Transform the Organization

What to Do as a Leader When You Inherit an Underperforming Employee

August 24, 2026 by Jeannette Seibly

Many leaders have faced this situation: you step in as the new hire or new boss and you inherit an underperforming employee on your team. Management is already telling you to fix them or fire them.

While you must treat every team member fairly and uphold the same standards for all, fairness does not mean ignoring performance issues.

Often, the previous boss was unwilling or unable to effectively coach the “underperforming employee,” let them go, or find a better job fit.

Now management expects you to resolve the situation.

Why This Expectation Is a Problem

You cannot “fix” an employee.
The “underperforming employee” may excel under your leadership.
If management insists on firing them, have them do so before you start as the new boss.

The Reality of Inheriting a “Underperforming Employee”

A label from a previous boss does not define how anyone will perform with you. Conduct your due diligence with all
You are accountable for everyone’s performance. Ensure the team has the resources to meet customer demands.
Investigate first: use job fit assessments, review and update job descriptions, talk with current and former team members, and get management’s perspective.
Ask the customers what’s working and what’s not.
If you’re interviewing for the role, say: “I’ll need to assess them first. If you need them gone, you’ll need to handle that before I start.”
Maintain confidentiality and reinforce your standards.
Partner early with HR to ensure compliance.
Communicate appropriately with the team to prevent rumors and reinforce expectations.

As a New Leader, Share Expectations Immediately

Introduce yourself briefly in a group meeting.
In 1:1s, explain you’re assessing each role.
Ask how the team members see their role.
Clarify standards, timelines, and responsibilities.
Put expectations in writing.
Reinforce what “good performance” looks like.
Let the team know you’re available. And be available! It builds trust, which is needed in difficult conversations.
Hold each team member accountable and follow through consistently.
Never accuse anyone of being an underperforming employee since they may simply be in the wrong job.

Objectively Assess the Situation

Use a job fit assessment to confirm they’re in the right job. They may “fit” the thinking style, behaviors, and interests but have deviated from the job description due to lack of support and awareness.
Review performance history, documentation, and feedback from previous bosses and team members. Have intentional conversations. Remember, memories are never 100% accurate.
Identify whether the issue is skill, attitude, or both. Sometimes employees weren’t trained or were expected to grasp abstract concepts without guidance. Provide what’s missing and show them how to use it.
Create a written plan before speaking with the employee.

Have Direct and Intentional Conversations with the “Underperforming Employee”

Address issues factually using the Sandwich or Direct Approach, depending on the employee.
State what must change and why it matters. Use a performance improvement plan when needed.
Offer training and tools. If they’re unwilling to do the work, document it.
Treat each employee fairly.
Document everything: performance, behaviors, missed deadlines, and conversations (who, what, when, where, why).
If they want to leave, let them. Help them find a better internal fit or follow HR’s severance process.

Decide: Can They Stay or Must They Go?

Evaluate whether improvement is real and sustainable. (They cannot fake it forever.)
If not, initiate the appropriate exit process with HR.
Remember, the “underperforming employee” may be well liked but ineffective.
“Ride it out” when there is pushback from the team.
Reinforce expectations without criticizing the departing employee.

Strengthen Your Leadership Reputation

Your job is to ensure every employee receives the tools, coaching, and training needed to succeed.

Demonstrate fairness, consistency, and courage.
Show, by example, that you protect the team and uphold company standards.
You are judged not by the problems you inherit, but by how you handle the person and situation.

PS: What if You’re the “Underperforming Employee?” Don’t wait. Get help from an executive or career coach. This may include looking for another job after learning what you overlooked or ignored during your interview. The key is to get real about your strengths and weaknesses using a qualified job fit assessment to learn who you really are … not who you want to be seen as.

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

When Leaders Alienate Team Members, Poor Results, Poor Retention, and Declining Revenues Follow

August 10, 2026 by Jeannette Seibly

This is Part 2 of a 2-part article. This one focuses on the leader’s role in avoiding and overcoming team alienation, which negatively impacts results. Link to Part 1.

When teams are failing, many leaders will claim they “don’t have the right people” as a way to distract others from their own inability or unwillingness to lead effectively.

The problem? It becomes the root cause of alienation, groupthink, and team breakdown, and is often not the real issue. Failure to acknowledge responsibility avoids addressing the leader’s lack of coachability, awareness, and skills required to resolve conflicts and manage projects for clients and company growth.

