Optimize Human Performance

When Employees Refuse to Be Satisfied or Communicate

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Some employees, paid or volunteer, refuse to be satisfied. They’re never happy, something is always wrong, and they blame others for their frustrations. The key resolve? Acknowledge you cannot fix what they refuse to own or communicate about. And, if necessary, employment law will determine how and when to let them go.

The Real Issue Often Isn’t Obvious

Many employees, contractors, or volunteers avoid conversations because they lack the skills, confidence, or willingness to talk things out. Leaders avoid tough conversations for the same reasons. When both sides avoid the conversations that need to happen, resentment grows, stories get created, reasons multiply, and the situation spirals into a no‑win cycle for everyone involved.

Leadership isn’t about fixing people. It’s about creating the conditions for clarity, accountability, and growth. But beware, your ego may be doing the talking and thinking. Self‑reflection is required.

When employees are not satisfied, it can show up as:

  • Hiding behind emails and texts instead of talking
  • Reacting without facts
  • Responding emotionally to questions
  • Being triggered by small things
  • Being a victim
  • Needing to be right
  • Thinking everyone is against them

When leaders encounter these behaviors, it’s crucial to act, determine the real issue, and whether or not you can resolve it.

Good Intentions Aren’t Enough

Some employees (W2 or 1099) or volunteers genuinely want to do well, but they’re never satisfied. They’re unhappy, allow their skepticism free rein, blame others, and drain the team. Here’s what must be in place before you decide whether to keep them or let them go.

1. Job Fit. According to multiple studies, over 80 percent of people today are in jobs that don’t fit them. When job fit is off, communication breaks down, performance drops, and dissatisfaction skyrockets. Use a qualified job‑fit assessment to determine whether the person is correctly placed in the right role, and identify any coaching you may have overlooked and any adjustments to their job responsibilities.

In the future, when you hire, promote, or transfer someone, use a strategic job‑fit hiring process. When followed, it will reduce dissatisfaction and poor job fit. (Grab your copy of Hire Amazing Employees. Note: An employment attorney bought copies of Hire Amazing Employees for clients struggling with hiring. All but one improved. The one who didn’t? Never read the book.)

For a volunteer, the same principles apply: Ensure they’re in a role that matches their interests, strengths, and available time. Volunteers often say yes out of goodwill, not fit. When the role doesn’t align with who they are, they become frustrated, disengaged, or overly critical, just like an employee in the wrong job.

Have a simple conversation and deep dive into the real reason they volunteered. This conversation will usually clarify whether they’re in the right place, need to be reassigned to a role that better suits them, or it’s time for them to move on.

2. Training. Once you have the right person in place, onboarding and training must begin immediately, preferably before their first day. The right‑fit person appreciates training.

The wrong‑fit person:

  • Takes coaching personally
  • Fears feedback
  • Loathes training
  • Interprets direction as criticism

This should be a sign, not a surprise, when job fit is missing.

3. Communication Skills. Many people today lack strong communication skills. They rely on electronics, emojis, and avoidance. During their primary education years, they never developed the depth and breadth needed to express ideas, resolve upsets, or talk things out. This leads to misunderstandings, assumptions, and unnecessary drama. Provide ongoing training and lead by example.

4. Tough Conversations. Avoiding tough conversations only deepens resentment. Leaders must be willing to talk things out, even when it’s uncomfortable.

Role-play with your executive coach. Prepare. Get grounded. One well‑prepared conversation can shift everything or reveal that nothing will change.

It’s up to you as the leader to initiate and take responsibility for listening and communicating in a manner they can hear. Beware of using manipulation or being manipulated. This is an opportunity for dissatisfaction to decrease or for the person to find other opportunities.

5. Let Them Go. If you’ve had the conversations and it’s still not working, and the issue is not harassment or discrimination, it may be time to let them go.

If harassment or discrimination is involved, you must address it immediately with your attorney or HR and document everything.

Letting someone go isn’t failure. It’s leadership.

Leadership Requires Clarity and Courage

Leadership is about creating the conditions for clarity, accountability, and growth. When someone refuses to communicate, take responsibility, or participate in solutions, it negatively impacts the entire team. Strong leaders recognize when they’ve done their part and when it’s time to make a decisive, responsible choice for the health of their organization.

© Jeannette Seibly 2026 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is a Talent Advisor, Leadership Results Coach, and Business Author with over 33 years of experience guiding people to empower themselves, transforming workplaces into places that work, and shaping leaders who truly lead.

