Team

Every Successful Leader Sparks Trust and Keeps It

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“Without trust, your team, boss, and customers will not take you seriously and dismiss what you say or do.” Jeannette Seibly

A trusting team is a team made up of people who feel safe around each other—safe expressing their feelings, asking for help, talking about problems, and admitting to mistakes. Simon Sinek

Successful leaders have learned how to spark trust and keep it growing. They know trust builds credibility over time.

They’ve also learned the hard way that one wrong decision or withholding important information can diminish trust. To improve trust, some leaders have had to alter their management style. For example, stop micromanaging, demanding too much, and playing office politics at the expense of others. These are trust killers, not trust builders.

How to Spark Trust

Trust Your Team. First, you must trust your team members. It doesn’t mean you overlook half-truths, missed deadlines, or poor quality. If someone says they cannot get a task done by a specific time, listen and ask, “What do you need from me?” Team members that feel trusted will go above and beyond to achieve the intended results.

Learn from Mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes, including you! Yelling or expressing frustration at team members will not build trust! (If you do this, it’s time to hire an executive coach to learn new ways of expressing yourself!) Instead, together, conduct an objective review of “what worked/what didn’t work?” Acknowledge things that were well-done. Then, specifically, address two things to improve. Use your natural curiosity and ability to ask good questions to guide the team to build new solutions. The process will build trust (and respect) for you as a leader and team synergy.

Embrace Tough Conversations. Most leaders will do anything to avoid them. But if you don’t uncover the underlying factual issues, progress on projects will fail. The team will stop trusting you, and mischief and finger-pointing will erupt–spark trust. Instead, encourage resourcefulness and brainstorming of new ideas, and champion your team’s ability to work through conflict or issues.

Be Known for Straight Talk. Say what you mean and mean what you say. Allow others the freedom to do the same, to disagree with you and others without repercussions. This makes THE difference between your team trusting you to look out for them or feeling manipulated to get the job done (while not believing a word you have to say). When a project has not met the customer’s needs, tell the truth about why. Avoid spinning the facts to make yourself look good and your team feels good. Remember, they want to learn and grow.

Brag about Your Team! Sharing successes about each and every team member makes a positive difference and builds trust. Be aware of each team member’s contribution … no matter how small. When speaking with others, brag about your team’s successes and mean it!

©Jeannette Seibly 2020-2022 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is The Leadership Results Coach. She has been an award-winning international executive and family business management consultant, keynote speaker, and author for over 29 years. Her focus is to guide leaders to make a positive difference. Feel stuck moving your team forward? Want straightforward counsel on how to do it? Let’s chat! Contact Jeannette for a confidential conversation.

A Note from Jeannette about sparking and keeping trust: trust is required to be a successful leader. When you make a poor decision, you need to own it. When you assign the best-liked tasks to your favorite team members, you need to stop doing that! Building trust with your team, boss, and customers is how you achieve great results. Have you taken a misstep? (Don’t worry, many do.) It’s essential to “clean it up” asap. Let’s Chat!

Self-confidence is an inside job … a life-long practice. Developing confidence in your career and your life … without comparing these pursuits and results with others … allows you to pursue and achieve goals that are meaningful to you. Grab the 9 tips required to develop the self-confidence you’ve always wanted (FREE).

What Happens When You’re Given an Opportunity Before You Are Ready?

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“Everyone has the capabilities to excel. But the challenge is, do they have the awareness and willingness to do the work required?” Jeannette Seibly

You’re offered a new opportunity. After talking with your trusted coach and mentor, you know you’re not ready. But what do you do? Here’s the dilemma. Taking it can cause potential failure. And, not taking it could limit future opportunities.

Sam accepted a leadership position with the promise of even more significant opportunities in the future. He had the administrative skills required. But Sam lacked the experience of leading a team, having always been a team member. Instead of asking for help and guidance, Sam faced potential failure when he complained about the same things as when he was a team member! He failed to realize he was now responsible for providing those resources he previously complained about!  

Accepting new opportunities before you’re ready can derail your future. Don’t be in too big of a hurry to get the new job title, make more money, or enjoy the prestige of moving up in the company. Or, you may struggle and eventually derail future career opportunities.

What is Required to Get Ready Now?

Job Fit. Today, many people don’t like their jobs because they don’t fit their job responsibilities! To avoid this, use a valid job-fit assessment. The reports provide objective awareness of the strengths required for your new position and your challenge areas. Remember, you cannot change who you are. For example, as a team member, you may be fearless in talking with others (strength). But as a team leader, this same strength can get in your way of listening to the team (weakness).

