5 Common Leadership Blind Spots and How to Overcome them
I am sure you have heard the 70’s Johnny Nash song: “I can see clearly now……I can see all obstacles in my way”. As leaders we are always striving to understand the landscape and clear the way for flawless execution. A broad understanding of situation dynamics is so important to know where to focus valuable leadership attention and make good decisions. But with so many responsibilities and distractions awareness can become murky. Also, leaders have a tendency to want to demonstrate confidence and as such take action before seeking out valuable perspective. These limitations cause leaders to have blind spots that prevent them optimizing their capacity and make the best decisions.
There is a tendency to believe that leaders with more experience, or are in more senior positions, have higher levels of situation awareness. But that is generally not the case. Travis Bradberry, author of Emotional Intelligence 2.0, concluded that middle managers have the highest EQ scores because they are in the middle of the action. However, beyond that, as seniority levels ascend EQ scores descend. Senior leaders have a higher propensity to make decisions based on their own perception of reality which is often more limited than they think. These limitations, or blind spots drag on progress and prevent teams from realizing their full potential. Based on my experience and observations following are 5 of the most common leadership blinds spots and how best to overcome them:
Exaggerated Perception of Capacity to Execute – A narrow perspective causes leaders to believe their organizations capacity to execute is greater than it really is. They set the bar high without fully understanding the capacity gaps or impediments that exist. When leaders become increasingly detached they tend to fill they gaps with their own assumptions.
How to Overcome: It is really important for leaders to periodically assess strengths and weakness – at a minimum quarterly. Those closest to execution likely have very important perspective that you don’t. Use it as an opportunity to remain plugged in and redirect your attention to where it needs to be.
Avoiding Difficult Conversations – For most, having difficult conversations is challenging anyway. With lower EQ, there is a stronger tendency to rationalize avoiding them, often convincing oneself that the situation will resolve on its own. They rarely do!
How to Overcome: When you know you need to have a difficult conversation use that as an alert to “just do it!” Not later – but now! Having difficult conversations sooner than later always results in a better outcomes for you and the organization. Avoiding the conversation will only result in making the situation more difficult to deal with later.
Accepting Average Performance – The more detached from individual and team performance leaders become the more they accept the status quo. When accountability becomes inconsistent performance gets less leadership attention. If performance is perceived as less important to the leader it will become less important to the team.
How to Overcome: Making time to evaluate performance and provide feedback is an absolute must! Think about it – Is anything more important than performance? Reflect on how you are using your time and make sure performance assessment and accountability are on the top of the list. It will be time well-spent!
Decision-Making – Speed vs. Thoughtfulness – The perceived need for speed can often cause decision-making processes to be hasty. Quick and unilateral decisions often fail to consider important perspective that leaders do not have. Making decisions to force progress rarely results in the best outcome.
How to Overcome: – Rely on your trusted circle of leaders and advisors to engage in collaborative dialogue. Take the time to fully assess the situation and encourage feedback from different perspectives. Seeking out valuable perspective will produce better decisions and save time in the long run.
Taking Time to Broaden Perspective – When the strong magnetic forces of daily activities suck you on to the rails of chaos and whisk you away, your perspective narrows. The less important busy work consumes your preciouis capacity leaving little time to think and connect with those that have valuable perspective.
How to Overcome: First, recognize that without feedback you are breathing your own exhaust. Then build a communication framework that ensures you get the valuable perspective you need. Regular one-on-one meetings, daily self-reflection, and developing a partnership with an Executive Leadership Advisor are excellent ways to identify your blind spots and expand your situational awareness. Thinking outside of the box takes effort, humility, and discipline.
So how do you identify your blind spots??? Don’t make the mistake many leaders make – believing they always see clearly. Because that is generally not the case. Even the most successful leaders have blind spots. Our perspective is limited to the information we have access to and our willingness to be open to it. Broaden your perspective by seeking out and listening to others with valuable information. The broader perspective will help ensure that “its gonna be a bright and sunshiny day”.
As an Executive Leadership Advisor Joe partners with leaders to expand their capacity to develop high performing teams and cultures. Learn more about advisory services and schedule time with Joe at: www.peakformanceconsulting.com/contact