professional development

How Do You Quietly Hire Employees?

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Quiet hiring is a way to develop talent without hiring new employees or moving current employees to work when you cannot hire the right people. It was declared a new trend by Gartner, a technological research and consulting firm: Quiet hiring will open up new doors for retaining talent without the cost of a lengthy recruitment process.

While “quiet hiring” is new, the strategy is not. Wise companies have used “internal mobility or upskilling” to keep top talent for many years.

But before you jump on this “newest trend,” here are the issues to address before considering this strategy.

How to Use Quiet Hiring

Quiet hiring is how employers fill positions with current employees and leverage current talent. Normally, it’s done on a temporary basis, or you risk employment law issues.

For example:

  • If your company is a bank and needs someone at the teller window for several hours a day, it’s an excellent opportunity for a loan officer to learn more about the bank and its customers’ needs.
  • If your insurance company needs help in the claims department for a month, you may have one of your underwriters work there temporarily.
  • If your company is in any industry and needs help auditing for a quarter, you may place one of your IT people in that role.

What Are Three Criteria to Implement Quiet Hiring?

  1. It would be best if you had buy-in from your employees. Remember, any change can be scary to them. Be sure to communicate the intention, what is expected, and the benefits to everyone, not just those being “quietly hired” into new roles. Remember, it’s a temporary change and will not affect their benefits and compensation plans.
  2. How to Start the Conversation. You may say, “We/I value your contribution and would like to temporarily use you in a different role (or to take on additional responsibilities). Are you willing to do so?”
  3. Stay Connected. If there are problems before or after the transition, it’s essential to address them immediately. Remember that different teams have different work styles, and bosses have different work expectations (e.g., remote v. onsite, punctuality v. lateness).

How You Use Quiet Hiring to Improve Your Employees’ Skills

  1. Provides Skill Development. It’s a great way to help broaden an employee’s knowledge of the company. It allows them to experience how their normal position impacts the temporary one. Acquiring these new skills prepares them for promotions, new work teams, and other future opportunities.
  2. Reduces the Need for Layoffs and Terminations. It’s a great way to keep good employees by temporarily moving them into different roles or departments.
  3. Helps Them Understand the Impact of Work Quality and Decisions. The added benefit of quiet hiring is that they can learn about the impact they create when making changes in how they do their work or when making decisions. For example: Moving a sales rep into customer service is a great way to experience the aftermath of how the company’s products and services work with customers. (Also known as cross-training.)
  4. Training is Critical! Like anything new, it’s essential that you provide a training program and on-the-job training coach to ensure consistency in how work is done. Remember, they are transitioned to the new position temporar If they make any changes, it can inadvertently impact the entire company and its customers.
  5. Participate in Job Rotation or Job Sharing. These are more formal ways that “quiet hiring” top talent can develop the skills required for future opportunities.

Beware of “Quiet Hiring” Pitfalls

  1. Job Fit Issues. Placing a good employee in a position that does not fit their capabilities means you will lose a good employee. Use a qualified job fit assessment to reduce these types of issues. Remind them it’s temporary. However, if there are consistent problems, you must move them back to where they were doing well.
  2. Unwillingness to Move to New Position. If the move requires the person to be onsite or the person has other concerns such as commute and flex time, address them upfront. It costs time, money, and energy to train people in positions they usually don’t work in; since it’s only temporary, it may not be worth the effort or upset.
  3. Keep the Same Benefits and Comp. If you don’t, you will risk employment law concerns. Contact your HR or employment attorney to determine local, state, and federal impacts — also the same for international employees.

©Jeannette Seibly 2023 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is The Leadership Results Coach. She has over 30 years of award-winning international experience as an executive consultant, speaker, and business author. Her clients surpass the norm by working through sticky situations and challenging relationships to become positive influencers. Contact Jeannette for a confidential discussion.

A note from Jeannette about Quiet Hiring: This old employment practice of moving people temporarily into different positions now has a new name: Quiet Hiring! Before you jump on this latest trend, understand the legal, practical, and employee impacts before using! Then, contact me to talk through your hiring and selection challenges!

NOTE: Do you want to win? All leaders who are winners have coaches! I love coaching leaders and have for over 30 years! Contact me if you want an in-depth, one-on-one hour over 13 weeks. Having a coach speeds up your ability to influence others, hire the right people, and coach your team for unprecedented results.