Review your team this week to identify where job fit, communication gaps, or unresolved issues are creating friction. Then take one decisive step: have the tough conversation, adjust a role, provide training, or reassign or release someone who is not a match. Leadership requires action. Contact me to address difficult concerns and move your team forward.

Are You Growing Your Career Value Through Skill Stacking?

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Are you bored with your job? Lack clarity about how to improve your paycheck? Want a promotion that just isn’t happening? Skill stacking gives you a practical way to grow your value without waiting for someone else to hand you the next step.

What is skill stacking?

Skill stacking is when you build a set of skills that fit well together. These skills help you become more valuable and able to handle different tasks at work. Instead of trying to be the very best at one thing, you strategically and intentionally develop and grow a mix of skills that work together and open the door to new opportunities.

Why is this important?

Every legacy is built one skill, one insight, and one decision at a time. Most people don’t realize that the careers they admire, and the confidence they wish they had, are often the result of something simple and accessible: stacking skills over time.

When Daniel became a team leader, he wasn’t the most experienced person in the room. But he started stacking small skills that made a big difference. He learned how to run an effective meeting. Then he practiced giving feedback that people could actually use. Later, he took a short course on reading financial reports so he could understand how his team’s work affected the company.

None of these skills made him a superstar overnight. But together, they changed how people saw him. His team trusted him more. His decisions improved. Other departments began asking for his input because he understood the bigger picture.

Over time, Daniel’s stacked skills shaped his leadership style, and his legacy. He didn’t become a great leader because of one big moment. He became one by building skills that worked together and made a lasting impact.

Remember, skill stacking is about strategically and intentionally growing your value so your work, your impact, and your future reflect the legacy you want to leave.

4 Ways to Start Stacking Skills That Make You a More Valuable Leader

Learn the basics. Knowing how to place numbers in the right boxes doesn’t mean you know if they’re accurate or how they were created. Learn! Understanding the fundamentals gives you the confidence to ask better questions, catch mistakes, and see patterns others miss.

Expand your current skills beyond what you currently do. You may be able to do your job well, but do you understand what happens next, beyond the catchphrases you were taught to say? Understanding the upstream and downstream impact of your work helps you anticipate needs, solve problems earlier, and communicate more effectively with other departments.

Develop the depth and breadth of job responsibilities. Often, this requires meeting with industry experts and company mentors. The more you learn about your industry and profession, and learn how to use that knowledge well, the more valuable you become. Depth gives you credibility. Breadth gives you adaptability. Together, they shape a professional identity that stands out.

Engage in curiosity and ask open-ended questions. Take time to learn more from customers, coworkers, and others about your job or profession … and theirs too. This information can create new insights into how to do your job so that your company and its clients benefit. Along the way, you become a stronger employee and leader. Curiosity naturally expands your understanding, relationships, and influence.

Skill stacking is one of the simplest ways to grow your value without waiting for permission or a promotion. Each new layer of understanding, mastering the basics, expanding your role, deepening industry knowledge, and asking better questions, builds a stronger, more adaptable you.

As these steps compound, your professional identity stands out, your opportunities expand, and your confidence grows. Skill stacking isn’t about becoming everything to everyone; it’s about strategically and intentionally building strengths that make you unmistakably valuable to employers and clients.

© Jeannette Seibly 2026 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is a Leadership Results Coach, Talent Advisor, and Business Author with 33 years of experience activating greatness in leaders and companies. She delivers practical coaching and solutions that elevate performance today, build legacies that stand the test of time, and support people in empowering themselves to lead with clarity and impact.

Legacies aren’t built at the finish line; they’re built in the skills you sharpen every day. Stack them with purpose. Strengthen one, stretch another, and stay curious. Ready to grow your impact? Contact me.

Leaders, Your Results Suffer When People Feel Excluded

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Even small acts of exclusion, like taking sides or avoiding one another, can ripple outward, but they are preventable. Years ago, I worked with a manager I admired. Whenever her employees didn’t get along, she’d seat them next to one another. Eventually, they learned how to work well together. This simple tactic prevented people from taking sides and reduced the likelihood of coworkers feeling excluded now and in the future. She understood that effective collaboration mattered to the entire company and its customers.

Today’s leaders face far more complex forms of exclusion, and the impact can be much greater than two people who don’t get along. When employees feel excluded, they become isolated, less able to do their jobs well, and more disengaged.

