Blind-Eye-Dumb and Other Stupid Things Leaders Do
Don’t be offended at today’s title. Stupid comes before smart.
If you aren’t stupid, you’re “too” smart. But repeated stupid in the same way is dumb.
People who think they know – when they don’t – repeat ineffective behaviors.
Blind-eye-dumb:
One thing I notice about successful leaders is they bring stuff up. Turning a blind eye prolongs issues you wish would go away.
Discomfort with any issue is reason enough to bring it up.
Never turn a blind eye to bad attitudes, strained relationships, and recurring dips in performance.
A blind eye feels safe. If you bring it up, after all, you might make it worse.
You turn a blind eye because you aren’t sure what to do. But uncertainty is all the more reason to lean in.
Issues you ignore build organizational culture and block forward movement.
How to stop turning a blind eye:
- Notice. “I notice tension between you and Wilma.” Just say it and be quiet.
- Explain your impression. “It seems like … .”
- Practice annoying curiosity. Ask second and third questions.
- “What’s going on with … ?”
- “What makes you say that?”
- “What happens if you do nothing?”
- Reject band aids. Make space to generate several solutions.
Notice dips and upticks in performance. Don’t just pat people on the back or kick them in the pants.
Questions to ask when performance changes:
- What are you doing differently? (Use this for both upticks and downturns.)
- What was happening when/before performance changed?
- What are management and leadership doing that impact performance? (If management and leadership aren’t positively impacting performance, THEY are the problem.)
Turning a blind eye makes smart leaders dumb, but growth begins with the courage to not know.
Other dumb things leaders do:
- Over-helpful-dumb.
- Disrespectful-dumb.
Everyone who thinks they know – when they don’t – ends up angry and stuck.
What suggestions do you have for blind-eye-dumb leaders?
What other forms of “Dumb” do you see in leadership/management?
Confrontation is not a bad word. It is a great leadership opportunity. The problem is the longer you put it off, the less productive it will be. At some point bad behavior or attitude becomes a habit and changing that can be very difficult and it could become the new norm for your team. Engage, confront, communicate. A smart leader does not wait.
NICE, Dan. Stupidly Simple, and there is a stupidly simple elegance to that, for sure! We are all very blind to things, those brain-based functional filtering mechanisms we call biases. But we CAN break the mold of daily behavior (that is a pun there with “mold,” you know) and do some small things differently.
This is not a Dunning-Kruger Effect kind of thing (look that up if you need to!) but a simple attack on simple behavioral patterns.
Neatly Put. Now, figure out how to call the dumb people dumb and we are over the hill, headed downhill for sure…
Dan, I’m so offended ;). Just kidding!
But create post. And I totally agree. That’s exactly what I’m dealing with now. It’s easier to ignore than it is to dive in and address issues and deal with the messiness of humanity. But that’s what it means to be a real leader. So those of us in that position don’t have a choice and must have the courage to embrace it.
We believe it is easier to let things slide – wrong, of course! Leads to humdrum and boring IMO.
I would say don’t confront – rather, engage. If you are going to turn a blind eye, do it because it allows you to win. “Turning a blind eye” comes from Horatio Nelson raising his telescope to his blind eye at the Battle of Copenhagen and saying “I really do not see the signal”, so rather than withdrawing he won the battle. Mind you, Nelson lost an eye, an arm, suffered major head trauma and was shot and killed at the moment of his greatest triumph…
Keep the eyes open and don’t let the issues multiply, nip it in the butt and keep the journey moving forward. “The Bad Apples need removed” before they spoil.
Sometimes if you see a apple going bad you can work with it to keep it from spoiling. You must engage fast and yes one bad apple can ruin the entire basket (team) if not dealt with.