Announcing New Workshop! Traditional leadership (e.g., formal, metrics-driven) is being replaced with human leadership (e.g., focus on the human dynamics that impact results). For example, “That’s how it’s always been done.” vs. “Great idea. How do you recommend we implement it?” However, your managers and directors are being overlooked regarding the training required to be an effective boss and leader. Read about my newest workshop: Are Your Managers and Directors Effective Leaders?

Why Are So Many Leaders Struggling Today? They Are Uncoachable!

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“Can you imagine wanting to win and ignoring the coach? Yet, many leaders refuse to be coachable.” Jeannette Seibly

Why is coaching essential today? The workplace has changed, and so have the unwritten rules. Trying to stay on top of people, projects, and performance while paying attention to profitability can be difficult. It’s why leaders must learn to be coachable but often are not due to ego, peer pressure, and fear of the unknown.

Why Being Coachable Causes Leaders to Win

Accelerate Self-Awareness. Being coachable helps leaders become mindful of what they do and say. As a result, they develop a deeper understanding of themselves and their motivations, leading to greater mindfulness, self-awareness, and personal fulfillment.

Develop Personal and Professional Growth. Being coachable allows leaders to reflect on their strengths and weaknesses, identify areas for improvement, and discover their blind spots. This process helps them grow and excel; two critical traits required to win.

Increase Effectiveness. Being coachable guides leaders to clarify their goals, create action plans, and be held accountable for their progress. This results in improved performance and increased effectiveness in their roles.

Improve Communication Skills. Being coachable also improves leaders’ abilities to develop their communication, listening, and speaking skills. These are critical to success in any role. Leaders and their teams win when they can articulate their vision, build consensus through team conflict, and negotiate more effectively!

Make Better Decisions. Being coachable helps leaders to clarify their values and priorities and to weigh the consequences of their decisions. Creating win-win-win outcomes due to informed and strategic decisions separates so-so leaders from those who excel and win.

©Jeannette Seibly 2023 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is The Leadership Results Coach. She has over 30 years of award-winning international experience as an executive consultant, speaker, and business author. Her clients surpass the norm by working through sticky situations and challenging relationships to become positive influencers. Contact Jeannette for a confidential discussion.

A note from Jeannette about being coachable: Imagine for a moment being part of a team of NFL players and ignoring the coach. Not going to happen! The team knows that being coachable is required to win the game. Yet, many leaders today are not coachable and make leadership harder than it is. As a result, they experience higher-than-average turnover, miscommunication, and failed team results. Contact me to talk through how to be coachable and win!

This week’s PODCAST: Listen to Want to Achieve Great Results? Use Peer Coaching with my guest, Meredith Bell, on The Entrepreneurial Leader.

NOTE: Do you want to win? All leaders who are winners have coaches! I love coaching leaders and have for over 30 years! Contact me if you want an in-depth, one-on-one hour over 13 weeks. Having a coach will speed up your ability to influence others, hire the right people, and coach your team for unprecedented results.

Hey You! Are You Ignoring What Needs to Be Changed?

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“When you continue ignoring the need to make a difference, you’ll lose your ability to influence change.” Jeannette Seibly

Many leaders claim to be too busy and ignore the big picture and the details of a project or team. But the reality is, if you don’t pay attention, you will be even busier putting out fires, losing top talent and customers, and negatively impacting performance and profitability.

Definition of Ignore by Oxford Languages: “Refuse to take notice or acknowledge; disregard intentionally; fail to consider; reject as groundless (legal).

To stop ignoring, you need to stop relying on excuses.

Instead:

While you cannot change the aftermath of the pandemic, economic upheaval, or industry changes, if you stop ignoring issues, you can influence and impact how you lead your teams.

