Blind Spot

Why is it that what we see so clearly in others is a blind spot in ourselves? More importantly, how do we deal with this dilemma?

Background

I was recently in the audience of a “Dolphin Tank”…a gentler version of Shark Tank. The person seeking advice provided a brief overview of her business, then stated the challenges she faced. The audience was then given time to ask clarifying questions followed by a time for advice.

What I found interesting is that the slides the woman used in the overview of her business as well as the one showing as her stated challenges contained all the answers she was seeking.

This experience reminded me that very often my clients had the solution to their problems, they just didn’t see it. Or they saw part of the solution but didn’t know how to implement it. Here’s an example to illustrate my point.

Example

A client had a morale problem. It’s employees were doing highly-repetitive, boring tasks. They had asked management to allow them to have headsets to eliminate the tedium of the work. Management said no.

As I explored both parties interests and concerns, I learned that management had declined because they were concerned that productivity would decline. My solution was to allow the headsets after instructing employees that they’d be able to keep the headsets as long as productivity didn’t decline. If productivity declined they’d lose this privilege.

This is a typical example of blind spots that we all possess by virtue of our humanity. I’m not exempt from blind spots any more than the rest of you.

Overcoming blind spots

The secret to dealing with the blind spot dilemma is to align ourselves with people who are:

• Insightful
• Candid
• Encouraging

I’m involved in two mastermind groups. One I’ve had the good fortune to be a part of for 11 years. The group was never larger than 6 in number and is currently at 4 after 2 retired. The second group is a recent addition and there are 3 of us in this group.

Insightful

In both groups I’ve aligned with people who have demonstrated an ability to think creatively…who are insightful. That is they make connections that aren’t obvious to me.

Candid

I can count on members of both groups to tell me what I need to hear, not what I want to hear. If my idea is crap, they tell me it’s crap and why.

Encouraging

All of their advice, whether affirming or refuting my ideas, are offered in terms that encourage me to act in my own best interests. They care about me and want me to succeed.

The first mastermind group has evolved to where we consider one another to be family…not just advisors or friends, but family in the best sense of the word.

The second mastermind group is quickly evolving to that family feel.

Takeaways

Blind spots about ourselves are a malady that we all suffer by virtue of our humanity. The good news is that we can easily avoid falling victim to these blind spots by aligning ourselves with people who are:

• Insightful
• Candid
• Encouraging

Give yourself the gift of surrounding yourself with these people…preferably a half dozen or fewer and meet with them once a month. What you’ll quickly discover is that you’re not only the beneficiary of their wisdom and caring nature, you’re feeling good about yourself because you’re extending the same gifts to them.

If you’ve found this post helpful, please share it with your friends. It’s a great way to let them know how much you care.

If you’d like the leaders in your organization to learn how to use the numbers more effectively and dramatically improve the productivity of your workforce, contact me to learn more about these resources:

Resources

Making the EXCEPTIONAL Normal program helps you identify and nurture emerging leaders who elevate all around them to higher levels of performance and greater job enjoyment.

Financial Awareness & Strategy program where employees learn to identify opportunities to improve financial results and prioritize these opportunities on the basis of which produces the greatest impact with the least effort. Greater financial awareness = Better decisions.