association management

Leaders talk straight —or their company fails.

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There are many schools, workshops, and programs focused on developing leaders’ abilities to communicate effectively. The problem is they are not focused on how to elicit the best in others and are concentrated on rote comments or insincere platitudes. Some executives lack experience or basic emotional intelligence when conversing with others, while other business professionals are afraid to hear the truth, particularly when they fear what their bosses, employees or clients have to say.

In this geographically diverse business market, the challenge of pulling everyone onto the same page can be a daunting due to differing cultural perceptions. As a leader, it’s your responsibility to learn how to converse with others in a manner that gets everyone on board in a reasonable period of time. Relying on emails or texts can actually cause more harm than good, since communication is filtered through cultural experience. There is greater probability of your intentions being misinterpreted due to differing reading levels or misinterpretation of jargon, slang, etc. Remember, a conversation may take 20 minutes and elicit a truer picture.

If you, as the leader, are a poor communicator and don’t take responsibility for your interactions, your enterprise can quickly lose market share, top talent, and desired outcomes. Think through your messages and tailor them to your audiences. Write a draft and have it reviewed by another to ensure you are capturing the tone of the message you wish to send. In your closing comments, be sure to invite feedback and be open to hearing what others have to share—those insights could make all the difference in correctly tweaking the actions required to achieve intended results.

(c)Jeannette L. Seibly

What practices do you use to ensure your messages are conveyed in a way others hear them?

Small business owners should roll up their sleeves.

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Get involved in the day-to-day activities of your small business—it’s important for many reasons. It keeps you sane about your decisions instead of in the clouds. It helps you better understand employee challenges that you otherwise might disregard, and it helps you avoid inappropriate comments such as “They simply need to work harder.” It provides you with realistic expectations of how a job is done and brings an awareness of each job’s nuances while fostering loyalty and trust.

(c)Jeannette L. Seibly, 2013

 What have you done to foster loyalty and trust inside your company?

Impatience stymies the best of plans.

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Many gung-ho executives and entrepreneurs have one thing in common: They can be in denial about how fast they can achieve their vision or idea. Although failure is not an option for these dynamic leaders, their impatience stymies the best of plans.  While being confident and persistent are important, so is the ability to work with and through others to make the plan a reality. Emotions, office politics, wanting to be the best at the expense of others, or being focused on a personal million-dollar payout will cloud logic, ethics, good business practices, and common sense. Impatience diminishes the effectiveness of your team! Learn how to tame your impatience and use perseverance and dedication effectively to propel your team forward.

(c)Jeannette L. Seibly, 2013

An executive coach’s job

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An executive coach’s job is to tell you what you need to know, not what you want to hear. She or he is a sounding board with whom you can verbalize your intentions and fears, since sole reliance on your internal mental monologues can often steer you in the wrong direction. You could be led astray because you misread economic or business indicators, don’t track metrics and adjust accordingly, or simply fail to understand how to work with and through people to elicit ideas and generate focused actions to get the job done. Successful executives know that having a confidential sounding board is particularly invaluable when they hit the inevitable wall.

(c)Jeannette L. Seibly, 2013

How has an executive coach helped you?

Do you sound like a four-year-old?

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“I don’t want to and I shouldn’t have to.” Many professionals take new positions that include tasks they don’t enjoy and are unwilling to do because the new job offers a better paycheck, job title, or other perks. Yet every role has those hated obligations that you need to get done right in order to keep your job. A childish reaction of “I shouldn’t have to do it” is never a good attitude, and doesn’t bode well for future opportunities either.  

One client wanted a new job and got it. He took on a job his new co-workers refused to do. He met with each client and asked the tough question “What can we do to improve?” It transformed his ability to deal with controversy and build teams to resolve issues, and it positioned him for a big new job—running his own company.

Instead of focusing on what you don’t want to do, adjust your attitude and focus on the results. One solution is to focus on resolving customer dilemmas (both internal and external). Or, focus on system improvements you can create with your team by learning the procedures from start to finish. By developing the right inner talk and correct actions, though you may not love your assignments, you’ll get them done well—the sign of a leader with a high social intelligence. This can-do attitude will be recognized when it is time for performance reviews, pay increases, bonus payouts, and promotion opportunities. (Don’t forget to learn how to share these achievements in a business-savvy manner! http://TimeToBrag.com)

(c)Jeannette L. Seibly, 2013

Have you developed their talent lately?

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Hiring the right person requires more than simply hiring someone who appears to have the right skills. It’s selecting someone who can fit the environment and succeed. Many times they have the right stuff, but we fail to develop their talent and inadvertently sabotage their performance. Design a 180-day success plan to keep your employees focused on the targeted areas required for company success from the very first day on the job. Manage them daily, weekly, and monthly to ensure success, with the frequency determined by their most recent results. When left to their own devices, employees will usually go off-track to pursue their own interests.