Get Real. New opportunities require moving forward outside your comfort zone. They also will require new levels of communication, project management, and emotional intelligence, which are hindered by leadership blind spots. Because many of these job requirements are unwritten, shadow the current incumbent in the job. Ask questions. Don’t assume you won’t have similar challenges. (You will.) Ask them what they’ve done to overcome these issues.

Hire an External Coach and Seek Out an Internal Mentor. Be coachable! Ask for help and seek guidance immediately before you get mired in sticky situations or political relationships that sabotage your future opportunities.

Do the Real Work. While mantras can keep you focused, they don’t replace doing the real work. For example, you’ll fail if you ignore team conflict complaints and respond with mantras (e.g., “Every team has their challenges, it’ll get better.”). Resolution often needs difficult decisions (unpopular) and challenging conversations. Work with your executive coach now.

Emotional Intelligence. Mindful awareness and resilience are required in many positions today, especially leadership. There will be mistakes made and failures too. Your ability to handle these can make a big difference in being open to learning from them.

Leadership Savvy. Microaggressions, playing favorites, and not listening to others are the downfall of many in new positions. Instead, set a positive example. It starts with you and the team being trained. These workshops should include conflict resolution, brainstorming, diversity, project management, critical thinking, and execution of projects. Now, develop the habit of using these skills, and your team will follow your lead.

Project Management. Many overlook the people side and the logistical side of conducting effective meetings. Both are critical to any project or program’s design, process, and execution.

  • People side: Develop your team members, focus on their strengths and include everyone when brainstorming.
  • Logistical side: Develop and incorporate budget, technology, operations, sales, and marketing into every project or program.

There is a cross-over in these areas as well. For example, marketing is a budget item, and who is the person to best create and implement the plan? While you don’t need to be an expert, you need a good basic working knowledge of all these areas. Asking questions will be one of the most productive skills you can develop.

©Jeannette Seibly 2022 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is The Leadership Results Coach. She is an award-winning international executive and family business management consultant, keynote speaker, and author for over 29 years. Her focus is to guide leaders to make a positive difference. Feel stuck moving your team forward? Want straightforward counsel on how to do it? Let’s chat! Contact Jeannette for a confidential conversation.

A Note from Jeannette about being ready for new opportunities: accepting new opportunities before being ready has derailed many people’s careers. The key is to develop the leadership, communication, and other required skills before accepting your new opportunity! Are you struggling to be ready, but your boss is in the way? Let’s Chat!

Are you putting the right team members on the wrong team? Giving people opportunities before they are ready will diminish the intended results. It will also hurt their future career options. Improve your interviewing skills by grabbing your FREE copy of the best 16 Must-Read Tips for Productive Hiring Interviews

5 Tips to Keep You Moving Forward When You Want to Stop

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“Words only go so far; action is what matters.” Diane Putvin, Business Partner & Coach

For those committed to success, get unstuck and be coachable! The longer you stay stuck, the harder it is to unravel the true issue. Jeannette Seibly

All of us have goals and a long to-do list. Some of us have our goals written down, while others keep them locked in their heads. But what happens when we get stuck and stop believing in ourselves? It’s all too common to give up when negative thoughts and feelings get in the way.

Here are some methods you may not have considered to get unstuck and move forward toward success.

How to Keep Moving Forward

Hone Your To-Do List Down to Only 2 or 3 Priorities. Now, honor it. Eliminate your mental or emotional need to add more and more. When your boss, team member, or family asks for help, be willing to negotiate or say, “no.” If you provide assistance, don’t take on more than you can handle. Example, if someone is having trouble setting up a YouTube channel, and it’s not your area of expertise, refer them to someone that can do it. Now, refocus on your own priorities.

Create Focused Action Steps and Don’t Rely on Mantras. While mantras can help you stay in action (e.g., “I can do this, and I do it.”), they are not enough to achieve your goals. Get into action. Work with your coach to create true action steps, and don’t change the goal to fit the progress made. Now fulfill these actions step-by-step, day-by-day. Congratulate yourself along the way. For example, I enjoy working on 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzles. But these can take a long time to complete since I only have a limited amount of time to spend on them. So, after an hour, I celebrate with a “Great job!” and make a mental plan to work on a specific area of the puzzle next time.

Focus on Fun. However, do not rely on humor to excuse inactivity or lack of progress. Humor can be fun when used appropriately. But when it’s used to diminish ourselves or our team, it works like a weapon. Words matter. Focus on engaging and fun practices to make the job or tasks go smoother. It keeps you and your team in action. Remember, clear goals and fine-tuned action plans keep everyone engaged and on the same page. Example, send out an appropriate comic or update on your project daily to keep everyone informed and engaged.

