite the job description with those responses in mind. Ask your marketing department to create exciting and enticing job postings.

Make Promises. Ask and answer, “Why do applicants want to work for us? How will this job help their career now and in the future? What specific training and development can we offer them?” If you answer these questions, you will uncover the promises you must make to get and keep top talent. For example, customize individual career pathways for each new employee immediately upon hire. Be sure to use the data from the qualified assessment and ask the employees about their future goals.

Create a 180-Day Onboarding Plan. Whether or not you hire the person, this process should start immediately after the candidate has completed the online application. Encourage candidates to ask questions at any point during the process. Schedule sessions to cover the company’s history, purpose, and mission; safety and well-being policies and procedures; on-the-job training (technical and soft skills); opportunities for mentoring and coaching; etc.

Job Fit is Still #1. According to the Harvard Business Review, when candidates fit their jobs, they excel. Use objective data to dramatically improve hiring, coaching, managing and training efforts.

When you implement these high-impact hiring practices, you will be ready to hire and keep the best. Also, as an added advantage, they will be happier and more productive.

©Jeannette Seibly, 2018

Jeannette Seibly has been a catalyst and leadership expert for over 26 years. As an executive coach, speaker, and author, she provides straight talk with dynamic results. Most companies need help objectively reviewing their high-impact plans. Contact JLSeibly@SeibCo.com to help you hire and keep the best. Check out her website, or contact Jeannette for a preliminary confidential conversation.