5 Tips to Stop Ignoring What Needs to Be Changed

  1. Hiring the Right Person, the First Time. When you ignore or overlook best hiring and selection practices, you will keep hiring the wrong type of person who fails. This costs you retention, revenues, and results each time! Example: One employer, each year, told a hiring consultant, ‘This year we had 40% turnover from firing or people leaving. So now we’ve got the right team.’ This was the same explanation each year for three years! The bottom line: nothing changes unless you stop ignoring how you hire and address the core issues!
  2. Resolving Team Conflict. Neglecting to care for the team and their relationships and resources will erupt into team conflict. Take the time now to resolve disagreements, personality differences, and differing points of view. Stop hoping and praying it’ll go away on its own because it won’t! Examples: 1) If it is a perception issue, use a qualified job fit assessment, which objectively shows people’s differences. 2) If it’s an issue with a process or system, brainstorm solutions by ensuring every voice is heard. Yes, they both take time! But it saves hours, days, weeks, months, and yes, sometimes years when you address the issue and stop ignoring it.
  3. Train Your Team. With companies watching their bottom lines, training is the first item slashed. This is very short-sighted. Make sure training skills are not ignored. Reinforce listening, asking questions, critical thinking, emotional intelligence, mindfulness, and project/system design, to name a few. Ignoring these essential skills will cost you!
  4. Develop Yourself. All successful leaders have a coach! (Yes, reread if you don’t already have one!) Unfortunately, many current and future leaders don’t see the need to hire a coach, practice daily ‘soft skill’ training, or behave as participants in workshops with team members. However, when you reject the training and ignore its benefits, you will lose credibility and the ability to influence anyone, anywhere.
  5. Impact of Your Decisions. Being an ostrich and putting your head in the sand will only cause you to ignore the impact of your decisions. Instead, collect and use objective, reliable, and valid data and avoid relying solely on your feelings or gut. Otherwise, if you don’t, the negative impact on customers, employees, work teams, finances, systems, etc. etc. etc. will cause leadership and career derailment!

©Jeannette Seibly 2023 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is The Leadership Results Coach. She’s celebrating 30 years as an award-winning international executive consultant, speaker, and business author. Her clients value the listening and positive difference she brings to any conversation. As a result, they can work through sticky situations and challenging relationships to become positive influencers. Contact Jeannette for a confidential discussion. PS: She’s also a three-time Amazon Best-Selling Author!

A note from Jeannette about ignoring situations, relationships, and results: Many leaders need to stop ignoring things they can and should impact. They will lose out on leadership and career opportunities if they don’t. Contact me to discuss what you’re ignoring and how to make the necessary changes. It’ll impact your ability to influence results and keep your job!

This week’s PODCAST: Listen to How to Be an Effective Advocate and Be Heard with my guest, Jill Tietjen, on The Entrepreneurial Leader.

NOTE: Do you have changes that need to be made but don’t know where to begin? I love coaching current and future leaders to support them in making important and strategic changes. Contact me if you want an in-depth, one-on-one hour over 13 weeks. It will accelerate your ability to influence others, coach your team for unprecedented results, and make changes that others applaud.

How Do You Bridge Communication Gaps and Create Positive Results?

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Leaders often wait for a miracle to get the team on the same page. Yet, unfortunately, it rarely happens without the directed effort of the leader.

In my recent article, Are Your Relationships Working? I mentioned “Bridge Communication Gaps” as one of the essential tips for building good and effective working relationships.

Yet, many leaders are perplexed about how to do this in today’s workplace due to diversity, remote work options, and differences of opinion.

5 Essential Ways to Bridge Communication Gaps between Teams and Results

Appreciate Differences … Where Do I Start? You start by using a qualified job fit assessment that provides objective information (not the type of assessment that shows how people want to be seen). For many years, I’ve used the granddaddy of objective job-fit assessment products: PXT Select. Example: When team members (and business partners, boss/employee) are in conflict, I use it to provide an objective review of what’s working and where the communication problems exist. Everyone thinks they know the answers. But 99% of the time, there are surprises. This process and the knowledge you gain build comradery and resolve misperceptions.

Get Everyone on the Same Page. Share the goal, budget, and deadline with the team and allow them to contribute their ideas, thoughts, and opinions. Yes, this often requires training for you and the team on developing and using the skills necessary to communicate, create strategies, and execute results.

Include Everyone’s Ideas. It doesn’t mean all of their ideas are viable and will be used. But when everyone’s ideas are heard and acknowledged, they feel respected and valued. This closes many communication gaps while building positive working relationships.

Brainstorm for Solutions. The same mindset that created the problem will not solve the issue. It requires listening outside the norm and allowing new, off-the-wall ideas to take hold. It will require setting aside egos and judging what is or is not a good idea. Encourage everyone to construct the solution by asking questions for clarification.

Celebrate the Wins and Learn from the Failures. This is critical and often overlooked. Conduct a What Worked?/What Didn’t Work? for each and every project. This review is also a great way to get unstuck in a project, acknowledge the team, and fully appreciate their efforts.