(c)Jeannette L. Seibly, 2013

The key role of any executive

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The key role of any executive is to be an effective decision-maker and help steer the company forward profitably and productively. Unfortunately, we are often swayed by office politics, our personal biases, and lack of good objective information. Take time to learn how and when to ask the right business questions. Be strategic in your thinking so you are aware of how your decisions can impact others in doing their jobs, integrating with your current systems, and keeping your internal and external clients satisfied.

(c)Jeannette L. Seibly, 2013

Performance Evaluation Reminders Worth Repeating

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In order for a company to succeed as a whole, its managers need to help their individual employees succeed by effectively managing their performance. All managers can benefit from these reminders.

Managers’ Attitude Matters

“The attitude of managers is critical,” said Jeannette Seibly, Human Perfor­mance Coach and Consultant, SeibCo, LLC (Highlands Ranch, CO). “Managers must have a mindset for the employee to win.”

The goal is to evaluate the employee’s performance, not attack their character; to build the employee up, not tear them down. This shouldn’t be a “gotcha” kind of meeting, said Seibly. Nothing in the assessment should come as a surprise to employees.

Seibly also noted that too many managers go into evaluations frustrated because they do not know what needs to be done to fix a performance deficiency. This “frustration will come across more than anything else” during the evalu­ation, she warned. She suggested that the manager should “ask a boss or ask a mentor” for guidance.

Communication Skills Are Key

Whether having an informal performance coaching conversation or conduct­ing a formal annual performance appraisal (PA), managers should be reminded of these best communication practices.

Be specific. Sweeping generalizations can too easily be misinterpreted or misunderstood. Employees need to know exactly what they must stop doing or what they should continue to do.

Support the assessment with evidence. Evidence doesn’t necessarily have to be tangible (e.g., a letter of praise from a customer); the manager’s visual observation of an example of stellar or substandard performance can suffice.

Written PAs should include narrative comments to support ratings/rankings. Copying comments from the employee’s previous reviews or only changing a few words here and there isn’t acceptable.

Set goals. Focus on improving or sustaining performance in the future, rather than dwelling on past mistakes. Negative feedback should include steps for improvement.

Take protected class and protected leave out of the picture. Watch for signs of illegal discrimination. For example, age shouldn’t be noted as the reason for an employee’s inability to learn new technology, just as leave taken under the Family and Medical Leave Act shouldn’t be used as evidence of an attendance problem.

Talk with employees, not at them. Some managers try to come across as more authoritative than necessary in order to be taken seriously. More times than not, however, this will backfire and put employees on the defensive. Use the following approach.

Do use a collaborative tone. Instead of telling the employee they should do this and they should do that, ask for their input on how to improve or maintain performance. You want “a two-way conversation,” said Seibly.

Employees should be allowed to explain their actions and question the assessment, within reason. It’s good to know what’s on the employee’s mind; if the employee’s thinking is flawed or the manager has misunderstood, this is the time to clear the air.

Don’t sweep any awkwardness under the rug. For example, a recently promoted manager may have difficulty criticizing a friend and former peer. The manager should acknowledge this awkwardness and stress that the meeting is professional and not personal.

Do use the sandwich approach. Seibly recommends saying two positive things, followed by two changes the employee needs to make (make them doable!), and then end by making two more positive points. This approach is “so much more positive and powerful than anything else you can do,” said Seibly, who cautioned against listing more than two changes at once for fear of overwhelming the employee.

Don’t apologize for negative feedback because doing so gives the impression that the assessment is inaccurate.

Reprinted with permission from Personnel Legal Alert, © Alexander Hamilton Institute, Inc., 70 Hilltop Road, Ramsey, NJ 07446.  For more information, please call 800-879-2441 or visit www.legalworkplace.com.

Solutions for Your Most Important People Problems

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We have a simple mission:  We increase your profits.

We help businesses increase their profits, by reducing their people costs. Our clients hire better, fire less, manage better, and retain and develop top performers.

We offer tools and systems that improve:

  • Selection of honest, hard-working employees, who show up for work, avoid substance abuse, are less often absent or tardy, and perform!
  • Performance of sales people and other employees.
  • Retention—Keep your good people.
  • Placement—Ensure that each candidate/employee is in the right job.
  • Promotion—Avoid “promotion failure” due to the Peter principle.
  • Coaching—Get the most out of your people resources.
  • Career development—Give them a reason to want to stay with you.
  • Motivation—Do you know what “makes them tick”?
  • Teams—Function and balance. Where is your “operator’s manual”?
  • Customer service—Is there anything more important?
  • Management—People don’t leave jobs, they leave managers. Fix this.
  • Recruiting—Maximize your candidate pool, manage it efficiently.
  • Performance Management –Turn this into something productive!

