If you want respect, you need to respect others …

… the problem is, too often we don’t. As human beings, we’re habitually righteous about our opinions, thoughts and feelings and falsely believe others should adjust their opinions, thoughts and feelings to accommodate us! And many times, we don’t even know we’re doing it.

It starts with awareness …

A serial entrepreneur was having trouble selling anything! She would ask others to call her to setup meetings. When they did, she did not return their calls and did not follow-up with promised information. (This is not how one shows respect.) After she took a qualified assessment, we found she had difficultly accommodating others and following any type of system. Although she didn’t intend to be disrespectful, her lack of awareness conveyed to people that they were unimportant to her. (This was not how she truly felt about people.) Once she learned effective methods of streamlining and handling the details, she started selling, closing and making money!

Awareness is the first step …. then, taking appropriate actions.

What is respect? According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, in short, a feeling or understanding that someone or something is important and should be treated in an appropriate way.

6 Key Respect Factors: 

    1. Honor your word. When you say that you’ll get something done, do it. Stop relying on excuses to justify your lack of follow-up and follow-through. Even better, take the opportunity to meet and exceed expectations.
    2. Return all calls and emails. You are not so important that you do not need to return calls or emails! Although, you may rely upon the excuse, “I’m too busy,” not only are you disrespecting your customers, vendors and suppliers, you will not earn their respect.
    3. Compassion and acceptance. Most people will not complete a project, handle an interaction, or facilitate a group the way you would. Stop being overly critical and instead develop compassion for their efforts (flaws and all) and accept your own less than perfect abilities.
    4. Listen and be present. Hearing the words is not listening. As a result, a few minutes can turn into hours when you don’t to respect the speaker (this usually happens when you’re attempting to multi-task). Be 100% present in your conversations.

One man loved to talk on his phone and drive. Yet he couldn’t understand why people stopped talking with him! He would often forget critical aspects of the conversation, expect them to be his personal assistant, and would lie about anything he had forgotten to do. The reality is, you will forget more than 50% of the conversation when you are attempting to multi-task – it reduces your effectiveness.

5. Appreciate others and their time. We need others in this life in order for us to become successful leaders, business contributors, etc. Acknowledge their efforts and remember to say the magic words, ‘thank you’ and ‘please.’

6.  Respect yourself. Stay away from gossip – it creates mischief. It will become your karma if you choose to repeat it, or rely upon it!

Remember, being aware and taking appropriate actions show others that you respect them. When you respect others, they will respect you!

 

©Jeannette L. Seibly, 2015

It can be lonely at the top! An experienced business advisor, always accessible and at a nearby desk can make a positive and powerful difference for you, and your employees. My goal is to be your in-house advisor, your ally and sounding board as you navigate the complex world of your business! (Contact Jeannette: JLSeibly@SeibCo.com OR 303-917-2993)

What do I really want to do for a job?

 

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?’

‘That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,’ said the Cat.

‘I don’t much care where -‘ said Alice.

‘Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,’ said the Cat.

‘- so long as I get SOMEWHERE,’ Alice added as an explanation.

‘Oh, you’re sure to do that,’ said the Cat, ‘if you only walk long enough.”             

Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Many remember this story from the book, Alice in Wonderland. Unfortunately, even when people “walk long enough,” looking for the right job – they still don’t find careers that make them happy, productive and successful. Why? We base our career or job choices on lack of information or misinformation and fail to do what we need to do to get somewhere we want to go.

Example: A young woman graduated from college with a degree in architecture. She declared that as her major because a copy of Architectural Digest was on the table, next to her chair, in the counselor’s office. She graduated and quickly found work. She loved the paycheck and hated the job! After many unfortunate attempts to find a job she enjoyed, she called me, her coach. By working together and using the appropriate tools, very quickly, she found out she wanted to be a math teacher. She had resisted this career path since her dad had suggested she pursue being a math teacher! (Parents are not always right – but, they are not always wrong either!) She did the work to get a teaching certificate and has been an exceptional math teacher because she loves what she does!

The reality is 63 to 79 percent of employees are in jobs that don’t fit them! They feel trapped and their productivity, job satisfaction and upward career mobility are limited. The truth? We don’t develop the practice or discipline to use the current job as a stepping stone. Instead, we hate what we do and fail to learn the basics required to succeed in any profession.

Your career path does matter! Find work and job options that interest you. Studies show that if you have the interests, core behaviors and thinking styles that fit, you are much more likely to succeed!

