Optimize Human Performance

Bosses and Leaders Need to Develop Conflict Resolution Skills

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“Resolving conflicts between employees and teams is a top 2024 challenge for bosses and leaders today – but they are not ready!” Jeannette Seibly

Many bosses and leaders today need to focus on conflict resolution between individuals or teams more so than ever. But they are not ready. (Gartner Research) It no longer works (and never did) to rely on “Do as I say.” Or ignore conflicts and difficult employees while hoping the issue will take care of itself. While some will fire the perceived offender, this doesn’t resolve the real issue since it takes more than one person to create conflict.

Unresolved conflict is like a virus – it spreads invisibly into everything we do – and causes top talent and customers to leave!

Reasons conflict resolution has become a top issue during 2024 for bosses and leaders:

Employees are:

  • Taking comments and situations personally
  • Unaware of the negative impact they have when not doing their work as required
  • Unwilling to value the facts over gossip, lies, and innuendos
  • Upset when they feel unfairly treated (I’m right, and they’re wrong)

Boss and Leaders lack the following:

  • Willingness to be effective and instead focus on likability (not rocking the boat)
  • Ability to create win-win-win results (I’m the boss, and I’ll do it my way)
  • Skills or interests to get to the core of the real issue(s)
  • Objectivity is required, and instead, listen to the “loudest” or “favored” person or group
  • Emotional Intelligence (EI) skills are required to effectively manage brainstorming sessions and allow for differing opinions to create new solutions – when this is not managed effectively, it is experienced as conflict

Addressing conflicts requires getting to the core upset or issue. This can be difficult due to the various communication styles and skills in today’s workplace. Additionally, perceptions of how co-workers, bosses, and customers should talk and behave are traditionally handed down through family cultures, communities, and religious beliefs.

The solution? Everything can be resolved through communication. Often, you are unwilling to talk it out and resolve conflicts because you dismiss other’s thoughts and feelings as unimportant.

Three Key Communication Skills

Listening Skills. Focus on listening, being present, and hearing what others are saying. Listening takes awareness and lots of practice. It requires being present during conversations and not letting your mind wander. It’s especially difficult when you cite, “I’m too busy,” and fail to listen!

Remember, the longer a conflict goes on, the more mischief, factionalism, and other costly challenges occur (offsprings of the original issue). It’s important to unravel the core problems before you move forward. These conflicts do NOT go away on their own without working through the facts.

It’s up to you as the boss and leader to exemplify the skills required! To improve listening and reduce misinterpretations during meetings (a significant source of conflicts), a good place to start is with no “cell phones” allowed during meetings! Hold your supervisors, managers, and management team accountable and responsible for doing the same! Employees will follow your lead.

Speaking Skills. Many employees have limited speaking skills in the workplace for various reasons (e.g., different primary languages, fear of voicing their ideas, and remote and hybrid work concerns). Learn to speak slowly and carefully and engage all team members during meetings, virtually and onsite. Keep your word choice simple and be able to use synonyms (similar words and phrases) to help employees and team members understand what you’re saying.

Stay away from sound bites or using jargon. When explaining decisions you’ve made, be prepared to answer questions without diminishing any question as unimportant. When you humiliate one team member, others will side with them — causing instant conflict.

Influential leaders know that miscommunication is one of the top reasons for employee conflicts today! The words you choose and whether or not you listen make a big difference in causing or managing conflict. It takes less time to ensure everyone is on the same page today than to deal with tomorrow’s conflict.

Non-Verbal Gestures. While verbal and written skills are essential, non-verbal skills account for 80 percent or more of what people hear (e.g., tone of voice, hand gestures, head nods). Given that interpretations of gestures are often based on family and community cultures, one gesture may mean one thing to one person and something different to another. Take the time to talk through these differences. It’s time to listen and learn.

Three Key Solutions to Diminish Conflict

Hire Yourself an Executive Coach. Many leadership blind spots can create conflicts. Address them as they occur and work through them. You’ll become a more decisive leader and boss.

Training and Development. To reduce conflicts, close the communication gaps. This requires investing money to create onsite workshops and video training libraries. Hold everyone accountable for developing and using these skills—especially all leaders, bosses, and supervisors.