People knowingly and unknowingly create silos, factions, and cliques that gossip, limit productivity, and make it difficult to achieve quality results because not everyone is invited or included. These groups quietly undermine collaboration, slow down decisions, and create costly barriers.

The costs show up in delayed customer responses, rework caused by withheld information, turnover ripple effects, and even legal exposure when patterns of exclusion go unaddressed (e.g., harassment, discrimination).

When people don’t feel invited to contribute or are prevented from participating, collaboration breaks down, productivity drops, and your best talent quietly disengages.

Leaders unintentionally enable exclusion when they ignore subtle behaviors, reward “insider” groups, or allow cliques to dominate conversations or decisions. Leadership awareness requires noticing these patterns early and addressing them directly.

What Can You Do as a Leader?

Hold Weekly Team Meetings. Address: What’s been working? What do you need help with? Share updates on new issues or concerns. Acknowledge successes. These conversations help people feel included and strengthen teamwork.

Develop Facilitation Skills. Develop strong facilitation skills for on-site, hybrid, and remote meetings to ensure all voices are heard and no one feels sidelined.

Honor Each Person’s Ideas. Some ideas may evoke laughter or scrutiny, but leaders must recognize when reactions create alienation. Acknowledge all ideas and ensure everyone feels psychologically safe to contribute.

Provide Frequent Feedback. Offer insights to people who are causing logjams or difficulties for customers or coworkers. Clear feedback helps prevent behaviors that exclude others from participating fully.

Ask the Employee. When creating a project or event, invite people directly and let them decide yes or no. Too often, leaders assume someone doesn’t want to participate because they’ve declined in the past or because someone else is quietly excluding them.

Counsel Future Leaders About the Cost of Exclusion. Instead of communicating, people of all ages will exclude others as a power play, to show they’re upset, or simply because they don’t like someone. In effective teams and profitable companies, future leaders must work well with anyone, anytime, and anywhere to ensure no one is left out.

Become Aware of the Cost, Legalities, and Psychological Safety. Ignoring people being or feeling excluded is expensive. When good people leave, the time, money, and energy invested in them walk out the door … and they are often followed by other employees and customers.

Building Strong Team Results. Be intentional about team-building activities. Not everyone plays golf, wants to ride a horse, or can climb a wall. These activities naturally exclude people. Instead, focus on communication and getting to know one another as people. Tools like PXT Select® help teams understand strengths and communication styles, making inclusion easier and more natural. Note: PXT Select also improves job fit. Miscommunication and misinformation often come from people who are not fully engaged in their roles.

When leaders address exclusion early, they strengthen trust, improve results, and create workplaces where people want to stay and contribute.

©Jeannette Seibly 2026 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is a Leadership Results Coach, Talent Advisor, and Business Author with 33 years of experience guiding leaders and executives to achieve exceptional results. She delivers practical coaching and innovative solutions for hiring, leadership development, and performance success. Successful leaders have coaches—connect with Jeannette to elevate your results and impact in 2026.

As a leader, ensuring everyone on your team feels included is essential to serving the company and its clients. Small groups can quietly undermine collaboration, slow down decisions, and create costly barriers. If you’re seeing signs of exclusion and are unsure how to address them, contact me for a confidential conversation so we can identify the blind spots and strengthen your team’s ability to work well together.

NOTE: A new presentation, Psychological Safety: The Leadership Advantage, is one you cannot ignore. Contact me for details on presenting this information to your business leaders, bosses, and managers.

Believing You’re the Exception Is a Very Expensive Leadership Mistake to Make

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Has this ever happened to you? 

  • Believing you’re the exception to the rules
  • Ignoring basic business practices because you think they don’t apply to you
  • Getting upset when employees mimic your behavior as if the rules don’t apply to them either
  • Feeling embarrassed or defensive when your decisions are questioned
  • Relying on gut reactions instead of objective data and the company pays the price for it

Believing you’re the exception doesn’t elevate you … it accelerates your downfall. 

  • It’s the fastest way to fail as a leader
  • Trouble follows quickly
  • You put your career at risk
  • You put yourself, your team, and your company in danger
  • You’re seen as going “off the rails” and not trustworthy

Leaders who see themselves as exempt from basic business practices inevitably create the very problems they think they’re avoiding.

This is when you must dial up your humility and dial down your ego.