What’s missing? Leadership accountability for results, believing in each person, and supporting the company, client, and team when issues arise. These issues are more likely to arise when the leader’s negative mindset is focused on lack, failure, and upset over team members’ upsets, attitudes, and lack of commitment to the goal.

The Leader’s Blind Spots:

Over‑reliance on a few insiders or select team members
Inability and failure to address conflict early
Assumption of “I don’t have the right people” and fail to hire for job fit
Failure to create structure for success, or created ineffective ones
Allow groupthink to fill the vacuum
Do not value team members’ contributions
Fear of making mistakes or experiencing failure
Inappropriate use of tools for decisions (e.g., critical thinking, job fit assessments, over-reliance on AI)
Play favorites, create silos and factions
Lack the skills to coach people effectively while managing the process
Poor facilitation skills
Are not accountable and responsible for the results

Your reputation is lost and the team’s performance and innovation decline too.

This is when groupthink, cliques, and those with shared frustrations take over. It’s time for leaders to leverage up and prevent the inevitable chaos.

What can you do before alienation occurs?

If you are experiencing team alienation, talk with an experienced executive coach immediately. Alienation will not resolve itself, and in the meantime, your career options become very limited.

Reset your expectations and mindset.

If you expect to fail, you usually will.
If you expect problems, they will occur.
If you wish for different people on the team, they will wish for a different leader!

Instead, work with your executive coach weekly (or more frequently) to ensure your mindset and focus is on the goal and the process of achieving the intended results.

Get the support required to rebuild trust. This will not happen overnight or after one group meeting. It requires taking responsibility ongoingly and valuing your people in every interaction. Integrity is key … if you are cutting corners, ignoring issues, or allowing conflict to erupt, you have alienated the team.

It starts with you creating conditions for success:

Create win-win-win narratives
Share stories of other successes
Address the facts rather than relying on AI, social media headlines, and other false narratives
Ensure each and every team member are acknowledged for their contributions

Reintroduce structure and accountability, or create it. Structure is key, even for those team members that love to create and recreate and recreate some more. Put together the “game plan” and follow it, while holding yourself and team members accountable. Allow for initiatives and innovative ideas, but stay focused on the intention and end goal. Use a dashboard or other means to keep everyone apprised of the progress.

Use objective tools and processes to focus on the project, goals, and intended results. When mistakes and failures happen, and they will, have an objective way in which to address them. Blaming a person or smaller group will only add to dissension, finger pointing, and alienation.

Address groupthink cycles as they occur to stop them from taking over. This can happen very subtly when a group of people have worked together in the past, have hit a “wall,” and are skeptical or fearful of doing anything different. Address and talk through the fears upfront and consistently.

Learn how to achieve alignment. It’s important to learn this skill to avoid the consensus trap of stalling and negating others’ opinions and expertise. This requires courage since many teams use consensus as a way to stop progress, keep traditions, and avoid moving out of their comfort zones. It’s not easy when you have a small group that believes they are right or are unable or unwilling to see the bigger picture.

Remember:

The leader’s belief and mindset become the team’s culture
Groupthink forms around a leader’s indecisiveness and exclusion of people and ideas
All people on the team are the “right people”
Leaders need to build alignment
Effective leaders have effective coaches

Groupthink Hurts Results, Retention, and Revenues

August 3, 2026 by Jeannette Seibly

This is Part 1 of a 2-part article. Part 1 focuses on teams alienating leaders and team members due to groupthink. Part 2 focuses on how leaders can avoid or overcome team alienation.

Every team comes to the table with long‑held traditions, sacred elephants, and the mindset of “how we’ve always done it.” Even when the leader or team member is steady and capable, the team’s anxiety can turn into quiet resistance, defensiveness, and groupthink where they believe the past matters more than moving forward or telling the truth.

Groupthink erodes trust, stalls decisions, and magnifies every unresolved issue. Slowly, the team disintegrates turning the original problem into an impossible mountain or disbanding entirely. The false sense of unity will eventually fracture the team into silos and factions.

In the process, the team ignores the leader or team member(s).

When Groupthink Takes Hold

In a study by ScienceDirect, “groupthink is more common than one would like to think.” Groupthink emerges when team members prioritize harmony, belonging, or shared frustration over critical thinking, and leads to dysfunctional decision-making.