©Jeannette Seibly 2023 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is The Leadership Results Coach. She’s celebrating 30 years as an award-winning international executive consultant, speaker, and business author. Her clients value the listening and positive difference she brings to any conversation. As a result, they can work through sticky situations and challenging relationships to become positive influencers. Contact Jeannette for a confidential discussion. PS: She’s also a three-time Amazon Best-Selling Author!

A note from Jeannette about bridging communication gaps: For many leaders, this can be scary. They either don’t know how, are afraid to ask for help, or are unwilling to admit there is a problem. However, failure to bridge communication gaps will derail your ability to create good working relationships. It will also negatively impact your retention, revenues, and results. Contact me if you know you should but don’t want to. Don’t worry. You’ll glean at least one idea you can implement immediately.

This week’s PODCAST:  Listen to How the pandemic led a professional copywriter, speaker and author to become an accidental artist with my guest, Debra Jason, on The Entrepreneurial Leader.

NOTE: I love coaching current and future leaders to support them in leading, managing, and hiring their teams. Contact me if you want an in-depth, one-on-one hour over 13 weeks. It will accelerate your ability to influence others, hire the right people, and coach your team for unprecedented results. SeibCo.com/contact/ 

Be Present When Listening

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“When you’re present during conversations, you become an influential leader because you heard what was being said.” Jeannette Seibly

If we want people to talk to us more, we should start by listening to them more. Simon Sinek

  • Would you like to achieve epic results?
  • Have working relationships with team members that develop them to be leaders?
  • Keep reading!

When we’re in meetings or conversations, and someone else is talking, we often allow ourselves to think of other things. The problem? We stop listening. We miss what the other person said. We also miss nuances that make a big difference in the person’s meaning, even if they didn’t say it.

In my recent article, Are Your Relationships Working?, I mentioned “Be Present” as a key to building relationships. I don’t know about you, but I don’t feel a positive affinity when someone is unable or unwilling to listen to what I have to say. Also, as an excellent listener, I am always amazed by others who fail to hear due to bad habits or an unwillingness to be present.

So, what are the critical tips for “being present” during conversations? How does being present impact retention (aka relationships), revenues, and results? Keep reading!

5 Key Tips to Be Present When Listening

Be Focused. When entirely focused on the person speaking, what you learn and hear, and the solutions that can evolve are incredible. It’s true. Just listening and setting aside internal mental chatter makes the person feel valued and respected (aka retention).

Stop Multi-tasking. When listening, set aside your work, negative feelings, and other distractions (e.g., social media posts, gadgets, email notifications). That will allow you to hear the genuine concerns you will otherwise miss (think, customer and employee satisfaction).

Stay Mentally Focused. Instead of allowing yourself to think of rebuttals or allowing yourself to be triggered by what they’ve said, be present and listen. Yes, I understand; this is easier said than done. However, successful leaders learn not to be offended and address issues at the appropriate time.

Set Aside Answers. Too often, when we listen, we listen to develop a solution or answer the person … even when they don’t ask a question! Instead, be present and listen. Don’t offer ideas. Listen to just listen. Be a facilitator and guide the person to brainstorm, allowing them to develop their own answers.

Ask Questions. When you are present, you can ask questions that ensure you understand what is being said. Being present and listening will allow you to inquire into gaps in their thinking or contradictions. Use facts, not feelings, when asking questions (feelings are fleeting and usually don’t reflect the speaker’s words spoken at that moment).

©Jeannette Seibly 2023 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is The Leadership Results Coach. She’s celebrating 30 years as an award-winning international executive consultant, speaker, and business author. Her clients value the listening and positive difference she brings to any conversation. As a result, they can work through sticky situations and challenging relationships to become positive influencers. Contact Jeannette for a confidential discussion. PS: She’s also a three-time Amazon Best-Selling Author!

A note from Jeannette about being present when listening: It can be challenging to listen when someone is long-winded, or you have no interest in what s/he is saying. The problem? As a leader, not listening hurts your retention (aka relationships), revenues, and results. And being present and listening can make a big difference in what you hear. It allows you to reduce misinterpretations and hurt feelings. Contact me if you’re unclear about how to be present, especially when you don’t want to listen.

This week’s PODCAST: Listen to the Moments of Brilliance: You Don’t Have to Have the Answers! with my guest, Denise Roberts, on The Entrepreneurial Leader.