Use a Qualified Job Fit Assessment. How do qualified job fit assessments reduce conflicts and improve communication? They help team members understand objective differences in each other. They also provide a foundation for those difficult conversations about difficulties experienced when working with each other. For example, with objective data, employees are less defensive about traits that impede team progress (e.g., a hyperactive employee attempting to work with an employee who fails to meet deadlines).

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: Conflict resolution has become one of the top 2024 issues bosses and leaders must address! But many are not ready to do so for a variety of reasons … and I’ve seen too many to count. Want to tap into my 31++ years of experience? 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.

Hiring for Likability Causes Company Results to Suffer

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“Likable job candidates are easier to hire but harder to fire.” Jeannette Seibly

Why is it so easy to hire based on “likability?”

Job candidates:

  • Are positive
  • Listen to what you are saying
  • Smile a lot

The problem?

  • They tell you what you want to hear
  • You fail to ask job-related questions
  • You don’t listen to their actual responses
  • You fear deep-diving into their actual skills and responses
  • All because you like them

The results?

  • Customers are upset they have another person to train on your behalf
  • The new “likable” employee has little to no interest in doing the job as it needs to be done (e.g., the employee lacks the initiative to get answers the customer needs)
  • The hiring boss waits too long to let the person go — in the meantime, the bottom-line results suffer due to loss of customers and top talent (again)

In a recent video, a GenZer claimed that bosses should hire based mostly on someone’s likability. The problem? Most companies have been doing that for decades. Now, turnover and poor job fit are at an all-time high since we have negated the importance of job fit, an important indicator of job success.

A new employee was hired to train employees in an insurance agency — the hiring boss liked her spunk and positivity. But she had no experience working in an agency, having previously worked in the benefits division of a large company. The current employees, who had also applied for the job, were now expected to train the trainer. The new trainer lasted 60 days. While everyone felt she was “likable,” the truth was that she was ineffective in training people to succeed in their jobs due to her lack of hands-on experience and poor job fit. (She worked better in a large corporate setting.)

These Are the Pitfalls When Hiring for Likability

Hiring too quickly. On average, many hiring bosses and leaders make a “yes” or “no” decision within 4.3 minutes of meeting the job candidate based on likability and other biases. For example: “It’s unusual for job applicants to like the color orange – I love orange too.” OR “They attended the same college I did.”). Note: Yes! These situations happen all too often and have no objective basis for job fit!

Relying on fragments of information. Savvy job candidates are likable and are good at telling hiring bosses what they want to hear. Since the hiring boss feels good about the person, s/he fails to ask job-related questions and deep dive to determine if the person has the required work experience. As a result, many hiring managers make decisions based on fragments of information instead of obtaining complete objective data.

Failing to admit we are wrong. When a person is likable, many hiring bosses will defend the job candidate even with data that shows they are not a good fit for the job (e.g., hiring accountants with excellent math skills but no interest in using them). Why? Once we’ve made up our minds, it’s difficult for us to change and admit we were wrong (again). Remember, this happens way too often… you cannot change a person’s fit with the job, but you can change the job to fit the person. Examples: People may learn the skills but lack the interest in using these skills effectively. OR, Former employees from large corporations find it difficult to work in smaller environments where more initiative is expected to keep the customer happy.

Expecting them to clean up issues. While likable job candidates will tell you what you want to hear, they do not have the capability to make the tough decisions and have the difficult conversations to “clean up issues” they were hired to do.

How to Focus on Job Fit and Less on Likability

Create a Strategic Job Fit System. Then, follow it! It’s not complicated. But it does require accountability and responsibility for who you hire and why you hired that person(s).

Use Qualified Job-Fit Assessments. It’s crucial to see the “whole person” (e.g., thinking style, core behaviors, and occupational interests). Using the wrong assessment allows applicants to show themselves as they want to be seen, not as who they are. With over 3,000 published assessments available, it can be difficult to discern which ones comply with the Department of Labor guidelines for pre-employment and selection use. Recommendation: Ask for a technical manual and check for distortion, predictive validity, reliability, and validity coefficients. (See Chapter 9, Use the Right Assessments and Skill Tests, Hire Amazing Employees). Using the correct assessment correctly makes all the difference in the selection process!