The group reinforces its own beliefs, filters out contradictory information, and rewards conformity.
Dissent becomes risky, so no one challenges the emerging “leader we don’t like” narrative.
Develop an illusion of invulnerability — the belief that the group’s decision is correct and infallible.
Ignore ethical or moral concerns, overlook risks, or fail to consider outside perspectives.

The Escalation Pattern

Once groupthink solidifies:

The leader’s decisions are interpreted negatively, regardless of merit.
Neutral actions are reframed as evidence of the leader’s incompetence or bias.
The group amplifies small mistakes into “proof.”
Silence becomes agreement, accelerating the alienation.

The Cost of Groupthink

Alienating a leader or team member, especially a competent one, creates ripple effects:

Loss of direction and accountability.
Fragmented communication and diminished trust.
Increased turnover and political maneuvering.
Decline in psychological safety and innovation.
Closed doors and opportunities for the team, company, or association.
Loss of top talent, avoidable expenses, and poor results are unavoidable.

How to Break the Cycle

To prevent or reverse leader and team alienation:

Reintroduce structured decision‑making. Brainstorming, critical thinking, and alignment on decisions (not consensus) are important to ensure active participation of all team members. This also brings up issues that need to be addressed. Do not avoid elephants!
Ask each and every person for their input. This includes accepting diverse viewpoints. As the leader, you will need to go around the team several times to ensure all voices are heard.
Address cliques and insider groups directly. When you bring a team together for the first time or for each new project, outline expectations, goals, and processes. Also, mention you expect people to work together for the benefit of the client or project goal. This normally needs to be repeated during each meeting.
Rebuild trust through transparency and shared goals. How does this client or project benefit others? What can we do to improve the process or delivery?
Use objective tools (e.g., assessments, facilitation) to set or reset team dynamics. When hiring, use job-fit assessments to ensure you are hiring the right people for what needs to be done. When selecting people to work on a team, conduct a short interview to ensure they will be committed to the goal of the team. Ensure you are continually improving your facilitation skills.

Leaders and all team members must stay aware of group dynamics, challenge groupthink early, and avoid the trap of blaming others instead of strengthening their own leadership effectiveness. As the leader, it is your responsibility to stop groupthink in its tracks.

Build a Strong and Dynamic Team to Produce Great Results

July 20, 2026 by Jeannette Seibly

Many leaders today struggle with building a team that produces intended results, is innovative, and works well together. Many leaders blame their lack of success on the belief that the “right” team members cannot be found.

The real problem? Leaders fail to take responsibility and be held accountable for hiring, coaching, and managing their team (individually and as a group) to be strong and dynamic. Instead, they rely on outdated management of the processes and execution of the goal. When they claim they “don’t have the right people,” it is a way to distract others from their inability or unwillingness to lead effectively.

How to Transform Your Team and Achieve Intended Results

A leader’s beliefs matter. Your beliefs can become an excuse that prevents you from developing teams, addressing blind spots, and doing the real work required to build a strong and dynamic team. To improve everyone’s skills, you must be willing to look in the mirror, acknowledge what’s not working, and take deliberate steps to strengthen your leadership effectiveness through coaching, feedback, and consistent practice.

Hire for job fit. This is the ignored key to ensure you have the right people on the team, with the skills, attitude, behavior, and interests to achieve the intended results. Don’t forget onboarding is critical to each person’s success … it gives them the direction and support to integrate well and become productive more quickly.

Remove your ego. A healthy ego is key. An unhealthy ego will sabotage your results. If you’re egotistical and unable to be a true leader for your team, step aside. OR hire an experienced executive coach to guide you along the way. This requires developing emotional intelligence and awareness of what may trigger your upsets, frustrations, and other poor communication habits.

Manage for results, not personalities. This can be a hard one: Focus on the action plan while staying focused on the goal. This can be difficult when people don’t get along, create miscommunication, and are not team players. Use a qualified job fit assessment that reveals objective data, not how the person wants to be seen, which will camouflage job fit and hurt results. This clarity will improve results, while strengthening your team.

Define role expectations. Address clearly defined roles, who makes which decisions, and expectations. Many teams fail not because of talent, but because people don’t know what “success” looks like in their role or how their work connects to the bigger picture. It’s up to you to communicate and guide the way.

