Being In the Driver’s Seat Is Required to Navigate for Results

“Bosses and leaders need to navigate to achieve results rather than settle for mediocrity.” Jeannette Seibly

Too many articles talk about navigating for results but not how to put yourself in the driver’s seat to achieve them.

I’ve led many new projects or projects requiring new results (e.g., increasing attendance, financial revenues, etc.). Every time, there were many bumps along the way in the form of naysayers, economic challenges, and team conflict. But I learned how to stay in the driver’s seat, even though periodically I wanted to bail! Instead, I worked through my uncomfortableness, relied on team counsel, and kept everyone on the same page. The accomplishment? We did it! We won! We celebrated!

In last week’s article, I discussed Are You Driving Your Results?

The question I received was, “How do I put myself in the driver’s seat in the first place?” It’s an interesting question that is seldom asked.

The answer: It’s a conscious mindset of making the decision and commitment to be the driver and set up yourself and your team to win!

How Do You Drive Results Without Being Pushed into the Passenger Seat?

Be Uncomfortable. When you feel uncomfortable today, it’s easy to use that as your excuse and get off track. Many times, you do it covertly and allow your fears to dominate. The problem? You give up the driver’s seat and the opportunity to learn the skills necessary to acquire the experience! In the book Hidden Potential, Adam Grant talks about how people acknowledge their uncomfortableness as they begin a project and work through the discomfort to become highly proficient and achieve unprecedented results.

What is the reality for you as a boss and leader?

Be Willing to Participate. Too many want to sit back and observe and not participate in the creation process, managing differing opinions, and the ups and downs of getting and keeping everyone on the same page (hint: this is an ongoing process – not an “I did it once and now I’m done.”). The problem? Once you’ve given up the driver’s seat (to observe), it isn’t easy to get it back and steer towards the intended results!

Find Counsel. Asking for help is different than looking for advice on social media or asking all of your co-workers for their ideas. Hire an experienced executive coach who provides counsel by listening and guiding. Just because you’re in the driver’s seat doesn’t mean you have the experience to move a team from start to finish without challenges and have everyone satisfied with the results.

To keep everyone on the same page and moving forward:

  • Share your experience in working through past challenges.
  • Speak with the end result in mind.
  • Be open to brainstorming new ideas when the current ones are not working.
  • Acknowledge initiatives and steps taken by team members, individually and as a group.
  • Be authentic, and know you don’t have all the answers!

Being open to new ideas is how you stay in the driver’s seat and make a positive difference. An experienced executive coach will keep you thinking as the driver.

Celebrate! Too many drivers forget to honor their team members individually and as a group. Or, only do so if there is a win! It’s important to remember that even a failure can provide positive learning opportunities. Conduct a group debrief of What Worked? / What Didn’t Work? Celebrate. Create brags! The process honors you as the driver and your team members, too!

©Jeannette Seibly 2024 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is a Talent Advisor/Leadership Results Coach with over 31 years of experience guiding leaders and bosses to improve their hiring, coaching, and managing practices and produce amazing results! And yes, achieving business success always starts with having the right people in the right jobs! She has been an Authorized PXT Select Partner for over 31 years. Contact Jeannette to learn more about this state-of-the-art job-fit assessment tool or how to coach and manage your people to achieve extraordinary results.

A note from Jeannette: How do you put yourself in the driver’s seat? It’s not hard, but it requires a conscious mindset to decide and commit to being the driver, especially when you feel uncomfortable and ready to bail! Want to tap into my 31++ years of experience in driving results? Contact me now with your questions!

It’s time to get honest and genuine! Are there days you dread managing people, projects, and your team’s financial performance? You’re not alone! Everyone has their blind spots! NOW is the time to get the guidance you need to make the right changes for 2024. I have extensive experience and wisdom guiding bosses and leaders to hire, coach, and manage their teams successfully. The bonus is that they achieve unprecedented results. Contact me to learn more about my in-depth, one-on-one, customized coaching programs.

Get Real About Achieving Results

“Achieving real results requires you to do the work and not rely on excuses or other mental gymnastics.” Jeannette Seibly

How do you get real about achieving results? If you’re like me and most people, we create an idea or goal in our heads (and sometimes write it down on paper). Then, we overanalyze it, find fault, and ditch it before giving it a chance!

Creating real results requires making the decision, creating the plan, and honoring the commitment. These are needed to blast through the inevitable obstacles and celebrate a great 2024!

3 Most Common Places You Stop

  1. Make the Decision. Your goal or intended result requires a “Yes” or “No.” Either will move you forward. “Yes” is the first step towards achieving the results you want to achieve. “No” allows you to move forward with another goal or achieve different results. What if you’re really uncertain? Play the advocate for each side. Write down at least 5 reasons it could work. Now, decide.

Get real and don’t stop: Stay out of “maybe” or “if the universe wants me to do it” or your endless excuses. These do not honor your inner power, dreams, and goals. Often, we rely on these phrases and behaviors instead of taking responsibility for selecting the right coach, putting together the team, and playing to win the result.

