When I learned to drive, one of the surprising lessons I learned was about the blind spots – that space you forget about alongside you where there might be another vehicle. We all learn that you need to turn your head to the side to glance out of your peripheral vision to actually check before changing lanes or turning across traffic, as your rear-vision mirror would not reveal this information to you.
If you don’t check these areas it can lead to collisions and it feels like the vehicle you’ve hit has literally come out of nowhere. You just couldn’t see it. It can even be fatal.
It can be a lot like this in your business. Often when you are travelling on the road to success there will be blind spots in your leadership, your team’s engagement, your finances, your efficiencies…. You can often be too close to your business to be able to really get a good look at what’s really going on around you. Blind spots in your business can sometimes be the downfall of the whole organization when left unaddressed.
Recognize the possibility of blind spots
The first step to understanding how the blind spots may be hindering your organization’s success is to recognize the possibility that you as the main leader have blind spots that may need addressing. Usually this takes two things: 1) Someone to point them out for you and 2) Time away from the day-to-day to be able to really step back to be able to see your business and your leadership from an objective standpoint.
This is why leaders hire coaches. One of the key skills a business coach will bring is the ability to understand you as a leader and your organization and see some of the areas you just can’t see yet. They will then map out a process to help you address these areas and keep you accountable to the process.
Listen to the feedback
No one likes hearing critical feedback… but listening to the feedback you are receiving, especially the negative feedback will allow you to see the possible blind spots you aren’t tuning into. Negative feedback is actually really positive in that it signals where the company can spend time improving itself to satisfy the needs of the customer in a more effective way.
You could even take this further and survey your customers, but are you willing to listen? The other source of information is your team… It takes a strong leader to ask for feedback from the people who work for them, but this too is a brilliant way to assess your strengths and weaknesses from how other people see them.
Blind spots are not something to fear or be ashamed of – everyone has them! When you decide to turn your head and take a look you are saving yourself and your company from a potentially fatal downfall.
Need help getting some perspective? Let’s jump on a call to talk through the options available to you here: https://permanentprogressllc.com/contact/