Create or follow accountability systems. Instead of “winging it,” create or use structures that keep teams aligned: metrics, check-ins, dashboards, or performance conversations. Leaders often “get out of the way” by stepping back so far that the team lacks direction, guardrails, and timely feedback, leaving people to guess at priorities, make assumptions, and commit avoidable mistakes.

Communicate with intention. When you are being indecisive, people will take advantage of you. Instead, be clear about the goal, budget, and any other defined structures or limitations. Admit when you are uncertain about what to do next. Ask the team for their input by asking open-ended questions. Encourage brainstorming, and avoid the trap of seeking consensus. Remember, innovation and communication improve when people feel safe speaking up. The solutions will reveal themselves.

Apologies are required. When mistakes occur, and they will, own them. Apologize. Move forward. All is not lost if you are looking for the lesson(s) learned from the mistake or failure. Many times, it leads to the next successful innovation!

Use Please and Thank You! People want to feel valued. If you are not appreciating your team and the individuals that support the process and achievement of the intended results, you are not building a strong and dynamic team … just one that’s waiting to move on … and away from you.

Celebrate and Brag! Every milestone is important, since each one leverages your next one. Speak positively about your team members, and ensure there is a celebration beyond a weekly pizza.

The Secrets of an Effective Apology

July 9, 2026 by Jeannette Seibly

Many leaders have trouble admitting they were wrong, or their actions had a negative impact on a person or group. Or, they failed to fulfill a promise using the age-old excuses of failing to remember or being too busy. To make matters worse, they attempt to blame others.

Mistakes happen! How you handle them either builds your credibility or diminishes your career growth.

One overlooked truth is that explanations rarely rebuild trust, apologies do. Explanations satisfy the mind, but apologies repair the relationship.

When leaders (and others) offer explanations, it’s a fear of …

Admitting they were wrong
Failing to take responsibility
Listening and speaking honestly
The list is endless

What’s often overlooked is the deeper fear underneath all of this: losing psychological safety.

When leaders avoid apologizing, they unintentionally signal that mistakes are dangerous to admit, creating a culture where people stay silent rather than speak up.

The costs:

Top talent – no one wants to be lied to
Clients – no one wants to be manipulated
Management team – unwilling to take responsibility for leaders’ words or actions
Team culture – blame becomes normalized, and people mirror the leader’s defensiveness
Productivity – issues linger longer even though a simple apology could have resolved them sooner

Polly, Director of Customer Support, told employees they needed to be in the office three days a week but failed to update policies or address obvious logistical issues. She let everyone continue as before. Some never showed up. Instead of apologizing, she shrugged, “Well … people will be people.” The impact on revenues, retention, and results was significant. With her executive coach’s support, Polly finally apologized and cleaned up the mess by implementing a clear hybrid policy and enforcing it.

Have you ever noticed that when leaders, who you respect, are also the ones that don’t hesitate to apologize? “I’m sorry …” “Oops, my misunderstanding …” They take full responsibility for what they heard and what they have said. Their willingness to apologize creates psychological safety and people feel safe speaking up, asking questions, and being honest.

Understanding the secrets of a powerful apology and developing this all-important skill is required of everyone in any leadership role.

The Three Secrets

Accountability. Being honest about why you did something may not be helpful. Instead, simply say, “I apologize.” Set aside your ego, excuses, and other bad habits when you’ve made a mistake. Otherwise, you diminish your reputation.

Apologize for not understanding and share the work that gave you a new perspective.
Take a step back and stay emotionally unattached to the outcome.
Truly listen to build win‑win‑win results using active listening skills.

Respect. Respect is two‑sided. When leaders don’t apologize for lack of preparation or late arrivals, team members feel dismissed. Explanations meant to elicit sympathy eventually backfire.

Respect for others requires stopping the excuses and simply apologizing.
Explanations fall flat and are heard as inauthentic.
Respect for yourself and your team includes apologizing when your lack of direction has created confusion.

Example: If you’ve allowed your team to be late to meetings, it’s time to change that bad habit: “I apologize upfront that I’ve not been consistent. It’s important that each of you arrive prepared and ready to go at the scheduled time. Any questions?”

Courage. Admitting a mistake and taking responsibility for your team’s poorly completed work takes courage. First, apologize. Then ask questions … not to defend what happened, but to clarify what was overlooked. Remember, 80% of communication is non‑verbal; mental chatter or a defensive ego will distract everyone from resolving the issue.

