Manager

I’ve talked with many bosses and business leaders who have lamented that their talented performers are not promotable. What they say is that their personal values are not in sync with the professional values and expectations they have for successful future leaders. 

These bosses and business leaders don’t know what to do. They believe successful future leaders should already exhibit solid professional values. The problem is, these bosses and business leaders fail to take responsibility for providing training and development via coaching, workshops, mentoring, etc.

Professional values inside a company are often unwritten, yet, you are expected to abide by them as you move higher in a profession, company, and industry. Also, many executives and boards send confusing messages. They overlook poor values as long as the results are being produced or there is the “right” excuse. This makes it harder to learn the level of professional values expected.

Accept the challenge…read the following story and look for what you would do differently?

DeeDee, a fast-rising sales manager, also enjoyed vaping and smoking other substances. She would disappear several times during the day for a smoke or two. She believed this calmed her and improved her ability to handle customer needs.

Her boss, Tom, had heard of DeeDee’s smoking habit. He turned a blind eye, even though her personal values violated the company’s “no smoking policy.”   DeeDee surpassed quarterly sales quotas and made him look good as a sales director. He allowed her to do her job as she wanted and only got involved to resolve complaints.

This façade lasted until DeeDee landed a major client…a much bigger client than she normally managed. Then, everything changed.

The major client expected DeeDee to honor her promises and fulfill the contract. But, DeeDee’s personal values of doing what she felt was right for her overrode the professional values expected by her company and her new client.

Her personal values didn’t include responding to client’s calls whenever they needed to talk with her. She excused missing deadlines as no big deal. She ignored calls if she felt the issue was mundane and sent short emails or texts hoping they would stop bothering her. These bad habits only frustrated the client since their questions were not completely answered. These missed deadlines impacted the client’s company and their customers!

It wasn’t until the client threatened to cancel their contract that her boss Tom finally paid attention.

After talking with his VP, Tom assigned Tony, a customer service manager, to act as an intermediary between DeeDee and the client. But, Tony resented having to do DeeDee’s job. She wasn’t qualified to efficiently and effectively handle this size of a customer. Also, he knew DeeDee’s sales commissions were not going to be shared with him!

Tony’s complaints landed on deaf ears. After all, one of the company’s professional values is everyone needs to be a team player when working with major clients.

To make matters worse, DeeDee signed an apartment lease that stated, “No smoking or vaping of anything.” She ignored it and blamed her neighbors for reporting her. One of the neighbors was on the new client’s team. When he shared the situation with his team, his company immediately canceled their very large contract.

Why? They cited DeeDee’s poor performance and blamed the company’s inability to enforce their leadership values (e.g., poor hiring, management, etc.).

What would you have done to ensure a better outcome? Take this challenge to your next company meeting and look at it from each person’s POV (Tom, DeeDee, Tony, Sales VP, and major client) to create the best game plan.

©Jeannette Seibly, 2019

Jeannette Seibly is an award-winning champion for people and results. For the past 26 years, she has guided bosses and teams to excel. Want to clarify your professional values and be promotable?  Contact Jeannette today for straight talk with dynamic results.

How does a positive work ethic make you a better boss?

What were once good ideas, attitudes or behaviors can become bad habits over time.

Good habits turning into bad ones are insidious processes. They creep up on you until bam, you say or do something that offends others. Bad habits impede your effectiveness and success. They negatively impact your relationships with others. Plus, you’ll fail to produce results and build the teamwork required for businesses to grow.

Sadly, it’s not a matter of if bad habits will derail your career…it’s a matter of when these ticking time bombs will derail your career unless you become aware and stop them now.

Break These 3 Bad Habits to Improve Career Success

1. Poor Listening Skills. This #1 bad habit is the cause of many skilled professionals facing career derailment.

A sales professional normally checked his emails during meetings and insisted he could still listen while multitasking. He didn’t understand that human brains are wired for a single activity. Even though many bought into his excuses, he missed sales cues and opportunities to close. When a potential client refused to buy into his excuses, the sales rep not only lost a big sale, he was fired. He even failed to listen to his boss telling him, “You gotta learn to listen!”

Listen as though your career depends on it…because it does!