The bottom line: Leaders fail fast when they believe they’re the exception to the rules. It’s the most expensive mistake they can make.

Example: Too often, these leaders don’t follow their own hiring policies because they believe they can tell who is going to be a good fit (aka intuitive hiring). Without using objective data during their hiring process, it’s predictable (and avoidable) they will experience of turnover, disengagement, customer loss, and lawsuits.

It’s Time to Get Real and Drop the Superiority Mindset

Leaders who do this strengthen their credibility, improve decision‑making, and create workplaces where people want to stay and contribute.

Remember, you can’t go back and undo business errors, repair a damaged reputation overnight, or easily recover from financial failure. But you can prevent them by setting aside your ego and being aware of how often you hold yourself as the exception to the rules.

Develop trust. Your ego can make you difficult to work with, especially if you dismiss others’ input or rely too heavily on your own instincts. When your ego (male or female) kicks in, pause. Breathe. Identify what triggered you. Then re‑enter the conversation with curiosity instead of defensiveness. This simple reset builds trust and keeps communication productive.

Grow your emotional intelligence. Your interpersonal skills may need recalibrating. If you’ve relied on your title, financial status, or the ability to push or manipulate situations or people into compliance, you’ll miss important details and then blame others when things go wrong. That pattern drives away top talent, customers, investors, and financing. Strengthening emotional intelligence helps you listen better, respond better, and lead better.

Be realistic. When you assume you’re performing better than you are, mistakes happen. Sometimes big ones that are difficult, if not impossible, to fix.

Overconfidence blinds leaders to risks such as:

  • Incorrect accounting practices
  • Technical issues you were warned about
  • Poor hiring and management decisions
  • Recurring quality problems
  • Miscommunication created by employees trying to protect themselves

Staying grounded and realistic keeps you proactive instead of reactive.

Build competence. Leaders who let their ego drive their decisions often struggle with people issues, technology concerns, or financial responsibilities. Competence can be built. Skills can be learned. Job fit can be found. But only when ego steps aside. Seek out an executive coach, and hire the person now.

Ask for help. When your ego blocks delegation or collaboration, you limit your own success. Believing you’re the only one who can do something “the right way” slows progress and increases burnout. Leaders who ask for help, share responsibility, and trust others build stronger teams and better outcomes.

Your leadership grows when you set your ego aside. When you realize you are not the exception to the rules, you elevate your leadership. You make better decisions, build stronger relationships, and create a culture where people feel safe to contribute their best ideas. You also protect your reputation, your business, and your future. Great leaders aren’t defined by being the exception. They’re defined by their willingness to learn, listen, and grow.

© Jeannette Seibly 2026 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is a Leadership Results Coach, Talent Advisor, and Business Author with 33 years of experience guiding leaders and executives to achieve exceptional results. She delivers practical coaching and innovative solutions for hiring, leadership development, and performance success. Successful leaders have coaches—connect with Jeannette to elevate your results and impact in 2026.

Every step in the right direction, away from the belief you are the exception to the rules, strengthens your leadership and sets the tone for your team, your company, and your legacy. Contact me. Your leadership growth starts now.

Do You Allow Self-Doubt to Sabotage Your Results?

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Self‑doubt is far more common among leaders than most people admit. It shows up when coaching team members, navigating project snafus, or learning new skills. The good news is that everyone experiences self‑doubt, including the most effective leaders.

The bad news is that self‑doubt often convinces leaders to stop doing the work needed to move forward, avoid needed conversations, or allow fear to take over the driver’s wheel. That’s precisely when self-doubt wins and you stop, which is the wrong move.

Self‑doubt may feel like a stop sign, but more often it’s a green light. It signals that you’re entering unfamiliar territory, a place where growth, innovation, and new results become possible. The real challenge is not the doubt itself, but the lack of clarity, skills, or perspective needed to move forward. That’s where mentors, coaches, and collaborators make all the difference.

Using Self-Doubt as Leverage

Take Time for Reflection: What Worked / What Didn’t Work

This simple exercise, grounded in objective data, reveals what needs attention: conversations, work assignments, your expectations, or structural changes to the project or how you leverage an opportunity. Without data, self‑doubt fills in the blanks with fear instead of facts. (See Chapter 20, Get Your Brag On!)

Have the Tough Conversations

These conversations aren’t easy, but they don’t have to be painful. Preparation matters. Use your reflection data, stay open to feedback, and be willing to hear what you may have missed.