Conduct Due Diligence. It’s not uncommon for applicants to provide education, job titles, and companies that don’t exist! (Yes, likable job applicants can lie.) Make sure to conduct background, licensing, education, and other checks. Many times, using a third-party provider ensures a thorough and consistent process. (SEE Chapter 17, Types of Checks, Hire Amazing Employees)

©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: Too often, we hire based on likability and ignore selecting for job fit (employees that fit their job responsibilities and workplace culture). But with high turnover of top talent and customers, poor job fit impacts results and your bottom line. With a well-designed job-fit selection system, let’s make 2024 a great year. Want to tap into my 31++ years of experience? 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

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“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

Spotting Hidden Talent Easily

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“Selecting people based on job fit increases employee and customer retention and profitability.” Jeannette Seibly

Did you know hidden talent can be easily spotted using a well-designed job-fit selection system?

While everyone is complaining about the difficulty in finding “hidden talent,” the reality is that the person could be right in front of you! However, your biases often get in the way of seeing their hidden talents. Other blocks that can get in the way include lack of objective data, unrealistic expectations … the list goes on and on.

Bottom line: We miss spotting hidden talent due to a lack of good, reliable, and objective data when making our hiring, promoting, and job transferring decisions.

Here Are Ways to Avoid These Common Pitfalls

Prepare Job Applicants. Send them a helpful video about your interview process and what to expect. Remember, for many, this is their first time talking with your company. Provide several interview questions (and be sure to ask at least one or two of these questions) so they feel comfortable with your selection process. I would also recommend sending them a link to the brag book: “The Secret to Winning the Job:  Start Bragging!” Many applicants have hidden talents that they need to learn how to share effectively!

Use Valid a Honesty/Integrity Assessment. These direct admission tools can only be used for pre-employment purposes (not current employees) can help weed out those job candidates that are good at selling themselves, but have things to hide. They also help provide safer workplace environments. Be sure to check with local and state statutes to avoid asking inappropriate questions (e.g., age, marital status, children, etc.).

Conduct Phone Screen Interviews to Gather Objective Data. Ask questions designed to reveal the facts of their past employment and education. Remember, verifying and documenting is essential. Too often, job candidates fail to get honest about job fit… they want the job. (For help in creating questions, READ Chapter 10, Hire Amazing Employees)

How many times have you hired someone and 2 hours or 2 weeks or 2 months later realized who you interviewed was not the person who has showed up for the job!

Use a Qualified Job-Fit Assessment. It’s crucial to see the “whole person” (e.g., thinking style, core behaviors, and occupational interests). Using the wrong assessment allows applicants to show themselves as they want to be seen, not as who they are. With over 3,000 published assessments available, selecting ones not designed or complying with the Department of Labor for pre-employment and selection use is easy. How do you know the difference? Ask for a technical manual and check for distortion, predictive validity, reliability, and validity coefficients. (See Chapter 9, Use the Right Assessments and Skill Tests, Hire Amazing Employees). Using the correct assessment, the right way makes all the difference in the selection process!

Interview for Job Fit. Too often our beliefs in the skills required are sabotaged by our subjective biases (e.g., since they are good in math, they will be good accountants or financial consultants; since they were friendly during the interview, they’ll be great bosses; etc.). Ask job-related questions and listen! Deep dive into their responses using the “Rule of 3” to determine the depth of their skills. (For additional insights about “Rule of 3” and creating job-related questions, READ Chapter 10, Hire Amazing Employees)

Conduct Due Diligence. It’s not uncommon for applicants to provide education, job titles, and companies that don’t exist! Make sure to conduct background, licensing, education, and other checks. Many times, using a third-party provider ensures a thorough and consistent process. (SEE Chapter 17, Types of Checks, Hire Amazing Employees)

Require Onboarding for Best Results. Start when the job offer is accepted and will continue over a period of months. Otherwise, your newest talent will “leave” while remaining on the payroll. (READ: Chapter 20, The Success of a New Hire Is Up to You! Hire Amazing Employees)

©Jeannette Seibly 2024 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is a Talent Advisor/Leadership Results Coach with over 32 years of 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 33 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 amazing results.

