17 Coaches On How To Address Leadership Blind Spots
Even the most accomplished leaders can have habits, assumptions or behaviors that limit their effectiveness without them even realizing it. As a leader, your ability to identify and address these blind spots can be the key to unlocking your next level of growth. But what exactly should you be looking for, and how can you confront these challenges?
Here, 17 Forbes Coaches Council members discuss leadership blind spots they encounter in their work with leadership clients and strategies for addressing them. Their insights below provide tools for becoming a more self-aware, adaptive and effective leader.
1. Dedicate Time To Personal Development
Recently, I asked a group of leaders how they worked on personal development, and they looked at me blankly. Conferences? Exercise? When I clarified that I meant leadership skills, emotional capacity or self-awareness, they said, “I don’t have time for that!” My reply: “You don’t have time not to!” Organizations evolve only when leaders do. Read, meditate, reflect and seek new perspectives daily. – Lisa Schenk, Schenk Consulting Group
2. Slow Down And Listen For True Intent
Ever felt like you were collaborating with the enemy? This person is your peer or internal customer, and you are dependent on each other to perform. In dialogue, we bring our own reality, meaning and understanding to every word. The blind spot is when we do not slow down and release judgment. We miss the other’s true intent by not asking about their needs or assumptions—then misalignment begins and buy-in is misconstrued. – Samantha Tassone, GrowthFuel
3. Assign Responsibilities For Executing Strategic Plans
A key aspect of organizational success that is often forgotten is translating the strategic plan into operational objectives and, from there, performance expectations for the leadership team. Companies can spend a lot of time creating a spectacular strategic plan and creating and executing a communication strategy for the organization, but when that is done, responsibility for execution is missing. – LindaAnn Rogers, SPHR, sHRBP, CBC, Aspire to Align
4. Remember To Develop New Strengths
A major blind spot is overusing strengths and not developing new ones. A strength is also a weakness, and most leaders lack self-awareness regarding this area. The recognition of a blind spot is usually triggered by something, and I refer to this as the “one-two punch” of blind spots. During a leader’s career, the blind spot was pointed out, and to change it requires discovering new areas of growth. – Melinda Fouts, Ph.D., Success Starts With You
5. Talk Through Tough Situations
Leaders can be too positive by overlooking small issues and not giving enough feedback, typically with the goal of not hurting feelings or not taking the time to have a potentially uncomfortable conversation. Coaching offers a safe space to talk through situations and have a thought partner as you (the leader) decide what steps to take. – Kelly Ross, Ross Associates
6. Recognize What Makes You Different
An effective leader is a self-aware leader. One leadership blind spot that an executive coach could help a client identify would be that their own working genius and styles of communicating with, motivating and empowering others may look very different compared to other leaders’ styles. Seeing this allows the client to relate more effectively, have productive conflict, build better relationships and achieve buy-in toward results. – Sheeba Varghese, Defining Moments 365 LLC
7. Seek Feedback On How Your Actions Affect Others
Lacking self-awareness about how you show up and how it affects others’ ability to shine can be a blind spot. In other words, what evidence do you have that shows your actions as a leader are either helping or hindering the performance and contributions of others? If you are unaware, it’s a good time to seek such feedback. – Yolanda Greer, Elevate U Consulting
8. Become Aware Of How You Communicate
Most leaders default to a leadership style they were taught early on, whether it’s “control and command” or collaborative. As a coach, making them aware of how they communicate can lead to an instant transformation when you uncover how it exposes their limiting beliefs. For example, a manager was taught on his college sports team that you have to be loud and intimidating to be respected. That’s a limiting belief, especially in leadership. – Tammy Kling, Voices Speakers Bureau
9. Watch How People React To Your Words
One potential blind spot is the impact of small words and behaviors on others. A habit of saying, “Yeah, but …” might shut down input, for example, while a shift to saying, “Yes, and …” could encourage more engagement. Consistently asking if there are “any questions,” but then failing to be quiet long enough for people to ask is poor behavior; all it takes is counting to seven to give people a chance to speak up. If you wonder why people are “too quiet,” watch their reactions to your words. – Ronica Roth, The Welcome Elephant
10. Ask For Advice Instead Of Feedback
A common leadership blind spot is not knowing there may be a disconnect between how you think you are coming across to others and how others are really experiencing you. In the short term, address this by asking others for advice instead of feedback. For deeper insights, ask your coach to do a 360-degree assessment so you can learn how to get others’ perceptions of you closer to what you believe about yourself. – Linda Allen-Hardisty, Allen-Hardisty Leadership Group
11. Recognize And Transcend Your Leadership ‘Bubble’
The more senior you become as a leader, the more you find yourself in an invisible “bubble.” Honest, candid feedback becomes increasingly rare, especially when it carries risks for the giver. People may carefully calculate how, when or if to share information with you, often investing more energy into managing you than addressing the message itself. Develop the vision to recognize and transcend your bubble! – Daniela Landherr, The Human Space
12. Have 360-Degree Interviews Done With Your Inner Circle
A leader’s blind spot is usually in plain sight of those who work around them. Inviting an executive coach to conduct 360-degree interviews with the leader’s inner circle is a very effective method for uncovering and discovering their few essential behaviors that need attention. Questions need to aim at communication and leadership styles, seeking specific development priorities for maximum impact. – Bill Koch, Bill Koch Leadership Coaching
13. See Every Conversation As A Leadership Opportunity
Clients forget that every conversation is a leadership opportunity. An overemphasis on a monologue about “me and my message” enables assumptions and biases to take over; the other person feels alienated and leaves the conversation. Consider that every conversation starts and ends with your audience. Get curious—who is the audience, and what do they care about? Shape a message that considers what they care about. – Farah Bala, FARSIGHT
14. Avoid Overused Strengths Becoming Toxic Traits
Any core strength that is overused can become a derailer. For instance, if healthy skepticism crosses into cynicism, it becomes a toxic trait that needs attention. Critical thinking requires cognitive diversity. Cynicism doesn’t play well with collaboration and teamwork. – Brian Bacon, Oxford Leadership Group
15. Try New Behaviors And Test Out New Tools
A leader relying too much on their current toolbox is a real possibility. I encourage leaders to do this experiment—try a new behavior, test out a new tool or approach, and see what happens. Often, the result is really illuminating for them, and that allows them to consider its application and opens them up to other possibilities. – Laura Vanderberg, Newton Services
16. Identify How Your Impact Reflects Your Intent
An executive coach is tremendously helpful in identifying impact versus intent. As executives move up in leadership, they often assume their interactions with people are a direct reflection of their intent. In their role of confidant and “mirror holder,” an executive coach is well-positioned to help leaders recognize when they need to be more focused on their impact on others. – Susannah Robinson, Partnership for Talent
17. Learn To Trust Your Team And Delegate Effectively
The leadership blind spot I see the most in my clients, who are managing partners of law firms of five to 50 lawyers, is the inability to trust their team and delegate effectively. Most attorneys believe only they can do things right, when, in fact, their team can often do those things better. The blind spot is their inability to let go. – John Kormanik, John R. Kormanik Coaching
Publishing Source: Forbes.com
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