Plan to Listen for:

  • signals where you’re on the right track
  • where you went off-track
  • gaps in conversations or financial projections
  • team members doing the bare minimum
  • quiet changes that could derail the project

Ask Open‑Ended Questions

Listening is your competitive advantage. There may be unseen dynamics slowing progress: political, relational, or operational. A mentor, executive coach, or industry expert can help you interpret what you’re hearing. Always ask: “What would you do?”

Be Coachable

Admitting there’s a problem is uncomfortable. Hearing someone else point it out can be even harder. But coachability is a leadership multiplier. Stay more committed to results than to ego. If doubt persists, talk with one or two additional mentors (not five or ten) to uncover what’s really driving your hesitation.

A company owner frustrated with poor hiring results blamed candidates, recruiters, and the economy. The real issue? He wasn’t using valid, legal, and scientifically sound selection tools to understand a candidate’s thinking style, behavioral traits, and occupational interests. His biases were not objective data. But he used them to drive decisions. Retention dropped. Customers left.

To achieve true job fit (and keep customers), use objective, replicable data to transform hiring quality and your long‑term results.

Ask Yourself: “What Can I Learn?”

This is one of the most important questions. Self‑doubt always carries a message. Ask: “What is this teaching me?” Listen for the answer in silence, not in the noise of others’ opinions. Then turn insight into action by talking with your coach, taking a course (or teaching one), and having the conversation(s) you’ve been avoiding.

© Jeannette Seibly 2026 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is a Leadership Results Coach, Talent Advisor, and Business Author with 33 years of experience guiding leaders and executives to achieve exceptional results. She delivers practical coaching and innovative solutions for hiring, leadership development, and performance success. Successful leaders have coaches—connect with Jeannette to elevate your results and impact in 2026.

Overcoming self-doubt when faced with a challenge can be difficult. That’s why having an executive coach to guide you through the process is important. Contact me for a confidential conversation to discover where you are sabotaging your results.

Why Companies Fail to Hire Top Talent

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If your job ad has been running for weeks, the problem isn’t the talent pool. It’s your hiring preparation, your lack of clarity, and your poor follow through.

We’ve all seen the posts: “We can’t find the right person.” Yet the same ads run week after week, sometimes month after month, while leaders insist they’ve reviewed hundreds of applicants with no success.

Let’s be honest: the problem isn’t the talent pool. The problem is the company, the hiring boss or leader, and/or lack of a clear selection system.

Top talent hasn’t disappeared. It’s being overlooked, filtered out, or scared away by hiring practices that haven’t evolved since 2020.

Why Does This Really Happen?

  • Lack of objective data. This is the #1 culprit. Too many leaders still trust their “gut” which is just bias wearing a nice suit.
  • Lack of clarity. Job descriptions are skimmed, recycled, or written by committee. If you can’t articulate what success really looks like, you can’t hire for it.
  • Combining jobs to save money. Wanting someone who is both detail obsessed and a big picture innovator? That’s not a unicorn. That’s a fantasy. And fantasies don’t reduce turnover.
  • Not involving the team. Instead of asking the people who actually depend on the right person being hire, leaders guess what the job requires.
  • Failure to onboard. If you can’t clearly explain expectations to a candidate and don’t have a 180‑Day Success Plan, you have wishful thinking.

Let’s Get Real in 2026

  • Follow a well-designed strategic job‑fit hiring plan. One client had over 100% turnover. They said, after implementing a structured hiring system and holding managers accountable, turnover dropped below ten percent. (SEE Chapter 2, Hire Amazing Employees for guidance to develop a practical system.)
  • Use qualified assessments. Valid, reliable honesty‑integrity and job‑fit assessments reveal who the candidate really is not who they pretend to be in an interview. (SEE Chapter 9, Hire Amazing Employees)
  • Use a structured interview format. Feelings and intuition derail good decisions. Ask every candidate the same job‑related questions and use the Rule of 3 to dig deeper. (SEE Chapters 4 and 10, Hire Amazing Employees for practical guides to get started. One employment attorney said the questions alone are worth the price of the book.)
  • Stop delaying decisions. Strong candidates won’t wait while you “think about it.” If they meet or exceed requirements, complete your due diligence and make the offer. (SEE Chapter 19, Hire Amazing Employees)
  • Onboard with intention. Culture, expectations, and weekly follow‑up matter. When top talent leaves, others follow. Onboarding is retention. (SEE Chapter 20, Hire Amazing Employees)

The Truth Leaders Need to Hear

  • Companies don’t have a talent shortage—they have a clarity shortage.
  • If you’re still hiring the way you did five years ago, you’re already behind.
  • Top talent isn’t rejecting you because they’re picky. They’re rejecting you because they can tell you’re not ready for them.
  • Hiring is not a scavenger hunt. It’s a strategic discipline.
  • If your hiring process depends on luck, you’re not hiring, you’re gambling.