Accept Feedback with Grace and Gratitude. Ask for help by talking with your coach, mentor, or friend. First, share what has been working, then no more than two areas where you are stuck. Now, listen to the feedback, take notes, and get back into action immediately. Example, a bad practice is posting your request on social media or asking more than two people to “pick their brains.” Why? You will go into overwhelm due to the diverse suggestions and end up remaining stuck. 

Eliminate Burnout. Stop adding more and more things to do, either mentally or physically. Delegate, stop doing it, or question if you should do it at all. These will avoid burnout. Add self-care to the top of your list. Now, admit you need a break and honor it. Example, if you value time to read a novel, schedule it! If you need a mani or pedi, schedule it and don’t cancel or reschedule!

©Jeannette Seibly 2022 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is The Leadership Results Coach. She is an award-winning international executive and family business management consultant, keynote speaker, and author for over 29 years. Her focus is to guide leaders to make a positive difference. Feel stuck moving your team forward? Want straightforward counsel on how to do it? Contact Jeannette for a confidential conversation.

A Note from Jeannette about moving forward when you want to stop: too many of us have too many things to get done. So how do we keep moving forward when we want to pull the covers up over our heads or run away? Read this week’s article for ideas to keep moving forward while being kind to yourself. Do you need a cheerleader or help getting your complex issues resolved? Let’s do it! Let’s Chat!

Are you tired of pushing your team to do what needs to be done? If you are, you’ve probably selected the wrong team members. Improve your interviewing skills by grabbing your FREE copy of the best 16 Must-Read Tips for Productive Hiring Interviews.

Effective Leaders Don’t Use These 7 Excuses!

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“Leaders must be accountable and stop offering excuses for their poor results.” Jeannette Seibly

Many leaders say and do things they believe will make them look good! But worse, they often blame others, thinking it will excuse their poor results!

The problem? When leaders don’t take responsibility for their results, teams and bosses feel demoralized and not valued by these thoughtless excuses that make them the scapegoats.

If you want to be effective as a leader, you need to remember “words matter!” Actions and “no excuses” do too!

It’s up to you to roll up your sleeves and get involved in creating solutions, not excuses!

Don’t Use These 7 Excuses!

  1. “I need better people to get the job done.” It’s time to do a better job of hiring the right people for job fit! Improve your interviews and selection tools.
  2. “My team doesn’t know what they’re doing.” Just because a person has a certificate doesn’t mean they have the experience to use the skills! Effective leaders provide continuous training and opportunities to develop people and their “hands-on” technical, financial, operational, and people skills. Examples include diversity, listening and asking questions, budgeting, critical thinking, project planning, execution, etc.
  3. “If this person doesn’t work out, I’ll just fire the person and hire a new one.” Have you calculated the cost of a hiring mistake? It’s very expensive.
  4. “If I just had the right team, the client wouldn’t have canceled the contract.” Unfortunately, ineffective leaders lack the interest, experience, and coachability to get the intended results! It’s important to remember that every successful project has a technical/financial side (e.g., budget, plan, online project calendars) and a human side (e.g., assigning tasks based on job fit, brainstorming ideas, managing team conflict). Effective leaders have learned how to manage both simultaneously.
  5. “My boss is an idiot. We need better resources and a larger budget to get the job done.” I’ve seen leaders fired over this statement, not for the obvious reason! It’s because they did not take the initiative and find the resources to get the job done by working with and through their team! Effective leaders are accountable.
  6. “We’re stuck, and no one is helping.” If you’re waiting for someone to rescue you (e.g., boss, vendor, or co-worker), they’re waiting for you to ask for help! Don’t delay! The answers to your questions are in others’ heads, not your own. Talk with your executive coach, professional network, and brainstorm with the team. Only pick 1 or 2 suggestions and run with them!
  7. “I’m too busy to deal with it now.” Busyness is a popular excuse that conveys “you’re ineffective as a leader.” Remember the famous quote? “If you want something done, ask a busy person.” (Benjamin Franklin)

Your primary job is to provide the resources, coaching, and clarity when your team needs help to get the job done. It’s how unprecedented results are achieved! It’s what effective leaders do!

©Jeannette Seibly 2022 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is The Leadership Results Coach. She has guided the creation of three millionaires and countless 6-figure income professionals. For the past 29 years, she has been an award-winning international executive and family business management consultant, keynote speaker, and author. Having challenges finding, hiring, and keeping top talent? Don’t wait! It won’t get better the longer you wait! It’ll only get worse and more expensive. Contact Jeannette for a confidential conversation.