When You Apologize, It Influences Results

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“A good leader is unafraid to apologize because it positively influences relationships, revenues, and results.” Jeannette Seibly

A note from Jeannette about apologizing: Remember, no relationship is perfect, and all will have upsets. As a leader, learn how to apologize genuinely… it’s an essential part of communicating effectively. Contact me if you’re unclear about how to apologize or if your recent apology only created more upset.

An employee met with her boss to resolve a critical distribution issue. Unfortunately, he didn’t come prepared and didn’t have the answers. She kept pressing him for the answers she needed. Instead of apologizing for not coming prepared, he left the meeting upset with her. Thirty days later, she left the company.

In my last article, Are Your Relationships Working?, I was surprised by the number of leaders (and others) that said they never apologize. To them, it’s a sign of weakness! They are wrong. Actually, apologizing shows strength and confidence in yourself as a leader. It positively influences your results, retention (aka relationships), and revenues! If you don’t know if you apologize when needed, ask your coach and mentor.

It’s not hard to apologize for your mistakes, misunderstandings, or the words you chose (e.g., profanity, mispronouncing someone’s name, misusing jargon, etc.).

But when leaders refuse to apologize, they don’t realize the mischief and hurt feelings they’ve created:

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

Let me state this again … as a leader, you don’t have the luxury of not apologizing. It’s your responsibility to keep relationships positive with employees, co-workers, vendors, customers, and even your boss.

How to Make a Genuine Apology

Always start with honesty, courage, and respect, and extend the “olive branch.”

  1. Be present with what you said or the mistake you made. Please keep an open door so that team members can express their concerns. Set aside your ego and openly listen! Then, communicate immediately with your executive coach if you’re uncomfortable offering a genuine apology. Remember, the longer you wait, the more likely a mushroom-size issue becomes the size of a mountain with everyone taking sides!
  2. Offer “I’m sorry” or “I apologize.” Make it 1:1 or with the team (if appropriate). Otherwise, the elephant in the room will stop team members from listening and participating, negatively impacting your results.
  3. Listen to their response. If they are angry because you waited too long or you’ve humiliated them, listen and learn without rebuttal. Apologize once more after they’ve said what they needed to say. But don’t keep on apologizing if it’s not making a difference. Wait for cooler heads to prevail.
  4. Stop defending yourself. The situation happened. Being right or making them wrong won’t get the issue resolved and everyone back in focused action. Start with an apology. Share the goal or intended outcome. Ask if anyone has anything else to say. If they do, don’t defend or use excuses (e.g., “Yeah, but”). If they don’t, move on.
  5. Ask what you can do to resolve it. What needs to happen to move forward? Ask for their opinion and input. Then, wherever possible, use their idea(s) and follow through immediately. If you don’t, the resentment will continue to build.
  6. Forgiveness works magic. Genuine apologies allow you and them to let go of resentments. Then, true forgiveness is possible.

PS: Remember to forgive others who have offended you or made inappropriate comments.

Remember, all relationships have their upsets. As a leader, learn how to apologize genuinely… it’s an essential part of communicating effectively.

©Jeannette Seibly 2019-2023 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is The Leadership Results Coach. She’s celebrating 30 years as an award-winning international executive consultant, speaker, and coach. Her clients value the listening and positive difference she brings to any conversation. Feel stuck in a sticky situation or a challenging relationship? Want straightforward counsel to blast through it? Contact Jeannette for a confidential discussion. PS: She’s also a three-time Amazon Best-Selling Author!

This week’s PODCAST:

Listen to Do Whatever You Can to Serve Others with my guest, Deb Krier, on The Entrepreneurial Leader.

Are Your Relationships Working?

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“We all have relationships that work and those that do not. The common denominator is you. What can you do to improve them?” Jeannette Seibly

All leaders know that the quality of their leadership depends on the quality of their relationships. Yet, many lack clarity on maintaining and improving these valuable sources of information, comradery, and partnerships. Leaders know good working relationships produce better results, more fun, and increased job satisfaction. (Yes, even for the introverts reading this.)

But in professional relationships, we all have blind spots. Yet few of us take advantage of learning what they are and how to overcome them because we think we already know what they are. Do you see the irony? So let me help you: You have no idea what your blind spots are. That’s why they are called blind spots … they are blind to you. But they get in the way of others having a good working relationship with you!