If you want to win the talent game in 2026, stop treating hiring as a side job. Top performers can instantly tell whether a company is prepared or improvising. The companies that rise will be the ones willing to do the unglamorous work of preparation and follow‑through. Good hiring isn’t luck.

©Jeannette Seibly 2026 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is a Leadership Results Coach, Talent Advisor, and Business Author with 33 years of experience guiding leaders and executives to achieve exceptional results. She delivers practical coaching and innovative solutions for hiring, leadership development, and performance success. Successful leaders have coaches—connect with Jeannette to elevate your results and impact in 2026.

Need help discerning what is working and not working in your hiring plan? Contact me for a confidential conversation to ensure you’re ready to hire top talent.

Developing Inner Leadership Skills Are Required to Achieve Amazing Results

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Many business leaders and thought leaders are talking about the importance of “leadership skills” as companies move forward during 2026. However, too often the focus is on external skills: how others react to you, how quickly you make decisions, and whether you use well‑developed communication skills as reflected in employee and customer satisfaction and retention surveys.

In order to develop leadership effectiveness that positively impacts results, you must strengthen the inner leadership skills that define who you are as a leader. These inner skills, often referred to as soft skills, include:

  • Self-awareness
  • Responsibility and accountability
  • Trust and integrity
  • Resilience and resourcefulness
  • Mindfulness and presence

Waiting to develop these when you have time is not the mindset for 2026. These are developed over time. They are not a one-time, read a book or watch a video or watch a master influencer type of learning experience.

Why are inner leadership skills important? When you fail to develop inner leadership skills, you will react poorly, make avoidable mistakes, and lose credibility. Another challenge is when new opportunities arise, team challenges escalate, or client expectations shift and you’re not ready. You default to relying on external skills that often lack depth and authenticity and invite controversy. Unfortunately, many will not get a second chance to redeem the snafu. 

This year, let’s be ready! 

Self-awareness. This is the most critical skill since lack of awareness impacts your ability to develop the other skills. It’s important to recognize your strengths, blind spots, triggers, and motivations. Leaders who cultivate self-awareness can influence others, develop respect, and not be worried about like-ability (that fluctuates depending on your team, client, or other situations beyond your control). 

Responsibility and accountability. When making choices and determining outcomes, especially when circumstances are difficult, are you owning the results (e.g., the good, the failures, the so-so results)?  Strong leaders take responsibility for all successes, failures, and missteps. They follow through on commitments, and address issues directly rather than deflecting or blaming others. 

Trust and integrity. If you trust yourself and honor your word, you can become a good leader. Trust and integrity require consistency, doing what you say you will do, making ethical decisions, and being transparent, even when it’s uncomfortable.

Resilience and resourcefulness. Navigating uncertainty, setbacks, and change requires composure. Mistakes and failures will happen. Your ability to adapt, find workable solutions, and work with and through people, while using the tools around you effectively, create positive influence. Resourceful leaders look for options instead of obstacles, ask open-ended questions, and take the opportunity to talk it out with their executive coach and mentors to gain clarity and determine their next best step. 

Mindfulness and presence. Emotional intelligence and emotional integrity are key components to mindfulness and being present. To adjust appropriately in conversations, and to understand the external impact on others, you must be mindful. Being present is important because it improves your listening and decision‑making skills, while also having you remember what you said and promised.

Leaders who neglect or ignore developing their inner skills often plateau despite strong external skills. Developing them requires intentional reflection, being coachable, and consistent practices like journaling, meditation, or structured feedback loops.

For 2026, make a promise to yourself, and honor that promise. Hire a coach and develop these inner leadership skills today.

© Jeannette Seibly 2026 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is a Leadership Results Coach, Talent Advisor, and Business Author with 33 years of experience guiding leaders and executives to achieve exceptional results. She delivers practical coaching and innovative solutions for hiring, leadership development, and performance success. Successful leaders have coaches—connect with Jeannette to elevate your results and impact in 2026.