A Note from Jeannette about effective leaders and excuses: Many leaders say and do things they believe will make them look good. They use these as excuses for their poor results! The problem? Most teams and bosses don’t hear these excuses and instead feel the blame! If you want to be effective as a leader, you need to remember that “words matter!” Actions do too! Need help improving your effectiveness as a leader? Let’s Chat!

Is your boss tired of your excuses for why your team is not performing? Then, it’s time to update your hiring practices. To improve your interviewing skills, grab your FREE copy of the best 16 Tips to Conduct Effective and Productive Hiring Interviews Today.

Do You Want to Improve Your Leadership? Stop Pouncing on Others!

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“As a leader, when you pounce, it limits your ability to build team confidence and achieve results.” Jeannette Seibly

Cats love pouncing on their prey — a mouse or toy. It’s their way of playing and can reduce the stress or frustrations they may be experiencing.

But what happens when a leader pounces? It isn’t enjoyable for team members and can be very disruptive. Instead of alleviating anyone’s stress or frustrations, it creates mistrust, lack of loyalty, and loss of top talent. And, is often irreversible!

Here’s the definition of pounce: Notice and take swift and eager advantage of a mistake, remark, or sign of weakness.

As a leader, when you pounce, you are not only being ineffective but also being destructive.

Leaders pounce when triggered by:

  • Mistakes made with no responsibility taken
  • Deadlines missed due to mismanaged team conflict
  • Projects over budget due to a lack of resourcefulness
  • Teams stuck due to frustrations or upsets
  • A situation perceived as making them look stupid

A good leader doesn’t use these excuses to pounce since they focus on building good, solid team performance.

The good news is, if you improve your leadership results, you will stop pouncing.

How to Stop Pouncing to Improve Results

Manage Self:

  • Develop emotional intelligence. Take responsibility for your feelings, frustrations, and upsets.
  • Work with an external executive coach. Address leadership and communication challenges when working with and through others.
  • Use a job-fit assessment and 360-degree feedback assessment. These tools clarify challenges, why they occur, and how to work through them.
  • Find and listen to an internal company or industry mentor. S/he can broaden your perspective by sharing others’ challenges and how they worked through them.

Manage Team: 

  • Listen and be open to new possibilities. Manage problems by encouraging new solutions.
  • Use mistakes as learning moments. Stop the blame game.
  • Create a quality-focused mindset. Stop allowing mediocrity or consistent mistakes by ensuring job fit and providing additional training.
  • Develop structured team reviews of a project. Get unstuck quickly with the exercise, What’s working? / What’s not working?
  • Expand your team’s Listen to ideas and build on them.
  • Manage team members to be resourceful. Engage them in critical thinking (e.g., ROI, impact on others, implementing change, etc.).

When you stop being triggered and stop pouncing, you will improve your leadership and, more importantly, your results.

©Jeannette Seibly, 2010-2022 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is The Leadership Results Coach. She has guided the creation of three millionaires and countless 6-figure income professionals. During the past 29 years, she has become an award-winning international executive and family business management consultant, and keynote speaker. Still unable to achieve the results you need to keep your customers, team, or job? Don’t wait! It won’t get better without help! Contact Jeannette for a confidential conversation.

A Note from Jeannette about pouncing: when leaders pounce, they are not managing their upsets, triggers, or frustrations. While it may seem like an excellent way to express and relieve tension and frustration, pouncing creates more stress and upset for everyone! When you feel stuck and frustrated, it’s time to work through it and not pounce! Contact me for a confidential conversation.

Are you feeling frustrated and unable to find the right person for the job? Take the time and use a well-designed interview process to facilitate a conversation and clarify their fit with the job. It’s time well-spent. To improve your interviewing skills, grab your FREE copy of 16 Tips to Conduct Effective and Productive Hiring Interviews Today.

Assumptions Limit Leaders’ Ability to Influence Positive Results

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“Too often, we allow assumptions to get in our way. The truth is, we can stop them but usually don’t!” Jeannette Seibly

Leaders often take the tiniest bits of information and make various assumptions. The problem? It lacks accurate, objective data. These assumptions cause a lot of mischief, brouhaha, and negativity in the workplace. Also, these assumptions influence the ability to work with and through the team to achieve intended results. Sadly, once they occur, they are often irreversible.

The truth … we are often wrong about our assumptions. Yet we use them to justify how we treat people and view situations. And as a current or future leader, these assumptions can sideline your career.

With his boss’s support, a young man presented at his company’s board meeting. The presentation went well. The problem occurred when a board member said, “S*#T.” So, the young man mimicked him, believing it made him sound business-like. Based on this one utterance, the board assumed he didn’t have the career maturity or potential they had hoped for. His career was sidelined and he was never told why!

