Blind Spots in Leadership: 4 Ways To Find & Fix Blind Spots
It’s challenging to enter into a conversation on blind spots in leadership. The very nature of a blind spot is….yes, blindness. How do I find ways to see what I can’t see? How do I discipline my mind to explore an uncertainty? How do I develop a willingness to drop my defenses, risk being wrong or unlearning something I’ve learned?
And yet, those blind spots in leadership are the very things that will help us blossom into an influential and shining leader. One who understands what they see on the surface isn’t the entire picture. A leader who can see past their own way of thinking and really understand what motivates others and makes them tick to create the best possible outcomes for their business.
Here are four ways to address blind spots in leadership so you can find them and fix them:
Blind Spots – “Self-Awareness”
The very pursuit of blind spots is the product of self-awareness. The self-aware person recognizes the value of growth, even painful growth. Chris Musselwhite wrote in an article for Inc. Magazine October 2007:
“Although it is probably one of the least discussed leadership competencies, self-awareness is possibly one of the most valuable. Self-awareness is being conscious of what you're good at while acknowledging what you still have yet to learn. This includes admitting when you don't have the answer and owning up to mistakes.
In our highly competitive culture, this can seem counterintuitive. In fact, many of us operate on the belief that we must appear as though we know everything all the time or else people will question our abilities, diminishing our effectiveness as leaders. If you're honest with yourself, you'll admit that really the opposite is true. Because whether you acknowledge your weaknesses or not, everyone still sees them. So rather than conceal them, the person who tries to hide weaknesses actually highlights them, creating the perception of a lack of integrity and self-awareness.”
Musselwhite’s addressing a commonly ignored or overlooked reality. Self-awareness isn’t taught in schools, it’s not often discussed in families. We can learn it through experiences, typically painful ones, when the sudden truth hits us and we can no longer run, hide or deny.
How would you rate your level of self-awareness? How would your family or your team rate you?
2. Blind Spots -“Fantasy or Flattery”
The well-known psychiatrist and developer of Choice Theory William Glasser, once shared, in his experience, people have either one of two views of themselves, either highly flattering or pure fantasy. Glasser was quite prolific, he had well over 50 years of experience in working with people and published several books. His assertion is powerful. It undercovers the stark truth we all live in: we don’t see ourselves the way we are. We say to ourselves (and sometimes to other people) “I’m like this, not like that” or “I’m this kind of person, not that kind.” We are certain about how we ‘are’ or ‘aren’t’. In short, we have biases. And our biases are about ourselves.
Each of these biases serve us in some way. They support our sense of control; our need to be right; our comfort or our need to look good to others and to ourselves. The more willing we are to explore, the more we’ll see. And often, the more we see, the more painful it is. The pain of examining our blind spots is rooted in violating our self-serving biases.
Developing your character as a leader begins with piercing some of the self-serving biases we carry. In our work, we explore the value of the following in leadership:
Exploring your Intentions
Investigating your Impact
Assuming Personal Responsibility
One of the benefits of noticing your bias towards yourself is it can open your ears to hearing from others in new ways.
3. Blind Spots – “The Gift of Feedback”
One of the most effective ways of seeing into our blind spots in leadership is through feedback from others. Feedback is simply someone else’s experience of us. Feedback is a gift, it allows us to make adjustments, grow, shift, deepen our relationships and develop our characters. Feedback is someone’s truth, not necessarily the truth. If we’re willing to hear it, to consider it, to try it on - it becomes a tremendous resource.
Consider feedback itself as neutral – neither good nor bad, positive or negative. It’s simply data, an experience someone else is having when they interact with us.
To clarify, feedback is not advice. It’s not telling someone what they should or shouldn’t do. I have a friend who says “advice is what you ask for you when you know what you need to be doing and you’re resisting it.” Nothing is wrong with advice, it has its place. It’s not feedback.
Feedback is also not judgment. Judgment makes a ‘you are’ statement. It’s a label, an expression of who you ‘are’ instead of what you’re doing, your attitude or your impact.
We may want to pay attention to feedback we hear over and over (whether we like it or not). We may want to pay attention to feedback that strikes a chord – whether it provokes defense, denial or conviction. Sometimes feedback comes in the form of repeated patterns in our lives, relational dynamics that happen over and over again.
When we make feedback our identity, it’s hard to hear it and glean the benefit from it. Feedback directly into our blind spots confronts our self-serving bias. Susan Scott wrote in her book Fierce Conversations ‘All confrontation is a search for the truth’.
Jack Nicholson’s character in the movie “A Few Good Men” coined the classic line “You can’t handle the truth!” Is your commitment to excellence big enough to hear the truth from someone?
4. Blind Spots – “Resource”
Imagine if one day you woke up to discover you didn’t live on planet earth. What you’ve believed your whole life, simply isn’t true. Everything you based on that ‘truth’ is shaken, perhaps even irrelevant. You feel destabilized, off-balance, uncertain or anxious. You start questioning other things, things you’ve assumed were ‘true’.
That’s how it can feel to ‘see’ into a blind spot. At least, temporarily.
Afterwards, there’s an increased sense of lucidity. Patterns and situations in your life start to become clear. You are now empowered to make new choices, choices that didn’t even show up on your radar prior to that moment.
As we continue to take risks, our sense of security expands. We recognize our view is always limited, never complete. Our willingness to explore, question, and learn increases.
Our blind spots will always be with us in some form or fashion, yet we make friends with the reality of their existence. As friends, we can welcome their presence as teachers, coaches and encouragers.
To dive deep into leadership training, to explore blind spots in leadership, motivators, and more, book a call with Yellow Marker here.
Are you an adaptable leader? Read the article on adaptability in leadership here.
Jean-Marie Jobs is a master leadership trainer and author, with over 15,000 hours of training experience. From U.S. corporate marketing to intercultural work in various countries, Jean founded Yellow Marker with a vision of bringing character and values to leadership training. Before founding Yellow Marker she was the CEO of Culture ROI where she developed and co-authored materials and resources for corporate clients as well as non-profit and humanitarian organizations. Book a call with Jean here.