Leadership Blind Spots

by Jeff Saari

I think most of us have been in the position of going to change lanes in our car only

to be honked at. Simply put, the other driver was in our blind spot — that area to the right or left of the vehicle that nothing can be seen from the side mir- rors. If you are going slowly, this “blind spot” mistake can cause a scare or a fender bender or simply an inconvenience. Going fast it can cause major damage, injury or death.

Our leadership is analogous to this concept because what we don’t see about ourselves can have a minor or major impact on our business or team.

Behaviors you can’t see

In my work with leaders all around the Monadnock Region, part of my role is to ferret out these blind spots so we can drive more soundly and safely. A blind spot is just that, a behavior that you can’t see; it is just part of how you act and hasn’t been open thus far to self-scrutiny.

The blind spot usually isn’t in- tentional, yet it is there. Leader- ship blind spots run the gamut: avoidance, impatience, inter- rupting people, aggression, lead- ing bad meetings, not sharing in- formation, and not setting clear expectations, to name a few.

For example, I recently sat down with an executive direc-

tor who is having trouble with an employee of many years. The “problem employee” is also a manager and was plagued with many leadership blind spots. The executive director hired me to help this manager become more attuned to the blind spots and work on ways to overcome them. The blind spots have grown to such a degree that employees neither liked nor trusted him.

Everyone has blind spots

I think we can all relate to this above example. But let me make it clear: Everyone has blind spots! Even the most consci- entious leaders among us have them from time to time.