7 Essential Tips to Improve Your Relationships

  1. Be Present. This is one of the most important yet overlooked ways to improve relationships. When in conversation, be present. Set aside distractions and mental chatter. It tells others, “They matter.”
  2. Listen. Just listening without responding makes a significant difference in people feeling comfortable talking with you. However, believing it’s not worth your time to listen causes future problems. Remember, failure to listen to a team member takes a mushroom-size issue and makes it an immovable mountain! After listening, be curious and ask questions (e.g., “Tell me more.” “Why is this important?” “How can I help?”)
  3. Apologize. Yes, this is a difficult one for many leaders (think, ego.) When you’ve upset someone or failed to honor your word (think, excuses), it’s time to apologize. All you need to say is, “I apologize.” Then, change the bad habit or forgetfulness that caused the issue.
  4. Stop Being Annoyed. Yes, this is a hard one. But the following exercise does work. (I know because I’ve used it!) First, write down three to five things that annoy you. Now, stop allowing yourself to be annoyed when these happen!
  5. Forgive Others. Holding onto grudges and being offended only hurts you! Talk it out with one trusted ally to gain perspective. Then, forgive yourself for being human and know that not everyone will like you as their leader. But, as the leader, you are responsible for creating a workable relationship with each and every team member. (Not the other way around. So, get to it!)
  6. Hire a Coach. Yes, the right coach can help you work through those “sticky-stuck” situations and politically charged relationships. So hire the right coach today and get the year off to a great start!
  7. Bridge the Communication Gap. I’ve found this an easy way to get people on the same page and talking with one another. First, use a qualified job fit assessment tool that provides objective information (not the type of assessment that shows how you want to be seen). For many years, I’ve used the granddaddy of objective job-fit assessment products: PXT Select. Example: I received a letter from two clients that needed to bridge a growing communication gap. They said, “I thought I knew the person. Yet, I discovered the other person wasn’t who I thought he was.” Remember, these assumptions and trying to be someone you’re not will always get in the way of building solid and effective relationships.

©Jeannette Seibly 2023 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is The Leadership Results Coach. She’s celebrating 30 years as an award-winning international executive consultant, speaker, and coach. Her clients value the listening and positive difference she brings to any conversation. Feel stuck in a sticky situation or a challenging relationship? Want straightforward counsel to blast through it? Contact Jeannette for a confidential discussion. PS: She’s also a three-time Amazon Best-Selling Author!

A note from Jeannette about relationships that work: I observed a situation where a team member let another team member ‘have it.’ A third team member, watching the interaction, leaned over and whispered to me, “This is why I like doing things on my own and not being part of a group of people.” I’m sure this has happened to you. And maybe you’ve expressed the same sentiment. But the truth is, as a leader, you must work with and through others to build strong relationships. So address that complicated relationship now. Contact me to resolve it now before it gets worse because they usually do.

Listen to the Building Relationships in Your Business with my guest, Marsha Haygood, on The Entrepreneurial Leader.

Creating Your 2023 Success Starts Today

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“We all have what it takes to succeed. But many of us do not want to do the work required.” Jeannette Seibly

It’s that time of the year when everyone is busy creating goals. The problem? In about 30 days, all those good intentions for success will be for naught! Many of you will have forgotten, become disillusioned, or didn’t realize how much work was involved. But there is an easier way … so get started today to create your 2023 success.

The Key Ingredients to Get You and Keep You in Focused-Action

  1. Set your goals. Before setting your 2023 goals, complete 2022! Take time to review What worked?/What Didn’t Work? Acknowledge your successes and lessons learned. Then, create no more than 3 BIG goals for personal and professional success. Yes, they need to be big enough to stretch from where you are now to where you want to be later this year. For example, if you’re already slated to be a team leader, creating that as a goal is not a stretch! Yet achieving the intended metrics and results with the team would be a stretch for any team leader. It’s inspiring too.
  2. Hire the right coach. Nobody achieves their goals alone. And asking for help is a good thing to do! But not every coach is the right one to guide you to success. So, select the right one and hire the person now.
  3. Address your inherent challenges and clarify your blind spots. Use qualified job fit and 360-degree feedback assessments. Why? These validated tools help you discover your core strengths to build on. For example, a maple tree’s roots are the core of it growing into a strong maple tree. But its strength would be diminished if it tried to be a palm tree. It’s the same with you. Build on your strengths! Using qualified assessments will show you who you are (aka your “core”) and not how you want to be seen. Work with your coach to review these valuable reports, stay focused, and willingly receive feedback from others.
  4. Put together the right team. Some people call them accountability partners. Pick one or two people with BIG goals that need your support. Have an upfront agreement to keep you and them in action and not let excuses get in the way!
  5. Schedule time to journal and meditate. These actions keep you focused on moving forward. It’ll also unveil whom you need to talk to and work with while using your strengths to stay in action. Make sure to use an easy system that works for you, even if it’s only 5 minutes per day.
  6. Have fun and celebrate. Every achievement, no matter how small, should be acknowledged. These brags build confidence. They also keep you in action when you want to quit (and you will), especially after you’ve made a mistake or find yourself in a difficult situation.