  1. Create a Goal and a Plan. Yes, I know. You hate writing out a plan for fear of failure. Guess what? I behaved the same way until I worked with my coach, wrote down my goals, and achieved a financial gain of 125 percent!

Writing the goal (yes, handwritten) clarifies the intended result, keeps you in action, and guides you to complete and achieve the result! It doesn’t need to be a formal plan. Don’t forget to address the following areas in your plan as they are, not as you believe they should be. (For example, hoping Joe will be a great accountant when he hates working with numbers is inconsistent with achieving real results.) Here are the areas to review: Financial, People (Team), Operations, Sales, Marketing, and Legal (feel free to expand the list).

Get real and don’t stop: When things are not working the way you want, do NOT change the goal! While you may rationalize the change, your inner power recognizes it for what it is: fear. It’s time to believe in yourself and your team! Use What Worked?/What Didn’t Work? to clarify what is missing in your plan or mindset.

  1. Make the Commitment. This is often overlooked. We can decide to do something but fail to commit to doing it! For example, you can choose to hire a new team. But unless or until you make the commitment and take real action, nothing will happen that creates real results! When you make and honor your commitment, you will blast through fears and other detractors and deterrents.

Get real and don’t stop: Using the above example, Instead of relying on how you’ve always done it (with poor results), stop! Breathe! Get real about how you hire and take action to improve your system. Otherwise, you’ll be waffling about, or talking about, how to hire and select the team that best fits their jobs! Talking about it doesn’t give you the real results!

A Couple of Other Reminders!

Achieving Results Is a Process, Not an Event. I used to hate processes! Yet, I’m very good at creating them. Since I love achieving intended results and wanted more of them, I had to overcome hating systems and expand my mindset! Remember, without a good process (one you can build on), you won’t achieve real results now or in the future!

Celebrate Each Win. Each step forward is a win. Each lesson learned, or failure experienced is a win. Remember, Thomas Edison wrote, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” Don’t forget to update your brags along the way!

©Jeannette Seibly 2024 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is a Talent Advisor/Leadership Results Coach with over 31 years of practical experience guiding leaders and bosses to improve their hiring, coaching, and managing practices and produce amazing results! And yes, it always starts with having the right people in the right jobs! She has been an Authorized PXT Select Partner for over 32 years. Contact Jeannette to learn more about these state-of-the-art job-fit assessment tools or how to coach and manage your people to achieve incredible results.

A note from Jeannette: This is the time of year to get real about achieving results! What are your thoughts and feelings that get in the way? This week’s article focuses on expanding your mindset and making 2024 count! Need help getting out of your own way? Have questions? Contact me now!

It’s time to get honest and real! Are there days you dread managing people, projects, and your team’s financial performance? You’re not alone! Everyone has their blind spots! NOW is the time to get the guidance you need to make the right changes during 2024. I have extensive experience and wisdom guiding bosses and leaders to hire, coach, and manage their teams successfully. The bonus is that they achieve unprecedented results. Contact me to learn more about my in-depth, one-on-one, customized coaching programs.

NEW PODCAST INTERVIEW: This just in!!

I was recently interviewed by Dr. Barnsley Brown on the Bold Badass Business Owners show, and the video interview is now up and ready for you to enjoy!  Click here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOSQUADEG6A

And if I may humbly say so, it’s one of the best interviews I’ve ever given…. Not a bunch of fluff stories, though I promise you’ll learn stuff you NEVER knew about me “behind the scenes.”

The interview is filled with business brags you can implement immediately to create the stellar sales, satisfaction, and success you want.

And do me a favor would you?  Be a hero and forward this podcast to your friends and colleagues who are in business or thinking of starting a business.  They’ll thank you for it.

Now check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOSQUADEG6A

I Thought We Resolved the Issue

“Resolving issues and focusing on the long-term impact greatly improve your results.” Jeannette Seibly

How often have you thought an issue was resolved only to have it come back and knock on your door again? It’s frustrating! If you let it, it can sabotage your resilience, resourcefulness, and results.

Issues reoccur when you put a band-aid on them. You were in a hurry to make the problems disappear and take the easy way out. The truth is (if you’re honest about it) you allowed your personal feelings to get in the way, didn’t talk it out with others, or listened to sage advice. But ignoring the real issue(s) never resolves the true problem.

It can be difficult to confront challenging issues. You may feel powerless or lack the confidence or insight to resolve the core issue. Too many times, you and others talk about it over and over, taking weeks and months in hopes of resolving the issue. But instead, you and the team gloss over the actual issue. In the meantime, the window of opportunity has closed, and the damage has been done irrevocably.

Decisions will be well-thought-out when a company addresses the fundamental issue head-on and facilitates the process. It gets resolved quickly, and the issue disappears. I’ve been part of situations where the problems disappeared, and to this day, the issue hasn’t resurfaced because it was effectively resolved. It required integrity to do the right thing (not take the easy way out), critical thinking (not circular thinking), making decisions, and taking action immediately.