The solution: the Pathway PlannerTM uses the same assessment information (based upon the world’s largest validation and reliability studies) that thousands of companies use to hire with predictive success. (For further information, contact http://SeibCo.com/contact)

This educational and career planning tool helps you discover what career possibilities best suit you at any age (ages 16+). The key (like anything) is to get into action! Read through your results and learn about different career paths that may work for you. Next, investigate the realities of those types of occupations by networking. As opportunities in those professions open up for you, prepare for a job-winning interview.

SeibCo provides the how-to-do-it in the book, It’s Time to Brag! Career Edition, (Time2Brag.com). To get started, contact SeibCo today: http://SeibCo.com/contact

©Jeannette L. Seibly, 2015 All Rights Reserved

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, and her gift is helping each one create their success in their own unique way. Along the way, with her commitment, she helped create three millionaires.

Successful Leaders Share the Spotlight

Every generation of leaders likes to believe they invented the newest and most effective way to manage people, build profitable companies, and “build a better mousetrap.”  The reality? We don’t do it alone. The achievements of our businesses, inventions, and other ideas are an outcome of effectively working with and through others to achieve the intended results.

True leaders are humble and take great care of their teams. They set aside their egos, hubris, and other personality impediments to pave the pathway forward to open new doors and achieve their intended results. If they’ve made a lot of money, they share it appropriately. If they created a lot of press, they generously brag about others’ contributions. (http://TimeToBrag.com)

Why are these traits important?

  1. When you understand that your success stands on the shoulders of your mentors, Board of Directors, business advisors, bosses, and team members, you become humble knowing you didn’t go it alone. This awareness makes it easier for others to want to work with you and share their knowledge and experiences, since it’s not all about you.
  2. It’s never solely your idea or creativity that makes the system or product work. Sharing the credit works wonders for current and future undertakings. Asking the right questions, listening and building upon ideas, and making available (or creating) the required resources are key traits of leaders. They ensure others stick with you during the design, launch, and refinement processes of your projects. Also, they are less likely to bolt when things may not go well.
  3. Documentation of your process, including charts and graphs, helps others visually understand the progress. They can then see potential glitches and possible solutions, and not rely on any overly optimistic feelings of triumph you might have. Documentation also provides a foundation for you, and them, to build on for the next venture.

Remember, share the spotlight. That will help you build on previous successes and learn from past failures to create the next victory.

 

©Jeannette L. Seibly, 2013-2015

Need to transform your leadership practices? Contact me before it’s too late! http://SeibCo.com/contact

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, and her gift is helping each one create their success in their own unique way. Along the way, with her commitment, she helped create three millionaires.

The Most Expensive Mistake Executives Make

Our major successes in business involve helping our employees, our most valuable asset, grow and develop, and enjoy job satisfaction. Unfortunately, we fail to use objective information to help determine the best job fit and career path fit when making staff promotions or lateral career moves. The same problem exists when we’re choosing our successors.

The greatest unrealized expense executives make is taking good employees and promoting them (or moving them laterally) into jobs that they are not ready for, don’t want or don’t have the skill sets to be successful. Many employees will readily take on these opportunities due to promises of bigger paychecks and desires to please their bosses – with sad results.

One fast growing company wanted to reward a good employee. They moved him out of customer service and into sales. Within 90 days, he was failing and no one knew what to do. They spent the next six months providing ongoing training, one-on-one counseling, and motivational podcasts. After many sleepless nights and daily frustrations, the employee left. A couple of clients and several top producers left with him. Unfortunately, the significant costs of these types of mistakes are not calculated (therefore, are not realized): high cost of training, loss of customers, loss of employees and proprietary information, and other tangible and intangible costs.

Unfortunately, we spend more time buying electronic gadgets than using the same due diligence and taking the same care with our people — our most valuable assets!

How to create successful moves for our employees to avoid costly mistakes:

  1. Create a 180-Day Success Plan. Keep it simple and smart. Wanting to have too many things accomplished while they are learning a new job will only create unnecessary stress. First, write it all down (See Hire Amazing Employees, Chapter 5, http://BizSavvyHire.com) Second, make sure to include conversations they need to have with key leaders and individual contributors to better understand the realities of what needs to be accomplished and how to go about getting the intended results. Third, remind them to listening will get them further than talking! (See Companies and Executives Need to Vet and Onboard Each Other! http://ow.ly/OZxJj)
  2. Use a qualified assessment. Objectively review their thinking styles, core behaviors and occupational interests by using a qualified assessment and qualified 360-degree feedback tool. (Qualified assessments are those that comply with the Department of Labor Guidelines for selection purposes.) While past accomplishments are important, they will not provide enough good objective data to predict future successes. The right interests and thinking styles account for people’s successes 50+ percent of the time.
  3. Conduct due diligence. Talking with previous managers and employees that worked with them. How did the person handle setbacks? When do they use good people skills (e.g., only with bosses, or do they also know how to respect others)? Do they manage projects on-time and within budget? Of the projects executed, how many produced intended results? What type of facilitator are they?
  4. Train them how to ask and answer the right questions. Everything is a conversation! Train the hiring managers and prospective employees on how-to-have authentic conversations, which includes probing into job responsibilities and expectations. After several conversations, put in writing what has been agreed to and what is expected. This written document will ensure clarity and the win-win outcome required.

©Jeannette Seibly, 2015 All Rights Reserved

It can be lonely at the top! An experienced business advisor, always accessible and at a nearby desk can make a positive and powerful difference for you, and your employees. My goal is to be your in-house advisor, your ally and sounding board as you navigate the complex world of your business! (Contact Jeannette: JLSeibly@SeibCo.com OR 303-917-2993)

 

Still uncertain what you want to be when you grow up?

A woman graduated from college uncertain about what she wanted to do for a career. While she thought about it, she decided to work for a family member in his business. After several years, she didn’t like the work, still didn’t know what she wanted to do, and wanted to find her own way in life. After we worked together, she found that her passions and core personality qualities would make her a great salesperson. So, she left her current job, moved to the city where she always wanted to live, and got a job selling! She happily loves her job and makes a six-figure income as the top sales rep.

The reality is 63 to 79 percent of employees are in jobs that don’t fit them! So, you are not alone in feeling you don’t know what you want to do. The problem is, knowing what you don’t want to do doesn’t magically clarify what you do want to do. When you are working in a job that doesn’t fit you, often, you will feel trapped and your productivity, job satisfaction and upward career mobility are limited. You may develop mediocre skills, fail to learn the basics required to succeed, and make a terrible boss (unfortunately, most companies reward their employees with promotions and increases in their paychecks – regardless of whether or not they fit the job)!

The challenge is to find work and job options that interest you. Studies show that if you have the interests, core behaviors and thinking styles that fit, you are much more likely to succeed!

The solution to find where you fit in the job market: The Pathway PlannerTM uses the same assessment information (based upon the world’s largest validation and reliability studies) that thousands of companies use to hire. (Contact http://SeibCo.com/contact) This educational and career planning tool helps you discover what career possibilities best suit you at any age. The key (like anything) is to get into action! Read through your results and learn about different career paths that may work for you. Next, investigate the realities of those types of occupations by networking. As opportunities in those professions open up for you, prepare for a job-winning interview. SeibCo provides the how-to-do-it in the book, It’s Time to Brag! Career Edition, (Time2Brag.com).

To get started, contact SeibCo today: http://SeibCo.com/contact

©Jeannette L. Seibly, 2015 All Rights Reserved

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, and her gift is helping each one create their success in their own unique way. Along the way, with her commitment, she helped create three millionaires.

8 Requirements to Be a Successful Professional!

As you advance in your career, or climb up the corporate ladder, it’s important to learn to be open to new ideas and people. Unfortunately, we love to judge others, often too quickly and negatively. As a result, we lose our effectiveness and close the doors to new opportunities.

Success is an inside job and requires improving your people skills. Developing these skills takes time, practice and discipline, and will enable you to work with and through others to achieve your goals, develop an amazing team, become competitive, and improve your company’s bottom line.

8 Key Requirements:

  1. Do what you say you’ll do on time and as promised. Apologize when you “drop the ball.” Then, adjust your attitude and systems to ensure you’re not continually “dropping the ball.”
  2. Develop the discipline to do the right things the right way. Remember, your decisions will impact today’s situation — and tomorrow’s too.
  3. Get to know what is of interest and/or concern to your customers, internal and external. (This includes your boss and Board of Directors!)
  4. Learn to listen to new ideas and new ways of achieving results.Great ideas can “erupt” from anyone, at any time – if you’re open to hearing them!
  5. Respect everyone on the team regardless of his/her opinions and/or personality. Stop negatively judging others because of how they speak, how they present their ideas or how they disagree with you. Everyone can be a contribution to your success, if you’re open to learning from them and value their input.
  6. Acknowledge others for their time, efforts and contributions. Make it a practice to say “Please” & “Thank You.” (A disappearing courtesy that needs to be revived.)
  7. Keep confidences. (Hint: Sharing secrets and gossiping are two of the fastest ways to sabotage your career.)
  8. Forgiveness. Take the time to forgive others, and, more importantly, yourself. Learn from your mistakes and theirs too! Success is an on-going process, not a one-time event.