2. Lack of Awareness. One executive constantly found fault with how others did their work. He thought he could do it better and faster. The truth was, he didn’t have the skills to do their jobs and lacked awareness his comments were offensive.

When someone fails to achieve the intended results, it’s time to be aware of how you impact others in getting their jobs done.

During conversations stay present:

• -Stating the intended results in an easy and simple manner.
• -Listen to all concerns.
• -Work through any push-backs effectively (think, ethical considerations, workability, impact on others, etc.).
• -Align on the work to be done, including a reasonable completion date.

Awareness determines your results and successes.

3. Know-It-All Attitude. A new boss was a micromanager, a common trait of inexperienced managers. She wanted everything done exactly as she thought it should be done to avoid looking bad. She blamed her employees (and others) for inevitable mistakes. She thought she knew everything.

After she learned how to control her anxieties about making mistakes, looking bad, and not being respected, she shifted her focus off herself.  She learned to be open to others’ ideas and successfully incorporate them into projects. The results were fewer mistakes being made and team members felt valued.

Building true confidence and ability to hear others is an inside job.

Remember, bad habits will come out in unexpected ways and get in the way of our success. Work with an executive coach to unravel the murky situations and complex relationships before attempting to resolve these challenges on your own.

©Jeannette Seibly, 2012-2019

Jeannette Seibly is an award-winning champion for people and results. For the past 26 years, she has guided bosses and teams to excel in breaking bad habits. Contact Jeannette today for straight talk with dynamic results.

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Most winners in business have coaches to guide them in managing projects, resolving complex situations, and addressing their leadership savvy.

Many wanna-be winners fail to hire a coach and struggle to succeed.

• -They believe the company should pay for it.
• -They are uncoachable and hate being told what to do.
• -They believe DIY is the only way to win.

The bottom line? The right coaching advice will help you become a winner faster and easier.

4 Ways to Become a Winner

Expand Your POV

Expand your POV of who, what, when, where, and why before addressing how to achieve your goals and become a winner.

Julie’s goal was to become the next VP until her company brought in Diane, the new CEO. Diane brought in her own team and Julie now reported to Trevor. Trevor wanted Julie gone because he believed her POV was, “that’s not the way things should be done.”

Julie viewed herself as a victim. When she met with an executive coach, she was stuck with a feeling of being resigned to “this situation is the way it is.”

At first, she resented the coach taking her out of her comfort zone.

The coach knew from experience that Julie was missing a golden opportunity. The coach also knew executives need to be resourceful, resilient, flexible, and not shy away from opportunities.

That’s why the coach encouraged Julie to win by expanding her POV.

“Julie, meet with former bosses and others within the company to learn about upcoming challenges. Discuss potential solutions. Uncover job opportunities in the company. Often, new management teams move on in a year or two. If you’re still working in the company, you have the best opportunity to get the VP job at that time.”

Luckily, Julie got the million-dollar coaching advice she didn’t think she wanted or needed.

Be Coachable

Remember, the right coach has you do what you don’t want to do so you can achieve the results you’ve always wanted and be a winner.

Many struggle in their careers, personal, financial, health, and other pursuits. They often fail to ask for help because they don’t want to look bad or feel humiliated.

Winners are coachable and know they need to ask for help and take the recommended actions to win!

Listen for the Gold

When you listen for the gold, you will hear new ways of how to achieve your goals…usually outside your POV.

When we rely on our own limited beliefs and don’t listen to coaching advice it’s because:

• -We love our own ideas and don’t want to expand
• -We play favorites on our team
• -We use lack of money as an excuse
• -We lack interest in working through the details

A coach will teach you how to brainstorm, listen for the gold, and become a winner.

Hire the Right Coach

There are many different types of coaches … hiring the right one will make all the difference.

David hired a life coach to help him launch a new business. Three months later, after spending $20K for coaching, he still did not have a viable business. The coach told him it would cost another $20K to continue.

Sadly, this type of scenario happens too often. The most common reason is the coach doesn’t have the right expertise.

Winners know hiring the right coach with the right expertise requires conducting proper due diligence. Don’t make David’s mistake.

©Jeannette Seibly, 2019

Jeannette Seibly is an award-winning champion for people and results. For the past 26 years, she has guided bosses and teams to excel and create winning outcomes!  Contact Jeannette today for straight talk with dynamic results.