These types of issues occur too frequently when we rely on our assumptions. Here are some ways to avoid this career trap and cause your results to improve dramatically.

Seven Tips to Reduce Assumptions and Improve Results

  1. Check the facts. Read more than the salacious headlines from news media by deep diving and researching for the truth. In addition, ask for guidance from mentors and/or your executive coach.
  2. Embrace listening and curiosity. Leaders that listen objectively, ask good questions, and engage others in conversations are more successful. Why? People feel honored to be asked, heard, and valued! It reduces assumptions and creates new possibilities.
  3. Stop making things mean so much. When you overreact, you lose objectivity for people, situations, and things. Just because someone didn’t smile at you or return your “good morning” greeting doesn’t mean they are upset with you. Stop. Ask, “How are you today?” Then, listen. Often, their reaction had nothing to do with you!
  4. Stop invalidating people for the risks they take. Example, a condo owner listed his home $50K above market. His neighbors assumed that he was taking an unnecessary risk and that it would not sell! But when his condo sold at $20K above-market a month later, his neighbors increased the equity in their homes! (You’re welcome!) This is an example of a win-win-win! Where have you listened to someone who invalidated you and/or your risk based on poorly informed assumptions?
  5. Learn how to negotiate. It’s good to negotiate a price when buying certain items. Some businesses will allow these types of transactions, while many will not. Remember, the critical factor in making it a win-win-win process is setting aside your assumptions (e.g., they won’t give me what I want). Keys: Do not become emotionally attached to your position, price, or how it should work! This ensures a rewarding outcome for both parties.
  6. Develop emotional intelligence. Stop making everything about you. If others can easily trigger you, work with a therapist to become more astute as a leader. If you’re black and white in your thinking, learn how to include the human factor in your decisions.
  7. Stop inferring or making assumptions about people’s personalities. This is true when hiring, coaching, and managing people. For example, we infer that if a person didn’t bring a pen to a job interview, they don’t come prepared to meetings! Or when a person makes a mistake, they are in the wrong job. Nonsense! Get real! Use qualified job-fit assessments to discover a person’s true job fit traits and how to coach them for success.

©Jeannette Seibly 2022 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is The Leadership Results Coach. She has guided the creation of three millionaires and countless 6-figure income professionals. During the past 29 years, she has become an award-winning international executive and family business management consultant, and keynote speaker. Still unable to achieve the results you need to keep your customers, team, or job? Don’t wait! It won’t get better without help! Contact Jeannette for a confidential conversation.

A Note from Jeannette about making assumptions. We’ve all heard the saying, “Assuming makes an ass out of you and me.” The problem is, we still do it way too often! This trap hurts our relationships, results, and ability to keep great talent and customers! Do you need help overcoming this insidious habit and mindset? Contact me for a confidential conversation.

Overcome your assumptions during the hiring and selection process. It’ll increase your retention, revenues, and results! To improve your interviewing techniques, grab your FREE copy of 16 Tips to Conduct Effective and Productive Hiring Interviews Today.

Embrace New Ideas to Build Loyalty

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Recently, I talked with a business leader who wanted people to show up and do their work. “I know what needs to be done; they simply need to do what I tell them to do.”

While this type of mindset worked decades ago, it no longer does. Instead, every successful leader must create an innovative workplace culture that embraces new ideas while focusing on intended results. That’s how you build loyalty to yourself, your company, and company brand. And, the bonus is that your top talent will stay and continue to excel (think, improve retention).

Four Tips to Build Loyalty for Required Results

LISTEN as though your results depend on it … because they do! Your team members often have the best answers. Put aside your automatic judgment about the idea’s feasibility and who offered it. Now, listen.

Exercise: Ban electronic gadgets and ensure everyone has the opportunity to voice their ideas or concerns. When you run into naysayers, have them create five reasons why the idea could work. Now, review and allow these reasons to spark new solutions everyone can align on.

LEARN how to brainstorm … it’s not hard … get out of the way. You will not build loyalty or innovation when you are an automatic “No!” Authentically brainstorm new ideas, processes, and procedures. Be willing to go outside the box of how things have been done normally.

Exercise: Put together your goal, action plan, and timetable. Then, move the timetable back by 50% (example: if the goal is due in one year, make it six months). You’ll be surprised by the loyalty, commitment, and new ideas that can cause you to succeed when you don’t overthink them.   (Read about Pfizer’s achieving the impossible by getting the COVID vaccines to market quickly and effectively.)