Successful people have learned these 8 key requirements, and use them to advance professionally.

©Jeannette L. Seibly, 2015 All Rights Reserved

Need to transform your management practices? Contact me before it’s too late! http://SeibCo.com/contact

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, and her gift is helping each one create their success in their own unique way. Along the way, with her commitment, she helped create three millionaires.

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Stop wishing for millions and get a job you love!

Many wish daily to become a millionaire, be wealthy and live a life of freedom — freedom from stress, strife and bills. Yet, most do nothing that will put them onto the right career path and increase the probability of achieving that lifestyle.

However, there is some additional bad news. There are many millionaires experiencing a lot of stress. So, stress isn’t going to go away. Same with strife and having bills that need to be paid.

The key to wealth? Find a job you love. Feeling wealthy is an inside job! Many times it will attract the financial freedom you crave, even if it’s not a million dollars in the bank!

Years ago I met a CFO that didn’t have any interest in financial management. Yet, he believed it would make him more money than his true interest in mechanics. His comment, “Find me a job as a mechanic that pays as well and I’ll take it.” The irony? Many good mechanics (aka ones that love their work) were making more money than he was!

The cold, hard reality is 63 to 79 percent of employees are in jobs that don’t fit them! When you are working in a job that doesn’t fit you, often, you will feel trapped. Your productivity, job satisfaction and upward career mobility are limited. You don’t develop the discipline or take consistent focused actions that will bring you success. You develop mediocre skills, fail to learn the basics required to succeed, and make a terrible boss (unfortunately, most companies reward their employees with promotions and increases in their paychecks – regardless of whether or not they fit the job)!

So, you are not alone in feeling you don’t know what to do to make more money. However, working in a job you hate usually will not bring it to you! There are many myths about becoming rich as a realtor, investor, financial planner, or in other potentially high-paying professions. Becoming rich can happen when people are good at those jobs, fit them and authentically love what they do!

This never-ending cycle continues until you wake up and get a job you truly enjoy. Or, you get fired and have to find another one. (Unfortunately, most don’t look at this event as a blessing and an opportunity to find the right job. Instead, they look for a job just like their last one! The cycle starts over again!)

Studies show (yes, one is from Harvard Business Review!) that if you have the interest, core behavior and thinking style that fit your job responsibilities, company and culture, you are much more likely to succeed!

The solution: The Pathway PlannerTM uses the same assessment information (based upon the world’s largest validation and reliability studies) that thousands of companies use to hire. (Contact http://SeibCo.com/contact) This educational and career planning tool helps you discover what career possibilities best suit you. The key (like anything) is to get into action! As you read through your results, you learn about different career paths that may work for you. Next, investigate the realities of those types of occupations by networking. As opportunities in those professions open up for you, prepare for a job-winning interview. SeibCo provides the how-to-do-it in the book, It’s Time to Brag! Career Edition, (Time2Brag.com).

Now, get to work, learn the basics of your profession and enjoy your career! You will feel like a million-bucks! (http://SeibCo.com/contact)

©Jeannette Seibly, 2015 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is an award-winning and internationally recognized business advisor and career coach. 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, and her gift is helping each one create their success in their own unique way. Along the way, with her commitment, she helped create three millionaires.

[contact-form][contact-field label=’Name’ type=’name’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Email’ type=’email’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Website’ type=’url’/][contact-field label=’Message’ type=’textarea’/][/contact-form]

Want to play more and get more done?

Several years ago I had an executive client, he just didn’t seem to be able to get things done. He was into work before anyone else and stayed late. My coaching — he could not arrive before 7 a.m. or stay after 7 p.m.! I recommended boundaries for him to work within. Not only did he get more things done, he developed a relationship with his wife and kids! He was my first millionaire!

Ask yourself:

  1. Do you want to have more free time to do the things you love to do?
  2. Be part of your family’s life?

Most people would answer, “Yes!” The challenge is, you know you have a multitude of things that need to be done and don’t believe you have time to play.

Answer: Schedule it. (I know it sounds simple and it’s not always easy!)

Process:

  1. Write down everything that needs to be done (yes, everything!), everywhere in your life.
  2. Highlight the top two items.
  3. Schedule them, take focused action and get them done.
  4. Celebrate! You deserve it.
  5. Repeat.