Build Solutions That Disappear Issues

Align on Core Values. Be clear in your communications and management practices that all solutions must align with the company’s core values. For example, when addressing employee retention, the issue is rarely about money (even though many focus on it). It’s about factionalism, quiet retaliation, or other less talked about (and real) issues. One solution may be enforcing workplace policies and procedures (e.g., no-tolerance policies).

Make Good Decisions. The process of making good decisions doesn’t need to be complicated. Integrity, honesty, and critical thinking will always create better outcomes when having tough conversations and addressing tough issues as soon as possible. When making informed decisions, remember to analyze the risks, costs, and impact on others.

Communicate the Results Appropriately So No One Involved is Left Out. When writing an email or talking, be present with what you say! Or, you may make the situation worse! Also, when coming to an agreement on the goal and focused action steps to take, go around the table or virtual camera to get everyone’s input until nothing new is added. Yes, it’ll take more time. But in the long run will save countless hours and money and stop the issue(s) from resurfacing.

Think Win-Win-Win. While you do not have a crystal ball, doing the right things right will be reflected in your decisions. If you are upset or angry about the issue or have a vendetta against someone, recuse yourself immediately. Otherwise, the core issue will hang around for a long time and hurt your business growth and career.

Follow-Up and Follow-Through. This is the step that is usually skipped! Ask the team: “What are the true results? Are the solutions implemented and working? If not, what do we need to do to move forward?” It’s helpful to come back in a day, week, and month to ask yourself and your team, “Did we address the true issue? Did we resolve the problem? Are you hearing any feedback or gossip that we need to investigate?” Note: The old issue may be resolved, but a new one may have popped up. Remember, you’re never done handling issues as a leader and boss. Don’t wait! Address issues now.

©Jeannette Seibly 2023 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is a champion for success. As a leader, do you have bosses that are difficult for teams to work with? Jeannette’s depth of experience and wisdom can transform those bosses from hated to respected! Contact Jeannette for a confidential discussion.

A note from Jeannette about resolving issues: How often have you used the band-aid approach when resolving an issue, and have it returned to haunt you? When these issues resurface or hang around too long, they hurt your retention, revenues, and results. Get these issues resolved now. Do you need a facilitator to guide you through the conversations? Contact me!

Are you ready to build your confidence and success as a boss? The coach is in! Every boss and leader has their blind spots! They get in the way of being a results-producer! When tough times occur, and they will, asking for the right help is essential! I have extensive experience and wisdom guiding bosses to hire, coach, and manage their teams. Along the way, they achieve unprecedented results. Contact me to learn more about my in-depth, one-on-one, customized coaching programs.

You Need These 5 Confidence Builders to Achieve Amazing Results

“Building confidence that never fails requires ongoing and consistent attention.” Jeannette Seibly

Building your confidence is essential for you to do each and every day, especially when dealing with daily demands on your time, attention, and energy. Remember to be aware of saboteurs (e.g., your team, boss, customers, and co-workers). Paying conscious attention will help you achieve outcomes faster while continually building your confidence and competence.

Here are ideas to develop and build your inner power and confidence!

  1. Believe in Yourself. It’s difficult when you experience a failure, mistake, or rejection. Breathe. Learn for the experience. Now, get back into the conversation for focused action!
  1. Be Present. Allowing your internal mental chatter to get in the way limits results and relationships! When having conversations and attending meetings or events, give 100% attention to the speaker. You’ll be amazed by what you can learn, even if you believe you already know it all! 
  1. Be a Results Producer. Going through the motions without a conscious intention to improve the quality isn’t taking focused action!
  • Get honest about the actions you are taking by hiring a coach.
  • Have the tough and needed conversations.
  • Don’t overlook quality. And focus on performance challenges, not personality differences.
  • Now, you can achieve the goals you used to dream about.
  1. Be Coachable. You don’t have all the answers, and frequently, you do things the hard way with limited results. Hire the right coach and watch your confidence grow with clarity and calmness.
  1. Get Your Brag On! Pay attention to your daily activities and wins by keeping a written log of your achievements. When it’s time for a job promotion, job interview, board meeting, sales presentation, or pitch for your book or product, you’re ready! Your brags make a big difference in building your confidence. They also build your reputation and ability to influence others!

©Jeannette Seibly 2023 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is a champion for bosses and teams delivering intended results. Does your company or department have a persistent problem? Jeannette’s depth of experience and wisdom guides clients to achieve intended dynamic results consistently! Contact Jeannette for a confidential discussion.

A note from Jeannette about building your confidence each and every day: Consciously building your confidence each day requires recognizing when it is being sabotaged! Contact me for a confidential conversation about identifying and eradicating saboteurs!  

The coach is in! Are you ready to build your confidence and success as a boss? A great boss works with an experienced executive coach as a sounding board. I have extensive experience and wisdom guiding bosses and leaders to hire, coach, and manage their teams. Along the way, they achieve unprecedented results. Contact me to learn more about my in-depth, one-on-one, customized coaching programs. Remember, being coached accelerates building your effectiveness, influence, and confidence.