Apologize first
Ask open-ended, clarifying questions
Manage your non‑verbal cues (e.g., a defensive ego)

Be a Respected Leader and Achieve Intended Results

July 6, 2026 by Jeannette Seibly

Being a respected leader and boss requires taking responsibility for each situation, discovering the true issue, and making the best decisions to improve results. And? Asking for help! (So often overlooked until it’s too late.)

Respect grows when you prevent small issues from becoming major crises and shows your team you value team results over your ego.

The biggest challenge I’m seeing today with leaders is they focus on being well‑liked by employees and customers, and disregard the importance of being respected. This stifles innovation, and team members withdraw from actively focusing on intended results.

A general manager (GM) for a company was well liked by employees and clients. It was a surprise and shock when he was reamed by a new board member about his poor management of the company’s satellite office. After the board session, the GM resigned. After the employees and other board members convinced him to stay, he rescinded his resignation. But nothing was done to resolve the real issue of poor financial management of the satellite office. Several months later the GM was fired.

In this situation, the GM was liked but not respected. He did not ask for help, and no one addressed the real issue of poor financial management results. This also revealed a deeper problem: there were no accountability systems in place to catch issues early, and no one was telling the truth soon enough to prevent a crisis.

5 Keys to Build Respect as a Leader

Select the Best People. Stop intuitive hiring practices! Respect begins by hiring, promoting, and job transitioning your management and employee teams into positions that fit them! (It’s called job‑fit.) Before selecting people, craft a well‑designed selection process to collect objective, valid, and reliable data about the person’s ability to be effective in the job. This requires using qualified job‑fit assessments, conducting job‑focused interviews, and implementing a six‑month onboarding program.
Make Faster Decisions. Taking days, weeks, or months to make decisions is often due to poor decision‑making skills. Do your homework by having intentional conversations … the decisions will become much clearer. Remember, integrity, critical thinking, and paying attention to the impact on others are key to making decisions that impact everyone long‑term. Let go of those elephants!
Talk It Out. Communication is everything. Too often, leaders don’t pay attention to their own words, avoid having tough conversations, and ignore others’ concerns. With your team, go around the table to get everyone’s input until there is nothing new being added. The process includes eliciting responses from those you normally don’t listen to, and may include things you don’t want to hear! The answers reside inside the quality of these conversations! Yes, it can take more time in the short-run. But in the long run, it builds respect for you as a leader, and provides support when implementing less‑than‑popular decisions. Telling the truth early, even when it’s uncomfortable, is a cornerstone of respect and prevents small issues from becoming major problems.
Build Good Working Relationships. This facilitates getting things resolved with less push-back and faster buy‑in. Respect is a two‑way street. Before offering opinions about how things should be done or how a person should view a situation, listen! Remember, hearing and asking open‑ended questions will always build stronger relationships and uncover most concerns.
Plan for Your Replacement. Succession planning and development are crucial for future leaders. When you plan for your replacement, you build respect because you are showing your commitment to the longevity of the company, more than your own personal interests. You never know when your successor will need to step up, either short or long‑term, due to illness, death of a family member, and other issues. The key? Make sure the person is the right one. (SEE #1 above) Too often, a good #2 person does not make a good #1 leader. Don’t skip #1.

To be a respected leader and achieve intended results, implement the five keys. Contact me to accelerate your success.

Being Indecisive Leads to Poor Results for Leaders

June 29, 2026 by Jeannette Seibly

Indecisiveness is one of the costliest behaviors for leaders. Making the right decision is hard, especially when you believe your options are limited. But every decision, and every action you take, carries both benefits and consequences. When leaders default to fear, ego, avoidance, or other subjective factors, they almost always move in the wrong direction. And their hesitation doesn’t stay contained. The negative consequences ripple far beyond the moment.

Why It Happens

Indecisive personality — chronic hesitation becomes a leadership style.
Wrong job fit — lacking the objectivity or competencies required.
Emotional attachment to the past — protecting outdated practices or people.
Lack of assertiveness — relying on “likeability” instead of leadership.
Fear of consequences — lawsuits, reputation, internal politics.
Avoiding conflict — hoping issues “resolve themselves.”
Ignoring data — choosing gut feelings over facts.
Overreliance on consensus — waiting for everyone to agree before acting.

As a leader, you are responsible for the entire organization: financially, legally, ethically, operationally, and culturally. Your decisions, or your refusal to make them, impact employees, customers, vendors, communities, and your management team.