A note from Jeannette about discovering hidden talent: Often, we miss spotting hidden talent due to the lack of good, reliable, and objective data when making our hiring, promoting, and job-transferring decisions. With a well-designed job-fit selection system, let’s make let’s make this year a great one. Need help? 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 for 2024. I have extensive experience and wisdom guiding bosses and leaders to hire, coach, and manage their teams successfully. The bonus … they achieve unprecedented results. Contact me to learn more about my in-depth, one-on-one, customized coaching programs.

Healing Our Inner Power Creates Leadership Success

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“Healing our inner power is important to create a healthy and wealthy career.” Jeannette Seibly

What is inner power? It’s a: Quiet force within you that knows when to act and when to move and gives you the strength to do so. (Psychology Today)

When do leaders experience a loss of inner power? When you:

Many attempt to hide these types of losses or ignore them due to feelings of guilt, shame, or wanting to look good.

Remember, your inner power helps you stay resilient and resourceful and allows you to bounce back faster. It requires taking the time to recognize, factually, what occurred and your feelings associated with it. Then, do the work to move forward. (An excellent way to objectively discover what happened is to complete the worksheet “What Worked? / What Didn’t Work?)

10 Healing Ideas to Reclaim Your Inner Power 

  1. Make the Commitment. Nothing can genuinely change until you become responsible for where you are now and commit to moving forward. In my many conversations with leaders who have experienced a loss of inner power, they re-presence this declaration. It became the line in the sand of before and after. It’s when they get into focused action to move forward.
  2. Stop Creating Endless Goals. Attempting to pursue more than three goals at a time is usually too much, and why most people fail to achieve any of them. Get real about what you really-really-really want to accomplish. Now, get into focused action.
  3. Hire an Executive Coach (or other appropriate coach (e.g., health, finance)). The best way to move past a business or career loss is to get help. Work with the right coach to guide you in the right direction without the devastating ups and downs of trial and error. Please don’t make the common mistake of trying to do it yourself to avoid feeling shame or guilt. It’ll be more challenging to move on and achieve the needed wins.
  4. Know Yourself. Self-awareness is critical. Many leaders believe they know and trust themselves but are afraid to be seen as they are. It’ll take a toll on your health and well-being if you don’t get honest. Make sure to become aware of your blind spots and inherent talents. Now is an excellent time to discover them and learn new ways to develop your natural strengths. Remember, you cannot build your inner power on weaknesses.
  5. Build Healthy Relationships. Take the time to build positive professional, personal, and family relationships. Spend time with like-minded people by reaching out and taking the time to get to know them. Don’t forget to offer help as appropriate.
  6. Grieve Your Loss, But Don’t Wear It On Your Sleeve. When a loss occurs, take time to grieve. It’ll come out unexpectedly and hurt your progress if you don’t. For example, if your loss of power is due to a job or financial loss, it may be time to review the direction or path you’ve been pursuing.
  7. Hire a Licensed Therapist. It can speed up the healing process and help you make needed changes.
  8. Get Your Brag On! Take the time to conduct a “brag” inventory, and include strengths and successes you’ve experienced. This process helps you focus on “what’s next” instead of living in the past.
  9. Be Mindful. Practice mindful breathing and learn to be present during conversations. It’s where the aha’s occur!
  10. Love Yourself (for who you are and who you are not). Now is a great time for self-reflection. Journalling will help you grow and learn from your experiences.

©Jeannette Seibly 2022-2023 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 healing an inner loss of power: We don’t know what 2024 will bring us after a year of economic, political, and worldwide upheaval. The key is to reclaim your inner power. It’s something you need to do each and every day. Since this is not an easy process, now’s the time to talk it out and claim it. Contact me for a confidential conversation.

It’s time to get honest and authentic! 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.

 

Are You Frustrated that You’re Unable to Find and Keep Top Talent?

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“Are you feeling the stress due to your hiring practices? It’s time to make real changes.” Jeannette Seibly

There are four often overlooked reasons.

Many companies realize they have a problem finding and keeping top talent. They even know it’s due to their hiring managers’ bad habits and practices!