It Can Be Lonely as a New Boss or Leader

“Being a new boss or leader is a lonely job if you go it alone.” Jeannette Seibly

Did you know as a new boss:

  • You can feel lonely and disconnected.
  • Going it alone and not connecting with others is detrimental to your career success.
  • You are no longer part of your former peer group.
  • Bouncing ideas off your employees can cause them anxiety about change.
  • Your new coworkers will get concerned about you if they disagree with your ideas.
  • Your boss will ignore you since they are only interested in solutions and the bottom line.

So, what can you do to develop a trusted sounding board and overcome feeling lonely? Remember, your job responsibilities go far beyond your job description and rely on your ability to connect with others. Going it alone is not an option.

Tips to Get Connected and Overcome Loneliness

Prioritize Your Time Management to Build Relationships! Yes, you’re busy learning your new job. But make this a priority. Meet with employees, customers, peers, upper management, vendors, and other business professionals in your industry, 1:1 and groups.

Ask and Listen More Than Talk. Ask about their work. What do they like? What could be different? What is the #1 issue they have with your team? Asking these questions and listening (not defending) can offer surprising insights into your team, company, and customer challenges. Also, it’s amazing how quickly and easily issues get resolved when you develop good working relationships.

Rely on Your Team. Too often, you have an idea, and presto, you want to implement it immediately! But the problem is, you didn’t ask your team for their input! Your team does the day-to-day work and can provide insights on the pros and cons of any idea. Ask. Listen. Brainstorm. Discern with critical thinking before implementing. Then, manage for results!

Ask for Help. Work with a company mentor and an outside executive coach. The inside mentor can help you gain political and industry insights. An executive coach navigates you through sticky situations and work relationships while helping you build your inner power and confidence.

Get Involved! Participate in after-hours get-togethers, team sports, and community and industry activities. Don’t forget to join others for breaks and meals. Staying in touch with others avoids surprises (e.g., poor employee conduct, business cut-backs, new opportunities)! And, never participate in gossip … and it can be a career derailer!

©Jeannette Seibly 2023 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is a champion for bosses and teams delivering intended results. Does your company or department have a persistent problem? Jeannette’s many years of experience and wisdom can guide you through sticky situations and challenging relationships for dynamic results! Contact Jeannette for a confidential discussion. She is also a 3-time Amazon Best Seller.

A note from Jeannette about loneliness as a new boss or leader: It’s hard for coworkers and employees to be honest with new bosses and leaders. So, it’s essential that you learn how to connect with others to keep your fingers on the pulse of your teams, company, and customers. Contact me for a confidential conversation about how to become a great boss!

Have you considered the benefits of strengthening your superpowers and becoming a great boss? It’s not complicated, but it does require an experienced sounding board. I have extensive experience guiding bosses and leaders to work with and through their teams to achieve unprecedented results. Contact me to learn more about my in-depth, one-on-one, customized coaching program. Remember, coaching speeds up your ability to have more fun and make more money!

If you’d like to help employees to be talent ready, explore using the PXT Select to ensure job fit now and for future opportunities.

 

 

Use Qualified Assessments to Ensure Talent Readiness

A note from Jeannette about using qualified assessments for talent readiness: Attracting scarce skilled job candidates and preparing current employees is critical for talent readiness. Using suitable job fit assessments and skills testing are vital, but require using the correct ones. Contact me for a confidential conversation about how to get started.

  • Are you tired of hiring and promoting the wrong people?
  • Are you finding it challenging to find skilled, qualified job candidates?
  • Are you frustrated because you keep hiring people for the wrong jobs?

The biggest challenge facing many employers today, and in the foreseeable future, is talent readiness! Skilled workers are scarce. And many employees need upskilling and reskilling to meet technological, economic, and greener business practices. (ERE|Recruiting News & Information)

It’s time bosses, and leaders got serious about using qualified assessments and skills testing. These are essential to ensure your employees and job candidates are talent ready. As a leader, you can no longer avoid using qualified assessments without losing customers, top talent, and profitability.

Assessments Are Important to Ensure Talent Readiness

According to Talent Board’s 2022 research, candidates and employees, regardless of gender, race, and age, expressed higher perceived fairness when companies used job-related assessments. It also improved the company’s reputation as a good employer; supported diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives; and improved hiring, promotion, and job transfer results.

Choosing the correct pre-employment assessment is difficult. Too often, leaders and bosses rely on assessments that are only appropriate for team building and communication development. However, they failed to conduct research to ensure the assessment(s) meet Department of Labor (DOL) guidelines for PRE-employment purposes, and post-employment promotions and job transfers. Using the wrong assessment can get you in trouble.

