Blind Spots

It can be pretty hard to improve in an area you recognize neither as wrong nor out of whack.  Many times feedback has been my greatest enemy and my best friend; however, I know not all feedback is valid or even true!  Some feedback gives others an opportunity to use us as “garbage cans” to dump whatever frustration they have onto us and keep us bound to their opinion, while others may genuinely have our best interest in mind and desire to share with us “blind spots” we may be missing.  As an executive, I often have to trust my team’s judgment in certain situations.  I recently had one of our staff members come to me and make a seemingly crazy suggestion…but because I recognize I have blind spots I didn’t dismiss the suggestion.

Leaders have to understand, we all have “blind spots”.  We want to see everything in our organization as clear as possible but we really can’t.  I have been fascinated by a new program on TV called “undercover boss”.  What a great idea to see the top CEO’s leave the comfort of their executive offices and go out to work undercover among their employees in order to better relate to them and make better decisions.  Our organization definitely isn’t one of those in terms of size but the principal is the same.  In order for us to grow we have to regularly check the temperature of those around us.  Leaders have to ask the hard questions like “How do you feel this organization treats you?”  “As a company, do you think we care about your personal time?”  This type of questioning really gives you an overall weather report…is it “sunny”, “cloudy”, or “storms ahead”.

To overcome blind spots and address them:

We must pursue people who are not like us but understand us…we need people around us that are different but their difference is valuable.

As leaders we are greatest when we are confident in the team around us…how confident are you?  Do you allow others to point out the blind areas?  Just food for thought!