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All ideas are not created equal.

• -When a boss has a bad idea, most employees are afraid to say so. They will follow along and wait for the project to fail rather than offer suggestions.
• -When a team member has a great idea, others may be hesitant. It can be due to company politics or the controversy change can cause. Instead of offering manageable insights, they stay silent.
• -Other times, when good ideas go awry, it’s because the generator of the idea is emotionally attached. They typically have a narrow POV and refuse to listen and incorporate others’ ideas that are necessary for success.

Remember, ideas are only as good as the team and their project manager.

So, Why Are Good Ideas Sidelined?

1. Company politics
2. Team is risk-averse
3. Poor facilitator and team member skills
4. Team members fear rocking the boat
5. Conflict created by difficult team members
6. Lack of focused-action steps and attention to details
7. True brainstorming is ignored
8. Team members are not aligned
9. Failure to manage the outcomes
10. Poor understanding of the purpose or goal

How to Improve Generating Good and Achievable Ideas

Good Idea, But, Bad Communication

Devin had project management success. It’s why he was hired to lead a team in designing and executing a new project for a new association. But, his new board missed a key factor when hiring him…Devin was a DIYer. He had poor facilitation skills and ignored others’ comments. When the new project failed to launch due to lack of interest and funding, the board brought on new team members. Finally, one of the members exclaimed, “I don’t get it. What is the purpose and goal of this idea?” She took it upon herself to clarify the purpose and goal, along with the team. With effective communication and everyone on the same page, the project succeeded.   

Communication is everything. When you fail to share your ideas in a way that can be readily understood, you lose support and money. Hire the right coach to guide you and the team in designing a message that clarifies your idea and resonates with your products and services.

Bad Idea, But, Everyone Went Silent

This happens often. When a boss (or anyone idea) has a bad idea, most team members are afraid to stand up and speak up. As a result, a lot of time, money, and attention is spent on something that won’t work. Sometimes these types of ideas only need tweaks, other times, they need to be scrapped.

As the boss or idea generator, use one or two independent sounding boards to bounce off ideas. Allow them to ask questions, dig deeper than the team may feel comfortable doing themselves. The key is to listen and learn. Many good ideas derail due to circular logic about why something “should work” but won’t.

Great Idea, But, Before It’s Time

I remember years ago wanting to put together an executive HR group. The person I shared my idea with nixed it. A year later I shared it with a different person. She ran with the idea. The executive HR group is still flourishing today.

Sharing ideas can be two-fold. You may share with someone fearful of stretching beyond their comfort zone or someone who fears any political repercussions. Regardless of why, they are afraid of being part of a new idea that has not been successful elsewhere.

Make sure to develop your ideas on paper to get them out of your head. Be clear about “why the idea is important” and create a story to support it. Then share with others. This is a great opportunity to learn about any challenges or other solutions. Remember, this is not the time to debate. Instead, listen and learn. Be open to expanding your POV which is required for success.

Remember, all ideas are not created equal. Some are good and some are simply bad ideas. Yet, there is a multitude of good ideas that should be pursued. But, to be successful, need a committed team, great communication, and expanded POV for what is possible.

©Jeannette Seibly, 2019

Jeannette Seibly is an award-winning champion for people and results. For the past 26 years, she has guided bosses and teams to excel in implementing great ideas. Contact Jeannette today for straight talk with dynamic results.

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Ghosting in business is not an option. You’ve ghosted someone when you miss scheduled meetings, avoid difficult conversations, or fail to follow-up and follow-through on promises. This behavior and attitude will come back to haunt you regardless of your reasons why.

A sales rep became upset when members of his network group complained he had ghosted them. He had missed several scheduled meetings and failed to follow-through with people. Instead of apologizing and resolving the upsets, he ignored the whole thing and claimed he was too busy.

As a result of his ghosting, several members did business with a competitor. When he found out, he exclaimed, “All you had to do was call and tell me you wanted to buy something.”

The question he failed to ask himself, “Why would anyone want to do business with someone who ghosts them?”

Why Do People Ghost?

The short answer is, it seems simpler and easier than “trying” to have a conversation when you’re uncomfortable talking with others.