Assessments that meet DOL guidelines have higher validity, reliability, and predictive validity. Some also provide cognitive abilities and occupational interests information. When used as directed, the correct assessments provide superior insights for talent readiness. (READ: Use the Right Assessments and Skills Tests, Hire Amazing Employees, Chapter 9)

Tips to Improve Talent Readiness

Use Qualified Tools. Many hiring managers overlook great candidates and employees by not using qualified tools. Using the right assessments removes the mystery of assessing for actual skills and job fit. Using high-quality assessments and skills testing shows who employees and job candidates are, not how they want to be seen. For example, many job candidates and employees want jobs in sales because they believe it’s where they’ll make the most money. The challenge is they can talk the talk but fail to produce the required results of prospecting, presenting, and closing sales.

Deep Dive Now. Focus on what is actually required for your workforce to be talent ready. Poll customers, talk with employees, and network with industry peers to help determine current and future requirements.

Train Your People. Training for hiring bosses and recruiters is often overlooked due to time and money, and egos. But failure to get real and use and follow a strategic selection system will hurt your company’s agility and survival. Savvy job candidates and skilled talent will leave due to being overlooked for the right jobs and opportunities.

Stop Requiring College Degrees. Focusing on talent readiness predicts job performance more than hiring based on education and past work experience. Employees who don’t feel they are utilizing their skills are 10 times more likely to seek a new job. (World Economic Forum)

Ask Job-Related Interview Questions. It’s a bad practice to rely on pseudo-psychology type questions like, “What’s your favorite color?” “Who’s your favorite author and book?” These do not support talent readiness and can create employment liability issues. Focus on the job skills required and the person’s interest and aptitude to learn the job.

Know Your Employee and Job-Candidate Skills. Use valid skills tests to determine the depth and breadth of job candidates and current employees’ proficiency in using the skills. Contrary to popular myths, employees and job candidates enjoy well-design assessments and skills tests to help them develop and improve their skills and employability.

Clarify Education and Training Required. Provide ongoing training to upskill and reskill your people. Remember, a certificate is not an indicator of the employee’s capability to use critical thinking and create solutions. It’s why skills testing is required. (Consider a recent conversation with a customer service rep who lacked the interest or skills to use the company’s system to resolve your issue. Frustrating, wasn’t it?) Don’t overlook developing communication, critical thinking, teamwork, and resiliency skills too.

Ask an Often-Overlooked Question! Ask job candidates and current employees, “What are your career goals now and in the future!” Their opportunities to pursue career and life goals are crucial indicators of long-term job satisfaction, and will impact your company’s retention. (Talent Board) Develop a personalized career path program, including the necessary education and training required to help employees succeed.

(c)Jeannette Seibly 2023 All Right Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is The Leadership Results Coach. She is an award-winning international executive coach, speaker, and business author. Her wisdom of over 30 years guides clients to work through sticky situations and challenging relationships. Contact Jeannette for a confidential discussion. PS: She’s also a three-time Amazon Best-Selling Author!’

A note from Jeannette about using qualified assessments for talent readiness: Attracting scarce skilled job candidates and preparing current employees is critical for talent readiness. Using suitable job fit assessments and skills testing is vital, but it requires using the correct ones. Contact me for a confidential conversation about how to get started.

Have you considered the benefits of strengthening your superpowers and becoming a great boss? It’s not complicated, but it does require an experienced sounding board. I have extensive experience guiding bosses and leaders to work with and through their teams to achieve unprecedented results. Contact me to learn more about my in-depth, one-on-one hour coaching program. Remember, coaching speeds up your ability to be talent ready.

Are You “Rage Applying” to Release Job Frustrations?

“Believing the grass is greener at another company will normally cause job disappointment and dissatisfaction.” Jeannette Seibly

“Rage Applying” is not new. It’s a form of “quiet quitting” that occurs when employees feel unappreciated, stuck, micromanaged, or frustrated with an inflexible boss and/or inflexible company policies.

If you’ve ever had a boss criticize your work and fail to offer constructive feedback, you can understand an employee’s frustration. (This is one example of so many!) Today, employees, often in retaliation, spend time blasting out their resumes looking for the greener grass. The problem is that it’s for jobs they don’t know, don’t have an interest in, and/or don’t meet fit job requirements.

As an employee: “Rage applying” is usually not the most brilliant move when feeling frustrated or stressed. It can hurt your future career options.

But there are benefits you can: Improve your interview skills, give you a broader professional perspective, and feel in control of your career. Also, you may find your boss and company look pretty good (the grass isn’t necessarily greener, just different).

As a boss, it’s essential to understand that employees need outlets to express their frustrations with you, the company, and the policies & procedures (that are probably out-of-date). SEE the paragraphs at the end of the article for recommendations.

How to Reduce Your Job Frustrations and Avoid “Rage Applying”

First, talk with your boss: Don’t bypass the boss when having conversations about what’s next and how you can achieve it. Otherwise, s/he can hinder your career progress.

What Do You Really, Really, Really Want? First, list in writing things you want in your job or future job you don’t currently have. Then, select the top 3 “must-have” items. If you get them, don’t keep asking for more, or it’ll backfire!