But realizing the obvious (e.g., interviewers need training) does nothing to create a positive difference with your job fit selection system.

How to Improve (not just read about) Your Company’s Retention, Revenues, and Results!

Use the Right Job-Fit Assessment. Legal and scientific (e.g., validity, reliability, predictive validity, and distortion) factors are often overlooked! And most assessments are not designed to comply with the Department of Labor Guidelines for pre-employment and selection purposes. Using the right one will help you achieve real results (e.g., salespeople who can close sales and CPAs/financial planners who enjoy working with financial data). When selecting a job-fit assessment, ask for the Technical Manual. Beware … run the other way if they provide a letter from their attorney. These letters are designed to protect them, not you! (Read Chapter 9, Use the Right Assessments and Skills Test, “Hire Amazing Employees)

Ask Job-Related Questions. Even though most hiring bosses know better, many ask inadequate or inappropriate interview questions. For example, “What’s your favorite movie/book/color/restaurant?” These questions have nothing to do with the job and are illegal! The focus needs to be on questions that address: Can they do the job? Are they willing to learn the job? Will they actually do the job? Can they be successful in doing the job here? (For help designing interview questions: SEE Chapter 12, Pointers for Successful Interviews, “Hire Amazing Employees”)

Recognize Your Competition’s Top Producer May Fail in Your Company. No two companies have identical cultures and values. It’s why a top results producer in one company may fail in another! A well-designed job-fit selection system will reveal whether or not they will succeed at your company. (SEE: Chapter 2, Create a Strategic Selection System, “Hire Amazing Employees”)

Know Your Biases and Judgments Make Little Difference. Yes, we ALL have them! Even you! How do you minimize the negative impacts of the biases and judgments? Recognize them using a well-designed job-fit selection system to hire, promote, and transfer your people! Do this now before the next rendition of the “Great Resignation” or “Great Attrition” occurs in 2024! It will save time, customers, and sleepless nights. (SEE: Chapter 1, The Selection Triad – What Is It and Why Should You Care? “Hire Amazing Employees”)

©Jeannette Seibly, 2023 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, it always starts with having the right people in the right jobs! She has been an Authorized PXT Select Partner with Wiley for over 31 years. To learn more about this state-of-the-art job-fit assessment tool, contact Jeannette.

Improve How You Speak to Create Better Results

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“Your manner of speaking will create followers or detractors.” Jeannette Seibly
  • Have you ever attended a meeting where the F-bomb was used too often?
  • Do you or others use too much jargon or innuendos, leaving people annoyed?
  • Do you stop listening to people who talk for the sake of talking?
  • Have you been uncomfortable when sexist or racial comments are made?
  • Do you need to let everyone know when you are frustrated or upset?

When we’re honest with ourselves, we can all answer “yes” to the above questions.

The truth is that communicating with others can be exhausting when poor speaking habits are used. As a current or future boss, leader, and influencer, improving your way of speaking will create better results for your team, customers, and business.

How to Transform Your Speaking Style to Achieve Positive Results

Start your comments with the end in mind! This will keep your words on point, making you less likely to ramble. When sharing, focus on moving the conversation forward, not rehashing what’s already been said. It keeps your listeners listening!

Stick with common words. Use simple words. For example, use ‘generous’ instead of ‘magnanimous.’ Using common words gets everyone on the same page faster and keeps everyone’s attention. Remember, when writing (emails, memos, manuals, articles, or books), people do not look up the big words and will stop reading if you use more than one.

Stop talking to talk. Many people talk too much and too long. Then, they use inappropriate words, jargon, or innuendos to bring back the team’s attention. Instead, learn to share a personal experience or story. Keep it smart and simple! Really, really, really smart and simple! (Hint: Stay away from the details!)

Define jargon. Use the actual words when using jargon. Example: A/R, A/P, and ROI use Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, Return on Investment). It keeps the audience listening to you! Remember, while those listening will say they understand, they are embarrassed to admit they don’t. It also prevents miscommunication when the audience relies on their interpretation.

Refrain from innuendos and gossip. It hurts your credibility since 99 percent of the time, you don’t have the facts. Get the facts and share them with the person who can make a difference (e.g., theft – talk with security or HR; not doing their share – talk directly with the person; poor job of hiring the right people – talk with the hiring boss, HR, and your CFO/Controller).