©Jeannette Seibly 2023 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is The Leadership Results Coach. She’s celebrating 30 years as an award-winning international executive consultant, speaker, and coach. Her clients value the listening and positive difference she brings to any conversation. Feel stuck in a sticky situation or in challenging relationships? Want straightforward counsel to blast through it? Contact Jeannette for a confidential discussion. PS: She’s also a three-time Amazon Best-Selling Author!

A note from Jeannette about creating your 2023 success today: We all have the best of intentions when we make our goals. However, those intentions will go by the way-side over 90% of the time without using the 6 key ingredients to get you and keep you in focused action now. Need help getting started? Want to stop before you even get started? (Yes, this happens frequently.) Contact me.

To learn more about goals, listen to my podcast, The Entrepreneurial Leader, with guest Deb Eckerling.

How Do You Improve Being Coachable, Especially When You Don’t Want To?

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“Why have a coach? Because a coach has you do what you don’t want to do so you can become amazingly successful!” Jeannette Seibly

Note: This is a reprint of the #1 article for 2022.

We’ve all been coachable and uncoachable. It’s part of being human.

Being coachable: You listen for feedback from people regardless of your feelings about them.

Being uncoachable and challenging to work with: You refuse to listen to others even when they are great results-producers.

Why are you uncoachable? It could be your:

  • Readiness to hear feedback or advice
  • Humiliation of what occurred (e.g., poorly done presentation)
  • Low self-esteem or ego
  • Workplace environment views coaching negatively
  • Need to do it your way or on your own

Regardless of your reasoning, developing your listening skills and being coachable is critical.

The bottom line is that every successful leader, boss, and high-performance person has a coach! Think of the NBA, business leaders, and sales teams with excellent sales results. They know that while the advice and feedback may not be delivered flawlessly to their liking, it’s important to be coachable. Setting aside their ego avoids costly errors, team conflict, and poor customer results.

How Do You Improve Being Coachable and Achieve the Success You Really Want?

Be Present and Make the Time. “Is it an appropriate time to talk?” For example, bosses may call you when your kids demand your attention, or you’re in a department store. When this happens, ask, “Can I call you back in ½ hour when I can hear you?” Then, make the call in ½ an hour! Why? When distracted, you cannot present what is being said and will overlook critical feedback details.

Listen to Feedback About You. Listen carefully when the feedback originates from a team member, customer, or executive. There is an important lesson to learn here. To be coachable, listen without defending your actions, words, or thoughts about the person who complained. Instead, a couple of questions to ask: “Can you be more specific?” and “What would you recommend that I do?”

Transform Your Mindset When You Make Mistakes. There will be days you don’t do your best, create team conflict, or say the wrong thing. When someone complains, your ego will feel the need to defend your actions and blame others for the results. Breathe! Apologize! Stick with the facts, not your feelings about the person, situation, or other factors. Instead, ask, “What can I specifically do to change the outcome?” Remember, your future career options require taking responsibility and being coachable!

Review All Project Results Before, During, and After. Too often, you’re open and ready to hear feedback when a project is working. But when a project has or is about to fail, you become defensive, stop listening, and turn it into a debate. Remember, there is always room for improvement. In preparation for these crucial conversations, complete this exercise: “What Worked?/What Didn’t Work?”

Seek Out Coaching When You Need Clarity. There is a myth that you need to know the answer before asking for help. It’s not true! Instead, be open to listening to the feedback and be coachable. For example, ask, “Do you have 5 minutes? I’m unclear on what I need to do to make this project work?” Share the specifics about the goal and actions taken. Always say, “Thank you.” Even when you don’t like their answers be coachable. It could make the difference between successful results and failure.

Listen for the Gold … especially when the little voice in your head is chirping, “I don’t want or need to hear it.” It takes practice to master the skill of being coachable. In turn, you will accelerate your leadership development, relationships, and business results.