OPEN your mind to new possibilities. While this sounds easy, it’s genuinely not. It’s very easy to stay comfortable, not rock the boat, and allow your biases to get in the way! Now is a great time to expand your thinking, the way work is done, and improve harnessing your team’s ideas!

Exercise: To build loyalty and new ideas, you must acknowledge each and every idea that is shared. It doesn’t mean you’ll use these ideas. But when you say, “Great idea” or “Interesting idea, tell me more,” you open up the conversations and people’s minds for new solutions.

BE RESPONSIBLE and manage for results, not personalities. Manage the project and plan of action every day or week (depending on how soon the result is needed). Stay focused on the processes and milestones.

Exercise: Ask the tough questions to ensure people are on track and not just telling you what you want to hear. Remember, it’s better to learn about problems now than after the plan or project has been launched! If there’s team conflict, resolve it by using straight talk.

©Jeannette Seibly, 2010-2022  All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is The Leadership Results Coach. She has guided the creation of three millionaires and countless 6-figure income professionals. During the past 29 years, she has become an award-winning international executive and family business management consultant, and keynote speaker. Still unable to achieve the results you need to keep your customers, team, or job? Don’t wait! It won’t get better without help! Contact Jeannette for a confidential conversation.

A Note from Jeannette about building loyalty for required results: Too often, you fall into the trap of wanting your team to do the work assigned and not offer new ideas. You might believe those ideas will make your job more time-consuming. Sadly, this belief keeps you in your comfort zone and will not build loyalty or retain top talent! Building loyalty and exceptional team results is not hard but requires you, as the leader, to get out of the way! Still having challenges getting your team to excel and achieve required results? Contact me for a confidential conversation.

Building a solid team that excels requires selecting the right person for the right job! Team results reflect your ability to hire and choose the right team members. Unfortunately, too many bosses today rely on intuitive hiring. Then, they wonder why only 10% of their teams produce the required results! To improve your interviewing techniques, grab your FREE copy of 16 Tips to Conduct Effective and Productive Hiring Interviews Today.

Are Likable Leaders Really Effective Leaders?

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“If you want people to relate to you as an effective leader, focus on respect and likability.” Jeannette Seibly

When a leader’s primary need is to be likable, it’s a fool’s game. If this is your focus, you will make poor decisions, focus on yourself (aka ego), and accept mediocrity while failing to provide much-needed feedback to your team!

Over 90% of employees complain that communication issues make their leaders ineffective. (Inc.com) These leaders focus on being likable and are unable (and unwilling) to provide truthful feedback, acknowledge others’ efforts and ideas, and even fail to learn their employees’ names.

In other words, they are ineffective leaders.

So, what is missing? Respect!

To be an effective leader today, focus on developing both: being likable and respected! Being both requires YOU to focus on others while improving team development, customer satisfaction, performance, productivity, and profitability.

Common Ways to Boost Being Likable and Respected

Develop Your Emotional Intelligence. Be present and aware, and use mindful resilience to guide you in developing your teams and team members. Remember, as a leader, your focus is on having them excel.

Ask these questions:

  • What do they need? Ask, listen, and make it happen!
  • What are their professional and personal goals? Ask, listen, and offer them opportunities!
  • How can I acknowledge their successes? Look for ways to say, “Great work!”

Share Feedback by Talking Straight or Soften Your Approach. It’s best to tell the truth appropriately. While some welcome the straight-talk approach, some team members may be uncomfortable or intimated. Example: “Is that report done yet?” In these cases, soften your approach. Keep it short and simple. Example: “I have an early morning meeting and would like to review the report before my meeting. Is it possible to get it this afternoon?”

Ask for Input and Build Results. When you come across as a know-it-all, team members stop participating. It shows blatant disrespect! Instead of talking over them or ignoring their ideas, ask questions to learn more. Then, use their input to build better outcomes and results. (Don’t forget to say, “Thank you for your great ideas!”)

Give Assignments Based on People’s Strengths. Use a qualified job fit assessment to help you effectively manage and coach your team. Remember, assigning the “bad jobs” to people you don’t like, or the “fun or good jobs” to your favorites will cause dissension and possible litigation (e.g., EEO lawsuits). Also, you can use this same assessment to build a diverse team and train team members to appreciate everyone’s differences.

Seek Ways to Develop Each and Every Team Member. Use 1:1 meetings to ask about their goals and offer opportunities to develop required skills. Example: If someone wants to become a manager of a big project, offer to hire a coach NOW for the person to develop the right presentation, people management, and project management skills.