©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 improving how you speak and the results you achieve: Do you want to improve your results and those of your team? Improve how you speak, your choice of words, and pay attention to your audience. Contact me for a confidential conversation about becoming a great communicator! 

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, your effectiveness, influence, and confidence will accelerate when you have a coach.

What Do You Do When Your Team Is Hurting Results?

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“When a team fails to achieve intended results, bosses and leaders need to look in the mirror first for answers!” Jeannette Seibly

No one likes to think their team is hurting results. But dismissing the issue, believing it’s unimportant, and failing to take responsibility for the systems and outcomes is a no-win for teams, bosses, customers, and leaders! Remember, finding new customers and talent costs a lot of money. And it overlooks the necessity to improve quality and your team’s reputation!

Tips to Discover and Improve Results

Get into Action. Ask questions to get to the core of the issue. Use an objective process: “What Worked? / What Didn’t Work?” Debrief as a team. This exercise will end the usual finger-pointing or the blame game. During this process, use acknowledgment for the “good things that did happen.” Appreciation encourages viable solutions!

Be in Communication. Keep your team and co-workers apprised when there is an issue. Ask questions after conducting your team debrief to see what else may be missing. Do this immediately, BEFORE talking with the customer or other people affected. Keep everyone up-to-date while valuing their input! Promise to resolve the issue(s). (Very Important Hint: Don’t drop the ball … people have long memories when promises are not kept! These memories can stifle your co-workers and team from working with you in the future.)

“Excuses don’t help make things better. They only offer a rationale to avoid trying.”

Simon Sinek

Bring in Outside Expertise. Everyone wants to hide that they failed to achieve the intended results, fearing embarrassment and humiliation. Consider that bringing in outside help takes the pressure off you to have all the answers. (Hint: You don’t; others may not value your opinions right now.) Work with these experts to diagnose the actual issue. Listen. Make appropriate changes. Don’t forget that ongoing and consistent training is crucial when developing new habits!

Use a Qualified Job Fit Assessment. When teams and team members fit their job, it diminishes miscommunication, factionalism, and other mischief! Often, issues can be resolved by using people’s strengths and placing them in the right jobs! First, refine job descriptions and job responsibilities. Second, develop the skills that impact the quality of the results: communication, critical thinking, and team management.

Top-Down Challenge. When results fail, many bosses and leaders focus on the bottom-up (employees v. management). Consider the issue may be you! While many bosses and leaders believe they are above reproach, their rigid perspectives and do-as-I-say mindset get in the way. Remember, it’s not business as usual anymore! Bring in an executive coach/consultant to improve the management team’s coachability and ability to coach others for results. Then, empower each boss and leader and provide the tools to make the necessary team changes.

©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 when your team hurts intended results: Set aside the normal finger-pointing! Now, create conversations and solutions to create win-win-win outcomes. Contact me for a confidential conversation about how to have conversations that produce intended results.

The coach is in! Are you ready to build your confidence and success as a boss? Great bosses work with an experienced executive coach as a sounding board. I have extensive experience and wisdom in 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 program. Remember, coaching speeds up your ability to achieve intended results for you and your teams!

Factionalism Hurts Retention, Revenues, and Results in Any Company

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“Eliminating factionalism positively impacts your company’s revenues, results, and retention.” Jeannette Seibly

Factionalism is: A condition in which a team or company is split into two or more smaller groups with differing and often opposing opinions or interests. (Dictionary.com)

We expect teams and departments within any company to work well together all the time. This expectation can be unrealistic. In reality, every company will have conflicts here and there. It’s when those disagreements don’t go away that factionalism erupts. It creates dysfunctional workplace cultures and hurts employee satisfaction, customer retention, and the bottom line.

What Causes Factionalism?

When leaders cannot satisfactorily resolve animosity, competition, indifference, and ongoing disputes, teams, co-workers, and bosses often take on bad attitudes, take sides, or blame others.