But, winners don’t ghost.

Winners face their fears and talk it out. They overcome limiting beliefs, such as poor communication and vocabulary skills, or disliking authority figures (e.g., bosses, hiring managers, etc.).

While ghosting provides momentary feelings of relief, these feelings won’t last. Unfortunately, those fears won’t go away! And, even worse, the people you ghost won’t forget you ghosted them!

Ghosting is not the formula for a winner!

6 Tips to Become a Powerful Communicator and Winner  

1. Be Open to Learning. Remember, no one was born a powerful or experienced conversationalist. Put away the electronic distractions. Learn how to have meaningful and productive conversations. Take classes (e.g., Toastmasters, Landmark), practice mindfulness, talk it out and role-play. Hire a coach to guide you on how to talk through challenging situations. These reduce the need to ghost others.
2. Practice Leads to Mastery. Like everything in life, practice helps you improve and become a master communicator. Remember, conversations will not always be fun, positive, or easy. It’s how you handle them that matters. Be curious. Don’t shy away from participating in team debates, offering ideas and opinions, and listening to what others are saying. Good communication skills are the marks of a winner.
3. Stand Up and Show Up. Honor your commitments and meetings. Stop relying on excuses when you don’t feel like showing up. Always show up on time. Remember, the attitude of “I matter and you matter” creates winning conversations for your career and life.
4. Be Responsible. If you want to improve the job offer, sales, or contract, don’t ghost. Only voice-to-voice communication can give you the winning results you want.
5. Start with Good Questions. Winners start meetings by asking questions about the other person, their goals and challenges. When learning about others, you elicit better information and insights into how to help them. You will also discover true solutions and new ideas. Then, let them know how they can help you. This is a winning formula.
6. Build Your Confidence through Self-Promotion. Read the book, It’s Time to Brag! Business Edition and complete the 5 amazing steps to sell yourself. These exercises are natural confidence builders. When you feel confident, you will feel comfortable communicating voice-to-voice. You will stop ghosting.

Practicing these 6 tips gives you the ability to stop ghosting, improve your communication skills, and become a winner.

©Jeannette Seibly, 2018-2019

Jeannette Seibly has been an award-winning champion for people and results for the past 26 years. She has guided bosses and teams to excel in using powerful communication tools.  Contact Jeannette today for straight talk with dynamic results.

15 signs you’re a great boss, even if you don’t feel it.

An employee asked questions of her boss to resolve a critical distribution issue. He didn’t have the answers. She kept pressing him to get her the answers she needed until he left the meeting upset by her persistence. He ignored her requests to meet with him and refused to apologize for coming unprepared for the meeting. Thirty days later he fired her.

Many people fail to apologize for mistakes, misunderstandings, or the words they choose to use (e.g., profanity, mispronouncing someone’s name, using jargon incorrectly, etc.). Their words and actions can hurt relationships and negatively impact results.

Failure to apologize can create:

• -Resentment
• -Gossip
• -Avoidance  behavior
• -Snarky remarks
• -Turnover
• -Profitability
• -Loss of customers, jobs, promotions, or pay increases
• -The list is endless!

As a boss, you don’t have the luxury of not apologizing and making things right with employees, co-workers, vendors, customers, or even your boss. It’s your responsibility to set a positive example and create win-win-win outcomes.

Remember, your communication style either energizes or deflates your team. Win-win-win outcomes require learning a very important communication skill…how to genuinely apology.

6 Steps for a Genuine Apology

Always start with honesty, courage, and respect so you can stand up and extend the “olive branch.”

1. Become present to what you said or the mistake you made. This may require journaling or talking with your coach to uncover the true problem.
2. Offer “I’m sorry.” or “I apologize.” Both offers create the start of a healthy conversation. This must occur to get the problem resolved in a win-win-win manner.
3. Listen to their response. If they are angry because you waited too long or you’ve humiliated them, you may not be present to the impact you caused. Listen and learn from their response before again offering an apology.
4. Don’t defend. The situation happened. Being right or making them wrong won’t get the issue resolved or move the conversation forward. Listen and talk without defending yourself. (Catch yourself before excusing what happened with a, “Yeah, but.”)
5. Ask what you can do to resolve it. What needs to happen to move forward? Ask for their opinion and input. If you don’t, the resentment will continue.
6. Forgiveness works magic. Genuine apologies allow for you and them to let go of resentments. Then, true forgiveness is naturally possible.