What is your game plan for 2026? If being a successful leader is part of that plan, it pays to have the right coach. Waiting and thinking about it only creates excuses and limits your effectiveness while delaying the results you want. Contact me to get started.

What to “Listen For” During Job Interviews

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As hiring managers, recruiters, and interviewers, too often we listen through our biases and judgments to determine whether a person can do the job or not.

  • We’re listening to respond, which is not true listening.
  • Or, we’re just not really listening for anything and just waiting to ask the next question.
  • Or, we’re contemplating if we’ve already made the right decision about hiring the person (not based on objective data).
  • Hint: If you have a response before the person finishes speaking, you’re not listening!

Skills you may already be listening for:

  • Attention to detail: Do they dot the I’s and cross the T’s?
  • Ability to stay calm under pressure: Do they react impulsively or remain steady when challenged?
  • Be a team player: Do they work well with others, or are they know-it-alls or do-it-yourselfers?
  • Coachability: Ability and willingness to accept feedback and learn from their mistakes and failures.
  • Communication: How well are they listening to you?

How Using Job-Fit Assessments Clarifies What to “Listen For”

Using a qualified and objective job-fit assessment (e.g., PXT Select®) provides “Listen for …” cues in the Selection Reports. These reports outline how a candidate’s thinking style, behavioral traits, and occupational interests align with the role. When you combine these insights with the interview questions in the PXT Select® report, you gain objective evidence of whether the person can do the job, will do the job, and can do the job here.

This clarity helps you know where to probe further, using the Rule of 3 from Hire Amazing Employees, and keeps you emotionally detached from the candidate’s charm or a false impression that can cloud judgment.

Additional Behaviors Worth “Listening For”

  • Consistency between words and actions: Do their examples align with how they describe themselves? Use the Rule of 3 (Hire Amazing Employees) to deep dive into someone’s true ability — not just to complete the skill or task, but to think through the pros and cons of what they are doing.
  • Ownership of mistakes: Candidates who can admit missteps and explain what they learned often bring resilience to the job. Interviewer question: “Tell me about the last mistake you made and what you did to fix it. Who did you talk with?”
  • Curiosity and initiative: Listen for questions they ask about the role, team, or company. Genuine curiosity signals engagement. If they have no questions or it’s clear they didn’t do any prep work on the company, position, or interviewer, you may need to move on.
  • Values alignment: Beyond skills, listen for whether their personal values resonate with the culture you’re building. What common themes do they describe, perhaps without realizing it? For example, if they struggled in the past with a micromanaging boss, how did they handle it? What type of autonomy do they need in this job to be successful?
  • Communication clarity: Are they able to simplify complex ideas, or do they get lost in jargon? Can they explain what they are saying in words others would easily understand?

Practical “Listening For” Habits for You

  • Pause before responding. Give space for silence. It often reveals more than a rushed answer.
  • Notice patterns, not isolated statements. One polished story doesn’t equal consistency.
  • Note emotional tone. Calm confidence differs from rehearsed charm.
  • Separate impression from evidence. Write down what you heard versus what you felt. Then, compare. If it’s not consistent, deep dive into whether they truly want the position or are simply checking a box that they had an interview. Note: If you’re using structured interview processes (questions found in Hire Amazing Employees), it is easier to compare candidates.
  • Document evidence immediately after the interview. Memory fades quickly, and written notes prevent bias and false memories from creeping in later.

©Jeannette Seibly 2025 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly, an award-winning Talent Advisor, Leadership Results Coach, and Business Author, has guided thousands of executives and business leaders to achieve remarkable success over the past 33 years. Her specialty is delivering innovative solutions for hiring, coaching, and leadership challenges—with excellence and accountability at the core.

Remember during interviews, what you “listen for” can make or break an interview. Come prepared, listen, and ask good follow-up questions to transform a good interview into a great one. Contact me to get the highest value out of your interviews.

Do You Want Your Leadership to Make a Positive Difference?

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Influence, reputation, and legacy are not built by title alone. They are sustained by the people-centered skills that leaders should practice every day. For many leaders, experience and expertise are invaluable, but the ability to connect, facilitate, communicate, and make sound decisions often determines whether their leadership style makes a positive difference.

The Challenge

Even the most accomplished leaders can find themselves at crossroads:

  • People skills may need refreshing to engage diverse generations.
  • Facilitation skills must evolve to foster collaboration rather than control.
  • Communication skills require clarity, empathy, and adaptability in a noisy world.
  • Decision-making skills demand balance between wisdom and openness to new perspectives.