©Jeannette Seibly 2022 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is The Leadership Results Coach. She’s celebrating 30 years as an award-winning international executive consultant, speaker, and coach. Her clients value the listening and positive difference she brings to any conversation. Feel stuck in a sticky situation or in challenging relationships? Want straightforward counsel to blast through it? Contact Jeannette for a confidential discussion. PS: She’s also a three-time Amazon Best-Selling Author!

A Note from Jeannette about being coachable: Successful leaders have coaches. Being coachable isn’t hard if you’re open to feedback and asking for help. Start with your coach to resolve a challenging situation or relationship today. These issues rarely disappear on their own! Do you feel stuck? Not clear what the real problem is? You’re not alone. Contact me for a confidential conversation.

When was the last time you got honest about your leadership issues? Many employees today do not trust their bosses and leaders. Many leaders believe they already understand their blind spots. But they fail to get objective data to help them do the right things correctly. It’s essential to get actual objective data to improve your leadership. Click here for details.

Leaders, You Need to Regain Trust Now

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“Trust is the foundation in any relationship, especially when you are the leader.” Jeannette Seibly

Which leader are you? Which leader would you want to work for?

  1. A leader was well-known by his employees for spending money on his own personal interests. As a result, there were no pay increases, and bonuses were infrequent and minor. Finally, when the leader sold the business and stayed, the employees demanded that he be fired. “We couldn’t trust him as our leader, and we don’t trust him as a team member.”
  2. Another leader led his employees without allowing his ego to get in the way. He also pursued self-interests, but not at the expense of his employees. He hired right and made sure they had the tools and resources needed. He made himself available to guide them through making decisions, resolving conflicts, and handling sticky situations. His employees trusted him.

During these past several years, employees have stopped trusting their leaders to do the right things the right way. While many people like to blame the economy, pandemic, and other outside factors, the truth is that these leaders do not talk straight, renege on promises, and hire and promote people that don’t fit their jobs.

As a leader, you must regain your employees’ trust NOW. The longer you wait, the harder it will become; eventually, trust can never be regained.

Here Are Three Ways to Regain Trust

Talk Straight. Instead of talking around an issue or subject, tell the truth.

  • Talk directly with the employee to provide performance feedback and coaching.
  • Expect resolutions to conflicts and be proactive in getting them resolved.
  • Value relationships by talking straight while being kind and compassionate.
  • Straight talk does not mean unleashing your anger or upset on another person.
  • Stop waffling around decisions. Make them fact-based, and include relevant human factors that are consistent with company values. This includes win-win-win outcomes for the customer, employee, and company.

Make Promises and Keep Them. Level up your ability to listen and listen to yourself when speaking. Too many leaders don’t listen well (or at all) or remember their promises. When making an agreement, write it down! Send an email … This is my understanding … Be open to negotiations within reason. Remember, respect, valuing others, and integrity are non-negotiable.

Hire and Promote for Job Fit. One of the most significant and often unrecognized issues that cause employees to stop trusting their leaders. When leaders hire using the instinctive/intuitive/gut approach, it doesn’t work (and never did). Many exhausted employees hate the constant turnover of new employees that cannot and will not do the job. Then, having their leader/boss manipulate them to “keep at it” and “make it work” upsets them and no longer works. You cannot force a square peg into a round hole! Instead, design a well-thought-out strategic selection process. Use qualified assessments that ensure job fit and tools to safeguard safety and well-being.

©Jeannette Seibly 2022 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is The Leadership Results Coach. She’s celebrating 30 years as an award-winning international executive consultant, speaker, and coach. Her clients value the listening and positive difference she brings to any conversation. Feel stuck in a sticky situation or in challenging relationships? Want straightforward counsel to blast through it? Contact Jeannette for a confidential discussion. PS: She’s also a three-time Amazon Best-Selling Author!

A note from Jeannette about regaining trust as a leader: During these past several years, employees have stopped trusting their leaders to do the right things the right way. Now is the time to transform this belief before another year goes by. Are you uncertain about what to do? Do you need to talk it out? Contact me for a confidential conversation.

When was the last time you got honest about your leadership issues? Many employees today do not trust their bosses and leaders. Many leaders believe they already understand their blind spots. But they fail to get objective data to help them do the right things correctly. It’s essential to get actual objective data to improve your leadership. Click here for details.