Make the Right Decisions and Share “Why” with the Team. Making win-win-win decisions is crucial—sharing “why” with your team builds trust. To avoid trial and error and common miscommunication, hire yourself an executive coach. You will broaden your perspective before, during, and after decisions are made (your decisions create an impact: good, bad, and not-so-good). Also, find one or two industry mentors to guide you along the way. Now, ask for help, listen, and be coachable!

©Jeannette Seibly 2022 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is The Leadership Results Coach. She has guided the creation of three millionaires and countless 6-figure income professionals. During the past 29 years, she has become an award-winning international executive and family business management consultant and keynote speaker. Still unable to achieve the results you need to keep your customers, team, or job? Don’t wait! It won’t get better without help! Contact Jeannette for a confidential conversation.

A Note from Jeannette about being a likable and respected effective leader: Can you be both likable and respected? Yes! Both are required to be highly effective in today’s workplace. What do you need to develop for your team to like and respect you? Are you feeling challenged in this area? Contact me for a confidential conversation.

I’ve been interviewing people for jobs for well over 30 years. Although the economy and types of jobs have changed dramatically, many hiring practices have not. You will miss out if you have not upgraded your interview and selection processes to attract top talent. To improve your interviewing techniques, grab your FREE copy of 16 Tips to Conduct Effective and Productive Hiring Interviews Today.

Hey Results Producers, Why Aren’t You Producing Required Results?

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“Indulging in our comfort zones impedes our ability to produce amazing results.” Jeannette Seibly

Believe it or not, you’re the reason.

You’ve allowed yourself to get in your own way! You’ve accepted mediocrity. But mediocrity doesn’t keep customers and a great team, or get you promoted. It also disrupts others’ perceptions of you as a valued leader, boss, or team member.

The good news?

Many of you have already:

  • Become results producers who can produce the required results.
  • Received the right coaching from your boss, team, and/or coach.
  • Developed the insights, experience, and skills needed to make a positive difference.
  • Moved past perceived limitations and other issues that generally get in the way.

So, what’s in the way? Hubris, ego, and excuses now dominate your mind and get in the way of achieving the required results (e.g., resolving team conflict, going the extra mile for a customer, learning a new skill, etc.).

You may say, “But I’m tired. I want to be comfortable. I want to do the minimum to keep my job.” Consider none of that is true. Instead, pay attention … the most interesting phenomenon is that you feel energized when you become a results producer producing the required results!

How to be Energized and Produce Required Results

Take the nudge and get energized to get the most out of this article! Go beyond just reading these examples and take focused-action on a project or task, or complete a difficult conversation. This movement will cause you to be a results producer that produces the required results!

Be Coachable. Yes, there are bad coaches out there! But don’t let that stop you from finding the right coach! Then, listen. Take responsibility for correcting any actions that have taken you off track with your team, customers, and/or boss! (Apologies work wonders when not accompanied by excuses!) Remember, every results producer, leader, and boss has a coach! It’s up to you to be coachable … whether you feel like it or not!

Example: An author was a good mystery writer and won awards. Yet failed to sell books. Every time the coach would tell him to focus on selling and give him doable ideas, he’d come up with a list of excuses. His favorite is, “I just don’t feel it would make a difference.” Needless to say, he has 100s of books sitting in his garage.

Work With and Through the Team. We all have teams, bosses, and customers for whom we are responsible for providing excellent service! The issue is that when you have a challenge or problem, you rely on the familiar thought, “I’ve got it all handled.” Consider you don’t, and you fail to get into the type of action that produces required results. Instead, learn to work with and through others to get the job done well (e.g., delegate) and stop settling for mediocrity. The mark of a great results producer and leader/boss.

Example: A general manager proudly shared the 40% turnover in his management staff. “I now have the right team in place and have it all handled.” The consultant who was listening replied, “You’ve been saying that each year for the past four years. How is this year going to be any different? You’ve been unwilling to get real about the issues that cause the turnover and poor results.” (Hint: The real issue was the general manager’s inability to lead a team to produce required results.)

Distinguish Leadership Blind Spots that Impede Your Results. Going above and beyond is often needed to become and remain a results producer. It also requires working with your coach and identifying blind spots that impede your progress on an ongoing basis. Example: after attending a great motivational event or listening to a great speaker, you believe you can now move mountains. Yet days go by, and pretty soon, even the smallest hills look impossible. What happened? You allowed your blind spots to get in the way and relied on work/life circumstances to stop you.

Example: A business owner was not coachable and hated having her blind spots pointed out. Yet she was willing to spend every dollar she had in her business account to take a program with a renowned motivator who had built a million-dollar business. She hoped to learn from her and attended all the sessions. Several months later, she shared the outcome with a friend; and she was angry and upset. There was no positive difference in her business and finances. Finally, later in the conversation, she confessed, “I have to get real and take responsibility for not doing the work and taking the coaching. But it was an expensive lesson.” 