Yes, it is that simple! Other benefits:

  1. You won’t have time to overthink things — you will actually get them done. (Remember, there are only two!)
  2. You’ll learn how to delegate and not be so picky! (Your employees will thank you for these new opportunities.)
  3. You will learn to prioritize and focus on the important things. (Not the busy-work, which doesn’t provide the results you want.)

The key: Honor your schedule! 

This is a very simple process.

Remember, I did not say it would be easy.

The challenge: Do it for one week and let me know the results.

©Jeannette L. Seibly, 2015

Need to transform your management practices? Contact me before it’s too late! http://SeibCo.com/contact

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, and her gift is helping each one create their success in their own unique way. Along the way, with her commitment, she helped create three millionaires.

[contact-form][contact-field label=’Name’ type=’name’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Email’ type=’email’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Website’ type=’url’/][contact-field label=’Message’ type=’textarea’/][/contact-form] 

Build a Strong Business by Working Smarter

As a business owner or executive, you can be very busy juggling the demands of day-to-day business operations, customer needs, and family and community commitments. However, you also need to focus on building a strong business by working smarter. That will create opportunities for more fun, more money and more freedom!

Follow these 5 key practices:

1) Handle challenges as they occur. Putting them off and hoping they’ll go away rarely works. You will actually create more work the longer you wait. Remember, a mole hill will turn into a mountain if not handled in a timely and appropriate manner.

2) Listen well the first time. Most of us are poor listeners. Not listening will create more work when we don’t deliver on what clients want, internally and externally.  Although it may take more time, when you slow down and truly listen, it will make life easier and reduce your workload.

3) Hire right the first time. You and your team will need to work harder if you have the wrong person in the job. Use a strategic process and qualified assessment tools. While they may seem expensive, they are not. A bad hire can cost the company 2.5% of the annual gross wage for that person (and may not include numerous intangible costs). Unfortunately, many small businesses have had to close their doors simply because they did not know how to hire right. (http://BizSavvyHire.com)

4) Follow-up and Follow-through. After networking, take 10 minutes and send everyone you met a “thank you” email or card. If you promised material or a call, do it now! Waiting may lose you customers, both current and future.

5) Honor expectations. A couple of examples that business owners need to honor: a) Arrive 5 minutes early for all meetings — if you’re late, you’ll need to work harder to get people to trust you. b) Manage your business with good financial data — use Generally Accepted Accounting Practices. Failure to do so may result in a time-consuming IRS audit. What else can you think of?

Working smarter does not mean working harder. Follow the above 5 practices and you will grow your business and enjoy the rewards.

©Jeannette Seibly, 2015

Need to transform your management practices? Contact me before it’s too late! http://SeibCo.com/contact

Jeannette Seibly is an 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, and her gift is helping each one create their success in their own unique way. Along the way, with her commitment, she helped create three millionaires.

[contact-form][contact-field label=’Name’ type=’name’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Email’ type=’email’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Website’ type=’url’/][contact-field label=’Message’ type=’textarea’/][/contact-form]

Do You Have Silly Customers?

Recently I had an on-line experience with a person that offered a free book – at least that is what my computer said. When I attempted to order it, the link didn’t work. I contacted the author’s customer service rep who agreed that there was a computer error on their end. It turned out that the book wasn’t free and I was called “silly” for expecting it to be free.

An example of a better way to handle this happened to me a couple of years ago. A reader wished to purchase my It’s Time to Brag! book online in a PDF format (this was before I setup an agreement with Kindle and am no longer selling PDF copies). (Time2Brag.com) The person didn’t have a good on-line experience so I gave her the book, complimentary, with my apologies! (No, there was not a problem on my end.) I did not have another on-line issue, and more importantly, I kept a customer.

Three things to remember if you sell on-line:

#1: It costs way more to attract a new client than to keep a current one.

#2: When it is brought to your attention that your system is not working, you need to thank the person and offer them something in return. Obviously, don’t call them “silly!” After all, they took their time to help you solve a problem to keep your technology working correctly so you can continue to attract and keep customers.

#3: Customer service interactions via email (or other electronic means) may not translate in the tone you intended. It’s important to slow down and reread your correspondence out loud (and listen to yourself) before sending it. Remember, keep it simple and smart because the average national reading level is 6th grade.

Get your brag on — your customers are about to stray! http://SeibCo.com/contact

Jeannette Seibly is an 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, and her gift is helping each one create their success in their own unique way. Along the way, with her commitment, she helped create three millionaires.

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