To illuminate your leadership blind spots, start with trust

Everybody has blind spots – things about us that others can see, but of which we are unaware.

I’m sure you could readily list the blind spots of multiple bosses you’ve worked for.

It’s a little more uncomfortable to consider that your team could do the same thing about you.

As a leader, if there’s things you’re doing that are unhelpful to your team, you need to know about it. But in many cases, the last thing the team are going to do is be honest with you about it. If they are fearful of how their feedback will land, they won’t offer it. That’s to your detriment.

A commonly used model in coaching and leadership development is the Johari Window, developed in 1955 by Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham.

It’s a useful tool to explore the gaps between how we see ourselves and how others see us.

You need to start by building trust with your team. They need to know that if they share information about your blind spots with you:

1. You will receive it without defensiveness (that means “thank you”, not “thank you, but…”)
2. They will not be penalised, directly or indirectly – that means no damage to your relationship with them
3. You will actively consider the feedback and work to change if needed

Be honest with yourself – how comfortable are you on these 3 points? How would your team rate you on them, out of 10? If it’s not an easy 9 or 10, you have work to do…

Openness to feedback, combined with a secure sense of self, is absolutely essential to good leadership.

If you’d like to work on that with me, let me know.

Take care of yourself and others,
Madeleine

PS A massive thank you to those who have filled in the retirement survey. It’s been very interesting to see the data so far and I’m looking forward to sharing the results with you. If you haven’t completed it yet (it will take less than 5 minutes), you can find it here. I’m interested in hearing from you whether you’ve already retired, or if retirement is still decades away. Thank you!

I work with clients from executive leadership teams to the front line, helping them to make clearer decisions about what they want, and adapt faster and more easily to change and transition. I use deep purpose as a key to unlock powerful thriving in work and life.

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