Our tools are scientifically designed and validated. We customize the measures to reflect the needs and values of jobs in your company.  Each assessment has been tested to ensure compliance with EEOC and Department of Labor standards; use of our tools may provide a positive defense against claims of discrimination.

Brief Overview of Selected Tools 

iApplicantsTM Online Recruiting and Hiring System

Developed entirely from input provided by companies like yours, iApplicantsTM is a complete, affordable, efficient, intuitive, and easy to learn applicant tracking and management system. Automatically post your jobs to a wide selection of free internet job boards, track your applicants in ways that make sense for you, e-mail selected candidates from within the system. Ask job-specific screening questions to quickly weed out those who don’t meet minimum requirements, and use any of our assessment tools automatically as part of the application; it’s all here. Designed for companies with 20 to 2,000 employees, it includes powerful reporting functions (including tracking EEO information in the background), application and resume search functions, and much more. No setup charges, no long-term contracts, and you can be an expert in less than an hour.

Step One Survey II®

This is a pre-employment screening assessment, designed to increase your probability of only hiring people likely to become “good employees” in the general sense. It measures your candidate’s attitudes toward 4 critical components of workplace behavior: Integrity, Substance Abuse, Reliability, and Work Ethic. Results show how your candidate compares with the general US working population. Consistently applied in a wide variety of work environments, the SOS has demonstrated dramatic effects of reducing turnover, absenteeism, tardiness, on-job injuries, vehicular accidents, and jobsite theft. It is designed to be completed by your candidates pre-interview, and provides a structured interview guide to enrich the information usually available before an employment decision is made. The measure is available in English and Spanish, and is easily completed over any internet connection, or in booklet form. Scoring and reporting is nearly instantaneous.

ProfileXT®

The ProfileXT answers “the astronaut’s question”—Does this candidate have the “right stuff” for your job?  A “total person” assessment with a myriad of uses, the ProfileXT is used for selection, coaching, training, promotion, managing, succession planning and job description development. Using 20 different scales, it measures the job-related qualities that make a person productive – Thinking and Reasoning Styles(5 scales), Behavioral Traits (9 scales) and Occupational Interests. (6 scales). A separate Distortion scale provides a measure of the quality of information in the assessment. Proper use of the ProfileXT will help you put top performers in each job, maximize their performance, and keep them with you longer.

Profiles Sales Assessment™

Combining the power of the ProfileXT with a set of 7 Critical Sales Behaviors, this assessment predicts and supports job-specific sales success. Used in sales selection and in sales management, this powerful tool will help you hire or promote top performers, place them in jobs where they can perform at top levels, motivate and manage them to produce even more, and keep them longer—because they fit their job.

Customer Service Profile™

Worldwide, up to two-thirds of all customers leave due to poor customer service. When you hire employees using our Customer Service Profile, you populate your organization with people who will increase customer satisfaction, reduce complaints, build customer loyalty, increase sales and make significant gains in profitability. This tool assesses the attitudes and customer service characteristics of existing employees and new job candidates. It gives you the critical information you need to hire people with good customer service skills, improve customer service training, and increase overall customer satisfaction.

Management Development Program

This is a combination of tools, applied in a systematic annual cycle to:

  • First, measure each participant’s competencies in 8 major areas and 18 subcategories critical to management performance. (Checkpoint 360 Assessment)
  • Second, improve competency level in the areas identified as most critical for each participant’s job, and offering the greatest opportunity for significant gains. (SkillBuilder Units.)

Unlike most management assessment programs, ours not only identifies skill sets where each manager (according to themselves, their supervisor, their peers, and their direct reports) needs improvement, it provides a system to directly and efficiently improve those skills. Training is individual, self-paced, practical, and essentially provides on the job training in the specific skills needed, providing lasting change in manager behavior.

All of these tools can be used separately, or in powerful combinations based on your goals and needs. With the exception of the Step One Survey II (restricted to use pre-employment), all can be used with either job candidates, or with your existing employees. Let us help you increase your profits by reducing your people costs! We provide solutions for your most important people challenges.

(C) Jeannette L. Seibly, 2008

Are you looking for “green” hiring tools that save time and money?

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http://www.trackingapplicants.com/seibco.html

Developed entirely from input provided by companies like yours, iApplicantsTM is a complete, affordable, efficient, intuitive, and easy to learn applicant tracking and management system. Automatically post your jobs to a wide selection of free internet job boards, track your applicants in ways that make sense for you, e-mail selected candidates from within the system. Ask job-specific screening questions to quickly weed out those who don’t meet minimum requirements, and use any of our assessment tools automatically as part of the application; it’s all here. Designed for companies with 20 to 2,000 employees, it includes powerful reporting functions (including tracking EEO information in the background), application and resume search functions, and much more. No setup charges, no long-term contracts, and you can be an expert in less than an hour.