Complete Your Brag Work. Before pitching to your current boss your “wants,” showcase what you’ve achieved. Saying you’re great and wonderful will only have your boss roll his/her eyes and not take you seriously! So instead, do the brag work before pitching yourself.

Be Willing to Negotiate. Your boss may be unable to provide promotions, new work assignments, or pay increases. Be willing to negotiate for a win-win-win outcome. But remember, having your coworkers upset with you because the boss offloaded your work on them will not decrease your stress.

Pay Is Not a Motivator. Yes, I know. You really need that extra cash. But do your homework. Some pay increases may put you in a new tax bracket, and the net result is less than you’re currently making! So do your research.

Focus on Job Fit. This IS very important and often overlooked. If you’re stressed out a lot, chances are very good that you’re in the wrong job for you. Take a qualified job fit assessment and work with an experienced executive coach to ensure you’re not jumping from one bad situation into another. The bonus is: the awareness could alleviate your current job stress too.

Second, when applying for new jobs: Jumping from one job to another doesn’t quell the frustration or stress. Often, it can hurt promotability and pay increases. For example, if you’ve been unsuccessful in outside sales, look at inside sales or customer service as other options.

Get Real. Too often, we latch on to jobs that sound better and pay more (e.g., sales, being a boss). But usually, those jobs don’t pay more! The other challenges are: those jobs may not be a good fit for you, or you’re not ready! So, take a qualified job fit assessment and remove your rose-colored glasses. This can prevent you from getting snookered into thinking the grass is greener elsewhere. Otherwise, your frustration will follow you and hurt future job opportunities.

Tell the Truth About What You Want. Tailor your cover letters and resumes to the specific job posting and include your brag accomplishments in both!

Take Time, and Don’t Jump. When offered a new job:

  • Take time to review your top 3 “must-have wants.”
  • Ensure everything promised during the interviews is in writing.
  • Never rely on verbal promises that the new boss may not remember later.
  • Otherwise, you may find your new job opportunity isn’t so great.

Talk with Your Network. Now is a good time for lunch and after-work network meetings. Be clear about what you’re seeking. Otherwise, you’ll have many job opportunities that don’t support your career goals. (See Chapter 10 for how to network effectively: The Secret to Selling Yourself Anytime, Anywhere: Start Bragging!)

Do the work! It’ll make a big difference in the quality of your job offers and opportunities.

For ALL Bosses:

It’s a red flag when job candidates:

  • Apply for positions they don’t have the skills for.
  • Have had many different jobs in a short period of time in different companies or geographic locations.
  • Seem scattered and unprepared for the interview(s).

Use a strategic selection process and “Job Fit Triad” (e.g., give equal weight to interviews, job fit assessments, and due diligence). Otherwise, you’re hiring someone else’s problem.

Also, ensure your employees:

Employees that “rage apply” also cause upsets with your team members, ongoing projects, and customer fulfillment. Using the ideas above will reduce “rage applying.”

Last, but not least, get guidance to develop an effective “boss style.” Every boss needs help at some point to address “blind spots.” Yes, they pop up at inopportune times! But addressing them will improve retention, revenues, and results!

©Jeannette Seibly 2023 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is The Leadership Results Coach. She is an award-winning international executive coach, speaker, and business author. Her wisdom of over 30 years guides clients to work through sticky situations and challenging relationships. Contact Jeannette for a confidential discussion. PS: She’s also a three-time Amazon Best-Selling Author!

A note from Jeannette about “rage applying:” This is the newest form of an old practice of quiet quitting. This article is written from both perspectives: employee and boss. Contact me for a confidential conversation about how to improve your retention, revenues, and results.

Have you considered the benefits of strengthening your superpowers and becoming a great boss? It’s not complicated, but it does require an experienced sounding board. I have extensive experience guiding bosses and leaders to work with and through their teams to achieve unprecedented results. Contact me to learn more about my in-depth, one-on-one hour coaching program over 13 weeks. Remember, coaching speeds up your ability to win.

Want Better Results? Encourage Employees to Speak Up

“Want great results? Encourage your employees to stand up and speak up!” Jeannette Seibly

Yes, we’re all busy! But taking the time and encouraging employees to speak up ensures better solutions and retention of top talent!

Many leaders fear taking risks, especially today. And in turn, employees fear speaking up to report mistakes, ask questions, offer new ideas, or challenge action plans or decisions. With everyone focused on keeping their jobs or not rocking the boat, projects, and plans fail because no one risked standing up and speaking up!

(Watch “Air,” a film based on true events about the origin of Air Jordan, Nike’s basketball shoe line with rookie player Michael Jordan. An employee had to step up and speak up. It forever changed how players were treated.)

How to Get Employees Talking and Creating Solutions

First, ASK! The #1 key to encourage employees to stand up and speak up!

Second, LISTEN! If you don’t, they won’t speak up again.

Brainstorming! Many leaders do a poor job of brainstorming. They latch on to the first idea that sounds good! However, often, it’s not. Learn how to truly brainstorm. It saves customers, bottom lines, and retention!