The Opportunity

By fine-tuning these people-centered skills, you can:

  • Amplify your impact by guiding teams with generosity and positive acknowledgement.
  • Model intentional leadership that blends honesty, responsibility, and accountability.
  • Create pathways for others to grow without losing their own expertise.
  • Develop your emotional intelligence and emotional integrity—intelligence helps you understand emotions, while integrity ensures you act with consistency and values.

And most importantly, these practices connect directly to your leadership style and legacy: the imprint you leave on people, organizations, and communities long after your role has changed.

Practical Pathways Forward

Level Up Your Skills by measuring your progress. Use engagement scores, retention data, or feedback loops to track whether your leadership style is truly making a positive difference. Examples include:

These tools provide both internal and external perspectives, helping you align your leadership practices with the legacy you intend to leave.

Very Important Note: Many leaders do not feel ready to read (current and future). I have coached and mentored many professionals who faced challenges early in their careers. And advised them to provide pathways that help future leaders and bosses grow, contribute, and thrive.

© Jeannette Seibly 2020–2025 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly, an award-winning Talent Advisor, Leadership Results Coach, and Business Author, has guided thousands of executives and business leaders to achieve remarkable success over the past 33 years. Her specialty is delivering innovative solutions for hiring, coaching, and leadership challenges—with excellence and accountability at the core.

Want to Improve Your Results? Improve Your Facilitation Skills

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Leaders who learn to effectively facilitate meetings and groups avoid dominating conversations and improve results. (Note: Oxford Languages define facilitate as: Lead or run (a meeting, discussion, etc.), ensuring that objectives are met and all participants’ opinions are heard.)

When facilitating, many bosses believe they must have all the answers. But they’re neither skilled nor comfortable listening to or generating others’ opinions. Their lack of facilitation skills, speaking skills, and ability to manage a room, virtually or onsite, gets in the way of results.

Become Aware of What No One Will Tell You

Why people won’t tell you the truth:

  • You lack awareness, emotional intelligence, and emotional integrity (See Quick Comparison* below)
  • You don’t feel comfortable telling you what you need to hear
  • Your blind spot is something they can’t quite identify—but they find it annoying
  • You become a “I’m right, you’re wrong” type of person when someone disagrees with you

*Quick Comparison: Emotional Intelligence vs. Emotional Integrity

  • Emotional Intelligence is your ability to recognize and manage emotions—yours and others’.
  • Emotional Integrity is your ability to express emotions honestly and act in alignment with your values.

Signs You Need to Pay Attention To:

  • You over-explain to the point no one is listening
  • You talk when you should be listening
  • You’re always focused on your opinion or point of view (What? You asked for my idea)
  • You’re late, lack preparation, and are disorganized
  • You’re ready to respond as soon as the other person stops talking (or even before), which means you were not listening!

How to Overcome These Limitations:

  • Get Real. Work with an experienced executive coach and use a job fit assessment that provides a leadership overview and recommendations. Objective data plus expert advice can fast-track your results.
  • Be Coachable. Listening and learning are essential when working with others. Many of you reading this may believe you’re a great speaker and facilitator, but consider your audience may disagree.
  • Watch Your Tone. Poorly managed emotions can diminish your results and possibly cost you your job. Develop emotional mastery to avoid triggers.
  • Learn to Listen. Listening to learn (not to comment) helps you master long-winded unfocused conversations and reframe input into something positive. You asked for their input, now honor it and thank them.
  • Include Everyone. Go round-robin (ask for each person’s thoughts, ideas, or opinion). Listen. Use time limits if needed.
  • Come Prepared. Arrive early. Send out agendas 24–48 hours ahead and follow them. Mute phones. Send minutes within 24–48 hours, including tasks to be completed.
  • State Your Point in 10 Words or Less. If you’re long-winded, you’re likely editing mid-sentence or unclear about your point. Get clear. Get focused. Be prepared by writing it down first.

© Jeannette Seibly 2025 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is a legacy-driven Talent Advisor, Leadership Results Coach, and Amazon Best-Selling Business Author. For over 33 years, she has empowered thousands of executives and business leaders to achieve sustainable success through strategic hiring, values-based coaching, and intentional leadership development. Her work blends clarity, accountability, and soulful impact—activating performance and purpose at every level.