From Blindspot to Breakthrough
My wife laughed at me while we were singing in church. I complained, “What? I’m singing harmony.” She said, “No, you’re not.”
The hardest person to see is yourself.
The most common blindspot: believing you don’t have them.
What if the people who hint you should change are right?
Definition
Blindspots are unrecognized weaknesses, inconsistencies, and failures. You believe you’re succeeding when you’re failing.
When you refuse to see your weakness, you…
- Shorten your reach.
- Shrink your impact.
- Diminish satisfaction.
- Frustrate others.
5 Leadership Blindspots:
#1. Over-estimating your strengths. You think you’re a great communicator, for example. They think you’re boring.
Danger: You don’t improve when you think you’re great.
#2. Over-estimating your approachability. You see yourself as an open door. Teammates nickname you, “Buzzkill.”
Danger: You’re the last to know when projects are failing.
#3. Over-estimating your listening skills. You think you’re exploring options. But you’re killing ideas, cutting people off, and talking too much.
Danger: You’re a creative bottleneck.
#4. Over-confidence in your solutions. You call it problem solving. They call it defending your viewpoint and devaluing theirs.
Danger: Talent shuts down.
#5. Over-confidence in your ability to understand people. You call it insight. They call it out of touch.
Danger: Misjudging and squandering people’s talent.
From Blindspot to Breakthrough
- Say, “I have blindspots.” Repeat.
- Seek feedback. When you can’t see yourself, ask others what they see.
- Go “with” instead of defending. “Tell me more.”
- Lean into recurring complaints. Ask for suggestions. “How might I improve in this area?”
- Design solutions with others. Sometimes you should go with their gut, not yours.
Oblivious leaders breakthrough when they see and solve hidden weaknesses with others.
Contact me to learn about a Narrative 360-degree assessment.
How might leaders see themselves more clearly?
The 5 Blindspots Every Leader Has
Book: Blindspotting: How to See What’s Holding You Back as a Leader
Dan, I have blind spots. That wasn’t so hard. But hearing my own “harmony” is a developed skill. Thanks for your usual insight and gentle prompts towards growth. I regularly share your posts with colleagues.
Thanks for contributing today, Chip. So true. Easy to say. A little harder to believe. One way to see our blindspots is through the eyes of others. But, I suppose it hard to believe they’re right when they give us feedback. Cheers
One technique for addressing blind spots is the Johari Window: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johari_window (not a detailed description but a decent overview of the concept). The goal is to minimize both the Blind Spot quadrant and the Unknown quadrant.
Very useful conversation starter.
Blind spots, like bad breath, are right there when you wake up. So who has my trust enough to tell me? I think it takes intention to have a small group of peers or a mentor who can speak into my life. Humility admits blind spots. Humility also says you can tell me and I’ll listen.
Love the “bad breath” metaphor. If we aren’t intentional, when a blind spot is revealed it’s pretty painful.