These three powerful keys to are required to become a consistent results producer. It starts by going beyond your comfort zone and standard excuses!

©Jeannette Seibly, 2022 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is The Leadership Results Coach. She has guided the creation of three millionaires and countless 6-figure income professionals. During the past 29 years, she has become an award-winning international executive and family business management consultant and keynote speaker. Still unable to achieve the results you need to keep your customers, team, or job? Don’t wait! It won’t get better without help! Contact Jeannette for a confidential conversation.

A Note from Jeannette about being a results producer that produces required results: this can be a tricky conversation when you rely on excuses and life circumstances to get in the way of achieving required results. Sometimes it only takes a tweak here and there, and you’re back on track. Other times, it entails a come down to reality conversation to become the results producer you know you can be. Do you want clarity? Contact me for a confidential conversation.

Being a top influencer in 2022 is a great goal. Yet we allow our life circumstances and feelings of “not now” to get in the way. So STOP indulging in the excuses! Instead, get into action today and grab your FREE copy of Eight Tips to Increase Your Ability to Influence.

Easy Ways to Combat Energy Zappers

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“Many people love to procrastinate and blame boredom, stress, and toxic people. But the truth is when you fail to honor your commitments to yourself and others, your energy gets zapped daily.” Jeannette Seibly

What is our #1 energy zapper? Our excuses! Stress, boredom, and toxic people, along with lack of sleep, too much sugar, and caffeine, rank right up there as energy zappers too! And, these will occur on a regular basis when not managed.

But procrastination and the excuses we mentally create to justify it win as #1. Ironically, it takes more energy to avoid doing the task or job than it does to get the work done. It’s incredible how much time we waste looking for excuses, feeding our procrastination, and seeking out “why” we don’t want to get it done.

When you have a job, task, or client need, the bottom line is that you want to get into focused-action as quickly as possible. If you don’t, you will experience diminished self-confidence and self-worth. And, you will find future career opportunities, and sales get zapped too.

6 Strategies to Stop Energy Zappers

Schedule. Use an online or hand-written calendar, scheduler, and/or planner. Schedule the time needed to get the task done. Now, honor it as an appointment with a VIP (very important person).  

I remember using an online planner to get my first book written and published. Every week I would receive a notification of activities for the week. And I honored it! This process eliminated the excuses I usually created for not getting my book written and published sooner.

Do or Delegate. Just because you don’t want to do it doesn’t mean others won’t welcome the opportunity. Don’t be afraid to delegate the task or job to someone who would welcome it. Remember, they won’t do it the same way you would … but they often do it better because they enjoy the work!

Brandon hated accounting. But as an entrepreneur knew, it was essential to have up-to-date numbers. So, he set aside his excuses and hired a bookkeeper who completed the weekly work within a couple of hours. Now, Brandon can speak intelligently with banks, his coach, and his team about where they need to focus their attention and be profitable.

Set Aside 20 minutes. If you’re still finding or looking for excuses, STOP! Set a timer for 20 minutes and focus on doing the task during that time and see how far you progress. If, at the end of the 20 minutes, you’re ready to do more, go for it!

One sales rep avoided making his calls and following up with potential customers. His excuse was, “They don’t want to buy from me anyway.” When he worked with his sales manager and coach, he learned how to use those 20 minutes to follow-up and follow-through. His sales improved dramatically.

Hire a Coach and Find an Accountability Partner. Find someone to be your cheerleader. This person will keep you in action. And guide you through complex situations and/or relationships that can also be energy zappers.

Write It Out, Walk It Out, and Talk It Out. These three activities will help you overcome the normal energy zappers of day-to-day stress, boredom, and toxic people.

© Jeannette L. Seibly, 2010-2022 All Rights Reserved

Jeannette Seibly is The Leadership Results Coach. She has guided the creation of three millionaires and countless 6-figure income professionals. During the past 29 years, she has become an award-winning international executive and family business management consultant and keynote speaker. Have trouble getting into focused action and feeling energized to get your job done and goals completed? Contact Jeannette for a confidential conversation.

Note from Jeannette about energy zappers. Honoring our commitments has become more critical today than ever. Keeping your commitments make you a top talent that your customers enjoy working with. Unfortunately, too many people fail to understand the impact of not keeping their commitments. Contact me today to confidentially talk about your energy zappers.

Being a top influencer means honoring your word and getting the job done in a high-quality and timely manner. So, grab your FREE copy of Eight Tips to Increase Your Ability to Influence.