Factionalism erupts due to:

  • Negative attitudes by bosses and leaders toward each other or a small group of people
  • Hiring, promoting, or job transferring people that don’t fit the job responsibilities
  • Pitting departments or groups of employees against one another for competing needs
  • Adversarial mindsets (e.g., sales reps blame customer service or operations when a customer is lost)
  • Allowing egos to get in the way (e.g., “we” v. “I” OR “us” v. “them”)
  • Forgetting about the importance of the mission and vision of the company
  • Withholding important information
  • Not holding remote and hybrid workers to performance and company standards
  • Blaming the customer or group of employees for mistakes or problems

How to Be the Solution to Factionalism and Not the Contributor to the Problem

Communication, Communication, Communication. There are many bosses and employees who are not good or great communicators. Poor communication causes people to take sides with “he said this” v. “no, she said that” v. “I thought it meant this.” As the boss or leader, ask questions to uncover the true intention and facilitate win-win-win outcomes. Remember, factionalism often begins as a small solvable concern before it erupts into an impenetrable mountain.

Solve Conflicts Immediately. When someone deliberately and consistently impedes progress creating confusion or chaos, s/he needs to be coached or removed from the job or team, or conflict will escalate.

Examples include:

  • Withholding information and resources
  • Ignoring emails or advice
  • Making the solutions more complicated than necessary
  • Blocking issues from being fixed
  • Hostility towards others’ ideas
  • Refusal to take advice that can make a difference
  • Failure to admit mistakes
  • Unwillingness to resolve team conflict

The truth is that when your team members (or you) lack the communication, project management, and people skills required, change is necessary. Hire an executive coach and use a performance improvement plan to ensure they are making progress.

Get Real. Gossip, myths, and lack of critical thinking impede the truth. Also, the lack of top-down or down-up conversations (communication) hinders addressing the real issues. You must realize that when customers and top talent leave, it’s important to tell yourself and co-workers the truth about resources, company and people changes, and customer requirements.

Hold Team Retreats and Inter-Team/Department Discussions. Training in communication, team building, team meetings, and confidence building are just a few examples that help everyone keep the lines of communication open to reduce factionalism. When your employees or teams get territorial about their work and systems, it’s usually because they do minimal work to get by (e.g., quiet quitting) or fear asking for help. Hire an outside facilitator to create insightful group discussions, ensure everyone is heard, and keep everyone engaged.

Use Job Fit Assessments to Understand Differences Objectively. When you or your team blame others for not thinking and working like you do, it’s time to understand “why objectively.”

In my experience, using a qualified job fit tool can reduce factionalism. It helps everyone understand and appreciate differences objectively; productive conversations and communication open up too. Job fit assessments have the highest scientific validation and reliability and provide more accurate data. They can eliminate miscommunication, blaming or nitpicking, or other disrespectful behaviors and attitudes that create factionalism.

Fulfilling Expectations. When you expect others to get along AND make your own effort to get along with others, you will reduce factionalism. Enforce policies and procedures, set clear guidelines on ‘no-tolerance policies’ (e.g., choice of words, favoritism), and refuse to allow your team to bypass others, citing the need for expediency. (Hint: It’ll actually take longer to resolve when the detour is discovered!)

©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? With Jeannette’s depth of experience and wisdom, she guides clients through sticky situations and challenging relationships for dynamic results! Contact Jeannette for a confidential discussion.

A note from Jeannette about factionalism in your workplace culture: As bosses and leaders, it starts with you! You set the example and the tone within your teams of how to get along and work well with others. Get involved. Listen to concerns. Have conversations for win-win-win outcomes. Contact me for a confidential discussion about how to reduce and eliminate factionalism.

The coach is in! Are you ready to build your confidence and success as a boss? Great bosses work with an experienced executive coach as a sounding board. I have extensive experience and wisdom in guiding bosses and leaders to hire, coach, and manage 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 manage, lead, and influence others.

Bosses impact everyone’s ability to love their jobs, enjoy learning new skills, and work well with others. To accelerate your team’s results, use the PXT Select to see the “whole person.”

Tough Times Require Resilient Bosses to Achieve Results

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“Bosses … resiliency during tough times is the key to achieve amazing results and future career opportunities.” Jeannette Seibly

Today’s workplaces are undergoing tough changes and need resilient bosses! But, instead, many bosses allow their frustrations and inability to transform relationships and situations to get in the way.