The Cost of Poor Decisions

Every poor decision has a cost.
Every delayed decision has a cost.
A “no decision” is still a decision and has a cost … usually the most expensive one.

Hidden costs include rework, turnover, burnout, and reputational erosion. Opportunity costs include the growth, innovation, and stability the company could have achieved if the leader had made the decision to act sooner.

An Example: The Operations Director Who Chose “Comfort” Over Clarity

A regional operations director at a fast‑growing manufacturing company oversaw three plants, 600+ employees, and millions in monthly output. The company had a well‑defined Quality Hold Policy:
Any product with a suspected defect must be pulled immediately, inspected, and cleared before shipping.

Every supervisor received the policy.

Every supervisor had signed the quality‑hold acknowledgment confirming they understood it.

And everyone also knew the director refused to enforce it.

Instead, he chose the path of least resistance. He:

Dismissed concerns from line supervisors who flagged defects
Pressured teams to “keep the line moving” to avoid missing quotas
Downplayed early warning data from the quality team
Avoided tough conversations with a chronically underperforming plant manager

The consequences were immediate and costly:

A spike in customer complaints about product failures
Two major returns from national retailers
A drop in quarterly revenue due to chargebacks
Overtime costs skyrocketing as teams reworked defective batches
A damaged reputation in an industry where reliability is everything

This wasn’t a quality problem.
This wasn’t a production problem.
This was a leadership decision‑making problem — the refusal to enforce a policy because it felt uncomfortable.

And every company, in every industry, faces this same issue: Leaders who won’t make the hard call, even when the policy is clear, the risks are known, and the consequences are predictable fail.

Questions Every Leader Must Ask

“Where in my business/company are poor policy enforcement practices sacrosanct?”
“What does this cost my company, employees, and customers?”
“Where are there other issues being ignored (e.g., financial reporting, recordkeeping, psychological safety)?”
“What patterns of avoidance have become “normal” in this company culture?”

This lack of accountability and ethics will not be forgotten. It costs the company top talent, customers, revenues, and reputation.

What To Do

Admitting the truth and making the right changes takes courage. If you’re an indecisive leader, you need help … not more time.

Get Real about Enforcing Policies. If you don’t enforce your own policies, you’ve created a new policy: “We don’t enforce policies.” This invites lawsuits, erodes trust, and destroys retention of employees and customers.

Hire Legal Counsel. Make sure the attorney (a human, not AI) has the experience to move the company forward. While some lawyers take the “safe approach” and recommend posting reminders, those reminders do nothing to change the outcome if not enforced. A proactive approach can turn issues around if you’re willing to listen and take focused action to resolve them.

Hire an Executive Advisor. You need someone who will tell you the truth … not what you want to hear and not what your team has been enabling.

Communicate with Intention. When talking with employees, vendors, and others, be intentional about your message. Communication must be: Timely. Written. Clear. Documented.

Enforce Policies Consistently. Policies should be communicated, read, understood, and signed. Selective enforcement is discrimination. Inconsistent enforcement is incompetence.

If you’re a leader struggling with indecision, avoidance, or policy enforcement, stop trying to fix it alone.
Get the right advisor, the right legal guidance, and the right tools to move forward now. Your team, your customers, and your reputation depend on it.

Action creates momentum. Your decisions either improve the situation or guarantee it gets worse. Get in action now and contact me.

Work Well with Anyone, Anywhere at Any Time

June 5, 2026 by Jeannette Seibly

Successful business relationships do not happen overnight. They are created from mutual respect, trust, and experience. The focus is developing win/win/win outcomes that make a positive difference.

Developing the Leadership Skills Required to Work Well with Anyone

Do what you say you’ll do, when you say you’ll do it.
Apologize when you “drop the ball” and keep your word in the future.
Take an interest in the company, people, products, financials, safety, community of others where you work.
Be informed about the interests and concerns of your coworkers, boss, and team. Be able to interact appropriately.
Show respect everyone on the team regardless of their opinions and personalities.
Stop judging people by their manner of dress, background (e.g., education, work experience), or title in a company.
Make it a habit to say “Please” & “Thank You.”
Keep confidences. Don’t talk negatively about other people (aka gossiping).
Level up your listening by setting aside your need to form comments or opinions while others are talking.
Be comfortable with silence.
Ask open-ended questions.
Pay attention, nonverbal gestures and actions speak much louder than your words (80+ percent).
Always, consider other people’s ideas and concerns when developing solutions.
When talking or writing, use KISS: Keep Ideas Simple & Smart

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

It’s always challenging to work with so many different personalities and expectations. Developing yourself as an effective leader requires the know-how to work with anyone, anywhere at any time. Contact me for a guide on how to work well with everyone.