Critical Thinking! Take the time to conduct an analysis of essential considerations with all ideas (e.g., budget, ROI, impact on others, company mission and vision, workability, etc.).

Listen, Value, and Build. Use good listening skills and value others’ thoughts and opinions. Then, build on these ideas. Remember, all ideas can spark new ones. Build on these for better solutions. Also, avoid consensus building and focus on alignment with team members before agreeing on a plan.

Encourage Everyone on the Team to Participate. Ask each person several times for their input. Then, allow them to say “pass.” Many times, the second or third time, they’ll offer great insights. So, don’t ignore or overlook them.

Provide Training and Manage Conflicts. While having differing ideas is important, it needs to be a safe space for employees to talk! Ensure everyone is trained on how to participate in meetings (NO! It’s not natural, and learning by trial and error leads to employee disengagement). Manage disagreements by ensuring every employee can share without being criticized, humiliated, or made fun of.

Team Selection Is Important. Most teams fail because they include employees with no interest or time to commit (but meet diversity initiatives). Seek out those with the interest and willingness to attend all meetings. Include those without the skills with someone they can learn from during the project.

Get Out of the Way! Like in the movie Air, leaders do get in the way! It would be best to learn how to work through new ideas without shutting down employees from speaking up. For example: After a 6-month employee project, a company president decided he didn’t want employees offering suggestions to solve a critical issue. The problem? He feared the risks of adopting a new approach to solve an old problem.

©Jeannette Seibly 2023 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is The Leadership Results Coach. She is an award-winning international executive coach, speaker, and business author. Her wisdom of over 30 years guides clients to work through sticky situations and challenging relationships. Contact Jeannette for a confidential discussion. PS: She’s also a three-time Amazon Best-Selling Author!

A note from Jeannette about getting employees to speak up: I remember working with a client that bet me a cookie that I could NOT get her employees talking. Yes, I won the cookie! (And I’ve won other similar bets with other clients!) When you are willing to listen and value employees’ input, they will talk! Often, their ideas are better than yours! It’s learning how to do it! Contact me for a confidential conversation about team facilitation.

Have You Considered the benefits of strengthening your ability to ask for and listen to employees’ input about a project or plan? It makes a positive difference in your success as a leader! I have extensive experience guiding leaders to work with and through their teams to achieve unprecedented results. Contact me if you want an in-depth, one-on-one hour over 13 weeks. Remember, coaching speeds up your ability to win.

Ask your employees to share their ideas! This is a superpower that many leaders fail to develop! Then, they experience turnover, shaky bottom lines, and loss of customers. Working with and through others builds confidence and the ability to influence! Take action and contact me for a confidential conversation.

How to Achieve Results While Working through Uncertainty

“Uncertainty in life is normal. Embracing it fully creates a positive difference to achieve results.” Jeannette Seibly

When you feel uncertain about a decision, it is often due to your fear of making a mistake, experiencing a failure, or not being in control of the outcome. Uncertainty feels uncomfortable. Many people will do everything they can to avoid it, which causes anxiety in their jobs, relationships, careers, businesses, and life choices. But life never provides absolute certainty.

So, how can you make uncertainty a superpower and have it help you create a great business, career, and life? Keep reading!

Tips to Work Through Uncertainty for Great Results

Be Open to Others’ Ideas. Like many leaders, you rely on your thoughts, opinions, and feelings about what is true and certain. But this is short-sighted. Instead, welcome others’ ideas. Learn how to brainstorm. For each idea, develop five reasons it could work, not why it won’t.

Unleash the Power of Others. Delegate! Get comfortable delegating! Allow others the opportunities to explore new ideas, even if you’re uncertain whether or not they’ll work. Their ideas and results can often be better than yours if you get out of the way!

Embrace Not Knowing How to Achieve the Outcome. Otherwise, you’ll feel stuck, paralyzed, and procrastination will set in. Instead, allow for the fact that you don’t know that you don’t know! And not knowing is OK. (Yes, reread those sentences.) Be clear about the goal and outcome you want to achieve. Now, move forward step-by-step with your team and executive coach through the uncertainty.

Develop Inner Confidence. Celebrate each step along the way, no matter how big or small. Develop “brags” to help you gain confidence and believe in yourself. “Brags” remind you that you’ve handled uncertainty and achieved successful outcomes in the past.

Make the Best Decisions for Now. When making decisions, collect factual data and don’t rely solely on your intuition/gut or overthink everything. Remember, no one has a crystal ball that foretells the future. While many believe success demands you move forward, a good decision can also include staying where you are (e.g., signing a new lease with your current landlord). Remember, uncertainty can and will still occur because uncertainty doesn’t go away.

Avoid Group Think; It Impedes Agility. Too often, during times of uncertainty, fear will prevail. Then, the team will adapt to the fear. Instead, share your concerns, and ask good questions.

  • “What would be the best outcome for this project or program?”
  • “What would we need to change?
  • “Give me five reasons why these changes could work?”
  • “Why won’t these changes work?”