Remember, all relationships have their upsets. As a boss, learning how to genuinely apologize is an important part of communication.

©Jeannette Seibly, 2019

Managing people is one of the biggest challenges bosses face daily.  As an executive coach, Jeannette Seibly has been championing people and results for the past 26 years. Contact Jeannette today for straight talk with dynamic results.

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Many of my readers are not PMs for large complex projects (e.g., designing an airplane, IT, or other big projects). Yet, regardless of the size of your project, project management can be difficult for many people. If you want to achieve better outcomes, embrace doing the right things to improve your project results!

Did you know projects fail at an astonishing rate of more than 50% of the time? Many team members lament they’ve been on many projects and never saw a project succeed! (Harvard Business Review)

When you think of the millions wasted, this is a huge problem.

So, what’s missing when projects fail?

Good project management. “90% of teams believe a great project manager is critical to the outcome of a project. “(Oracle)

But, first, to be a great PM, you need to improve your project management skills; otherwise, you will fail to achieve intended results.

9 Signs of a Bad Project Manager

Which of these traits sound familiar?

1. Procrastination. Missed deadlines, not available to answer questions, allow conflicts to escalate and fail to fulfill promises.
2. Micromanager. Doesn’t trust the team to do it right and nitpicks how tasks are completed instead of focusing on how well they are completed.
3. Pollyanna. Overly-optimistic and believes in the power of positivity to the point of ineffectiveness.
4. Overly Critical. Nothing is ever right or good enough….waiting for something to go wrong…it becomes a self-fulling prophecy.
5. Know-It-All. When you think no one knows the answers better than you do, you will sabotage even the best teams.
6. Egotistical. Concerned about looking bad, and focused solely on your own future promotions and bonuses with no consideration for your team.
7. Fear of Conflict. Doesn’t have the skills and avoids involvement in tough conversations out of fear of being disliked.
8. Allows the Creep Factor. Overlooks poor project design, unresolved kinks, and fails to manage difficult team members.
9. Focuses Solely on Scoreboard. Only focuses on the end-results and fails to manage the process of how to achieve intended results.

 9 Ways to Become a Results-Producing Project Manager

1. Owns the Project and Intended Results. Timelines and milestones will be missed if you do not own the project and results. Factually address any “elephants” in the way to avoid having them trample over the team’s results.
2. Improves Communication Processes. Communication is essential to good project management. Ensure everyone that needs to know has access to all updates.
3. Shares the Credit. Acknowledge individual and group contributions to build team comradery.
4. Manages Swoopers. When your boss swoops in to fix and motivate team members, it usually demotivates the team. Keep the boss apprised with a cc: on important items. Consult with the boss 1:1 if there is a major issue or setback.
5. Develops Team Decision-making Process. Side decisions, 100% consensus or democratic voting will disengage the team. Build alignment through persuasive listening, which requires training. This process may take longer, but, will save you a lot of time and money in the long-run.
6. Provides Resources. While many projects have kinks, pitfalls, and saboteurs, develop resilience and resourcefulness to work through them. Engage the team in true brainstorming to answer: Who, What, Where, Why, and When… before asking How?
7. Selects the Right Team. There should be a mix of talent and skills to design the project and executive the plan. Non-core team members should only be included on a short-term basis.
8. Honors Risk Management. To manage risks, use experts in finance, IT, legal, people, operations, sales, and marketing to get correct and usable information.
9. Holds the Team Accountable. Manage the plan, budget, timeline, process, and outcomes, not individual personalities! To ensure team accountability, be open and flexible to for positive results.

When you embrace these 9 critical elements to become a results-producing PM, your projects will achieve intended results. During the process, you will also champion new benchmarks for future teams.

©Jeannette Seibly, 2019

Being a results-producer can be one of the most difficult challenges bosses face. Jeannette Seibly has been an award-winning champion for people for the past 26 years. She has guided bosses and teams to produce unprecedented results. Contact Jeannette today for straight talk with dynamic results.

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