Do you:

  • Believe hiring for job fit is nonsense and takes too much time?
  • Believe your team should get their jobs done faster by doing it your way (aka micromanaging)?
  • Feel your customers demand too much from you? Your team?
  • Hate your team constantly bringing you problems and making your job more difficult?
  • Believe it takes too much time to get others’ input, especially when you won’t use it anyway?

If you are being truthful, you will answer yes to at least one of these questions.

As a boss, it’s usually easier to achieve intended results during the good times. But it’s during the tough and uncertain times that team members will either value and follow you for your resiliency and “can-do” attitude, or post negative ratings!

How to Build Your Resilience to Achieve Results

Develop Your Inner Power. Your self-esteem is important. It’s a reflection of your inner power and resiliency when mistakes occur and problems arise. Take the time to work with an executive coach. Also, consider talk therapy with a licensed therapist. Take part in workshops focused on developing your confidence and communication skills, while upgrading your project and people management talents.

Ask for Help and Feedback. Now, more than ever, you cannot go it alone, especially during tough times. Learn how to ask for help and ask for feedback from your team, co-workers, boss, and others when making decisions. Make sure you’re really listening! Be open to expanding your point-of-view … remember, it’s not business as usual. Example: When a customer is unhappy, ask for specific feedback of what didn’t work! Now, get the team in focused action to create and implement solutions, not excuses!

Hire for Job Fit. Job fit is why teams excel! But too many hiring bosses believe anyone can do any job successfully. The problem is, if the person doesn’t have the interest, thinking style, or core behaviors, they will fail to achieve intended results. Poor job fit often results in miscommunication, conflict, and other mischief (aka a lot of extra problems, work, and sleepless nights)!

Coach and Manage for Quality Results. Stop settling for mediocrity and accepting excuses, especially when you can make a huge impact during uncertain times. (Think, your competition has already given up.) Learn to ask good business questions designed to get your team thinking outside the box, and critically thinking about how to fulfill customer demands. Learn to brainstorm and do not dismiss off-the-wall ideas! (Hint: They are usually the best ones!)

Mindfulness and EI are Still Important. Your emotional intelligence (EI) and ability to be present during conversations are the marks of a good boss. Life and business are never easy all the time. Example: It requires continually developing your resilience and willingness to say, “I/we made a mistake … this is how I/we plan to fix it.” Then, get it resolved immediately!

Don’t Shy Away from Tough Conversations. Remember, your voice matters! Stop going into meetings believing your ideas won’t matter! Instead of being defensive in these meetings, state your commitment and concerns first. Second, ask questions to discover and uncover others’ true hesitations or differing opinions. Listen. There will be areas of agreement that you can build on. Be a parrot when necessary, and don’t become emotionally attached to the outcome. Remember, the goal is win-win-win.

Keep Developing You, Your Individual Team Members, and Your Team as a Whole. Guard your budget dollars to ensure ongoing training and development. Now is not the time to dismiss developing everyone’s skills because you cannot afford it! If there’s a will, there’s way (think, taking initiative and being resourceful). Remember, tough times don’t last, but tough bosses do!

©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? With Jeannette’s depth of experience and wisdom, she guides clients through sticky situations and challenging relationships for dynamic results! Contact Jeannette for a confidential discussion.

A note from Jeannette about being a resilient boss during tough times: Remember, tough times don’t last, but tough bosses do! Do you know how to be resilient when you want to pull the covers up over your head and call-in to take a personal day? This week, discover and put into action at least one tip to develop your resiliency. Contact me for a confidential conversation about hiring, coaching, and managing for profitable success during tough times.

The coach is in! Are you ready to build your confidence and success as a boss? Great bosses work with an experienced executive coach as a sounding board. I have extensive experience and wisdom in guiding bosses and leaders to hire, coach, and manage their teams to achieve unprecedented results. Contact me to learn more about my in-depth, one-on-one, customized coaching program. Remember, coaching increases your resiliency and has you succeed during tough times!

Bosses impact retention, revenues, and results each and every day by how they engage employees. To improve your bottom line, use the PXT Select to see the “whole person.”