Now, allow the team to own the project. Be their champion for winning and working through the unknown factors! And always welcome critical thinking!

If you embrace these six tips, uncertainty becomes your superpower!

©Jeannette Seibly 2023 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is The Leadership Results Coach. She is an award-winning international executive coach, speaker, and business author. Her wisdom of over 30 years guides clients to work through sticky situations and challenging relationships. Contact Jeannette for a confidential discussion. PS: She’s also a three-time Amazon Best-Selling Author!

A note from Jeannette about embracing uncertainty in work and life: We seek certainty in everything we do. We think it helps us avoid making mistakes or experiencing failure while staying in control of the outcome. Yet, doing the same old same old will hurt your team, results, and bottom line. Want uncertainty to become one of your superpowers? Contact me for a confidential conversation.

Have You Considered: Strengthening your inherent superpowers? It can make a big difference in your success as a leader! I have extensive experience guiding leaders to work with and through their teams to achieve unprecedented results. Contact me if you want an in-depth, one-on-one hour over 13 weeks. Remember, coaching speeds up your ability to win.

Taking the safe path to avoid uncertainty will never work in your business, career, and life. Develop your superpower and learn how to work through uncertainty. It builds confidence and the ability to influence others! Take action and contact me for a confidential conversation.

Producing Effective Results Requires Trusting Yourself

“Trusting yourself requires experience, resilience, and the willingness to learn from your mistakes.” Jeannette Seibly

Wanting to be a leader, boss, team member, and good citizen requires trusting yourself to take the right actions and asking for help on what to do to create effective results. What you do or do not do impacts others’ ability to trust you to make win-win-win decisions.

How often have you decided and second-guessed yourself because you didn’t trust yourself? Too often, we realize that if you’d asked the right questions or knew what you now know, you’d have made a better decision. But we didn’t trust ourselves, and every leader has been there.

So, how do we learn to trust ourselves?

Important Traits Required to Trust Yourself

Tell the Truth! We love to rationalize, justify, and lie to ourselves and others that we’re doing our best. Trusting yourself is built by asking for help when you don’t know what to do.

Example: What are you doing to make it difficult for your team members to trust you to achieve intended results or to ask you for help (e.g., gossiping, withholding resources, blaming others, etc.)?

Honor Your Word. This can be difficult for many people, including leaders. But, remember, while you may not believe your word impacts yourself or others, it does … and builds or diminishes trust.

Example: Pick up the phone and talk directly with the right person to solve a team conflict or other brewing issue (e.g., HR, boss, or coach). Then, follow through!

Stop Relying Solely on Intuition or Gut Feelings. Too many people rely on feelings, social media rants, and other lousy information and cite these as intuitive or gut reactions. While scientific studies indicate intuition and gut reactions are important, we can’t rely solely on them when making decisions.

Example: Too many hiring bosses rely on intuition and incorrectly use job fit assessments when selecting the right person for the job. This creates losses in retention, revenues, and results.

Learn the Rules. Many people today flaunt or ignore the rules; they are there for a reason. While they may need changing, complaining about them or signing a petition doesn’t make a difference. Building trust in yourself means being accountable for what you say and do with others.

Example: Are you working within your company’s policies and standard operating procedures? Or do you hope no one notices you aren’t? Learning the rules prevents you from planning your excuses if there is a huge and costly mistake.

Learn to Apologize for Mistakes. Instead of relying on your excuses when you make a mistake, genuinely use these words, “I’m sorry.” “I apologize.”  By trusting yourself to apologize for your mistakes, you will build trust with others so they know you take responsibility for your actions.

Example: A woman failed to show up twice in meetings she’d requested, set up with the same person, and then refused to apologize for being a no-show. This is what it looks like when you don’t trust yourself; it encourages others not to trust you.

Be Coachable! The fastest way to learn to trust yourself and encourage others to trust you is to be coachable. While no one can know what to do in every situation, trust yourself to seek the right person to coach you through the best way to resolve issues. Listen and follow the advice of your coach and boss.

©Jeannette Seibly 2023 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is The Leadership Results Coach. With over 30 years as an award-winning international executive coach, speaker, and business author, Jeannette’s clients effectively work through sticky situations and challenging relationships to become positive influencers. Contact Jeannette for a confidential discussion. PS: She’s also a three-time Amazon Best-Selling Author!

A note from Jeannette about trusting yourself: Many leaders like to think they trust themselves. Yet, they don’t. How do you know? Watch their actions, which speak louder than words. Contact me to assess how to trust yourself more for better results.

NOTE: Learning to trust yourself requires making the right choices and the right changes. I love coaching and supporting current and future leaders during critical and strategic situations. Contact me if you want an in-depth, one-on-one hour over 13 weeks. Remember, coaching accelerates your ability to trust yourself. This, in turn, influences your team for unprecedented results that others applaud.

How’s your leadership development progressing? Are you moving forward … or a tad stuck? Do you need a “nudge” and “clarification?” Want to accelerate and soar your results? Contact me for a confidential conversation.