Are You a Critical Leader?

June 1, 2026 by Jeannette Seibly

Effective leadership style produces intended team results on a regular basis.

Do you:

Find fault with other’s ideas and actions?
Believe your way is the only right way?
Blame mistakes on others?

Being a critical leader or boss can be tiring for both you and your team members. Your attitude and behavior make it difficult to work with you and nearly impossible to learn from you. Until you transform your critical mindset, you will never have a team that produces intended results on a regular basis.

How do you transform your critical mindset to lead an effective team?

Look for opportunities to praise. Acknowledge others for a job well done, even if it’s a small step or contribution. Consider ideas that may initially seem off-the-wall or inappropriate, and acknowledge contributions in a positive manner. Your openness will encourage everyone to stretch their thinking and behavior to improve their skills.

Learn from mistakes. Every mistake can be turned into a learning moment. It’s important to understand the difference between a Zero Tolerance Policy for unacceptable behaviors versus reviewing and learning from mistakes. You and your team inevitably will make mistakes during a new task and new project, or working with new clients. Ensure your systems are up-to-date, and all your employees have the training needed to minimize errors at repetitive tasks. Develop a repeatable process when creating and executing new opportunities to ensure employees are aligned.

Make 2-2-2 your paradigm. Acknowledge two positive things they have done well. Then, share very specific areas for improvement, no more than two. Wrap-up with two positives they have done well. This makes feedback easier to give, and receive! (See Direct Approach vs. Sandwich Approach)

Hire a coach. It’s important for your own career and leadership development that you learn to effectively work with and through people to get the job done. An effective leadership style produces win/wins on a regular basis.

All leaders need a periodic “checkup” on their effectiveness as a leader. Learn how to improve and produce intended results. Give me a call.

Negotiation Skills Are Required for Win-Win-Win Outcomes

May 25, 2026 by Jeannette Seibly

Many leaders have not learned a very important skill … the art of negotiation. It’s a skill that must be developed to use with confidence and effectiveness.

Too often, people settle, assume, or avoid conversations altogether if they need to compromise or come up with win-win-win outcomes. This costs the leader, and their business, opportunities, money, and relationships.

True negotiation is not about winning at someone else’s expense. It’s about creating win-win-win outcomes where everyone benefits and the agreement builds trust, clarity, and long-term success. (Resource: Chapter 14, Get Your Brag On!)

“If you want to win, you need to support others winning too.” Jeannette Seibly

Basic Preparation for Effective Negotiation Is Required

Rule #1 – Prep Work

Define clear goals and write them down.
Identify three “Must-Have” outcomes—rank, circle, and keep them visible.
Review your “brag” work and be aware of your metrics (e.g., results, wins, successes, accomplishments, and achievements).

Rule #2 – Research

Learn the other party’s goals, challenges, and objections by asking them open-ended questions.

Rule #3 – Be Ready to Walk Away

Know your bottom line and ensure ROI beyond the bottom line.
• Avoid clouding your judgment with emotional attachment to what they are offering. (Hint: It may sound good or amazing, but is it what you really really really want?)

Now, You’re Ready!

The Meeting

Be present and mindful.
Use agendas, take notes, and write down agreements immediately.
Let them talk first; listen actively.
Ask open-ended questions to uncover solutions and to clarify uncertainties.
Allow silence (this is a skill you need to develop)

Don’t hedge and address issues directly.

Seek common ground, restate agreements clearly. Write them down. (Remember, memories are faulty.)
Stay flexible, avoid adversarial tactics.
Review agreements at the end and don’t gloss over details.

Finalize Agreement

Document terms, responsibilities, and timelines.
Send the information asking them to include anything missing or needing clarification.
Include an escape clause in the event things don’t work out as agreed on.
Keep all notes organized for clarity and legal accuracy.

You can successfully negotiate your real priorities if you are willing to develop the skill to do so effectively … it requires a win-win-win mindset!

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

Do you have an issue you are struggling to resolve? Time to develop your negotiation skills. Let’s talk.