17 c-earthsoft-leadership - 10 blind spots

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Index

• Leader - 10 blind spots

• Going it alone

• Insensitive to your impact on others

• An ―I know‖ attitude

• Avoiding difficult conversation

• Blaming others or circumstances

• Treating commitments casually

• Conspiring against others

• Withholding emotional commitment

• Not taking a stand

• Tolerating good enough


We all have blind spots - even the best & greatest

of leaders

• Unproductive behaviors

• That are invisible to us

• Are glaring to everyone else

• Create dire consequences for you, your team,

and your company

We advice for recognizing and overcoming them.

Leader - 10 blind spots


The symptoms:

• Rejecting offers of support

• Withdrawing /Isolating from others

• Shouldering the burden alone

• Not talking about your stress or anxiety

• Not including others in decision-making

• Leaving people to fend for themselves.

Why it's damaging:

It creates anxiety and uncertainty in others. When

you are missing in action, frustration builds and

people fill in the blanks, spread rumors, and

withdraw their discretionary effort

Going it alone


What to do: Talk with others about your tendency

to solve problems by yourself. Let others know

that you are committed to working in partnership

but you need their support. Ask them to point out

when you are withdrawing so you can stop

excluding and start including.

Going it alone


The symptoms:

• Not recognizing a negative impact

• Being insensitive to cultural differences

• Expecting others to react the same way you do

• Criticizing and devaluing others

• Dismissing reactions of others as their problem

Why it's damaging: Insensitivity and a low level

of awareness results in an unsafe environment.

People emotionally disengage, work around the

leader, and do not speak up for fear of

repercussions

Insensitive to impact


What to do: Find out how you impact others by

asking for their candid feedback before you end a

conversation. Ask following

• Do you feel that I listen to you?

• Do you believe that I have confidence in you?

• Have I let you down in any way?

• Have I said anything that is limiting our working

relationship?

Insensitive to impact


The symptoms:

• Having an answer for everything

• Rigid and fixed views

• Lack of intellectual curiosity

• Not listening, diminishing what others to say

• Arguing with those not agreeing with your

• Refusing to explore alternatives and options

Why it's damaging: Others feel devalued, angry,

and insignificant. Innovation and creativity come

to a standstill as the "I know" leader dominates

conversations and shuts down new ideas

An “I know” attitude


What to do: Recognize that your blind spot

causes you to miss important information and

ideas. Without fail, ask:

• What have I missed?

• What am I not seeing?

• How am I limiting new possibilities?

An “I know” attitude


The symptoms:

• Softening the message

• Not delivering the tough message

• Staying on the surface of issues

• Avoiding emotional discussions

• Talking in general instead of specific

Why it's damaging: What you don't tell others,

they will make up and discuss in the hallways.

Leaders who are not direct raise anxiety levels to

staggering heights, resulting in a lack of focus on

business needs. People become more fixated on

what the leader is not saying or disclosing

Avoiding difficult conversation


What to do: Start the conversation with a positive

context and tell others that you are committed to

their success and to the partnership. Then ask if

they are open to your coaching or feedback. Most

will readily respond yes. Then say what you have

to say responsibly

Avoiding difficult conversation


The symptoms: Always having a reason,

excuse, or explanation ("Yeah, but…"); pointing

the finger at others; treating others as the enemy

or opposition; building silos rather than supporting

enterprise perspective; criticizing and

complaining; invalidating ideas and people.

Why it's damaging: Leaders who blame others

are perceived as petty, small, and divisive. They

polarize the organization and divide people into

camps. To avoid being caught in the line of fire,

people stay below the radar and wait and see

rather than take action.

Blaming others or circumstances


What to do: Stop pointing out what others did not

do, what they should have done, and how

ineffective they are. Ask yourself:

How has my behavior contributed to this problem

or breakdown?

Take accountability publicly by owning your role in

the problem. Fix yourself, not others

Blaming others or circumstances


The symptoms: Not making commitments, not

keeping them, not delivering on time, always

maintaining an escape hatch to avoid being held

accountable, not providing a clear "I commit" or "I

do not commit," making casual promises with no

intention of keeping them.

Why it's damaging: When people cannot trust

your word in all matters, they discount you,

reduce your credibility, and imitate your behavior.

The environment becomes lackluster with sloppy

promises, accepting excuses over results, and

not holding each other accountable

Treating commitments casually


What to do: Be crystal clear about what you are

committing to and what you are not committing to.

If you must revoke a commitment, communicate

prior to the promised deadline. Take

accountability for your impact, and ask "Is there a

new commitment I am willing to make?‖

Treating commitments casually


The symptoms: Making negative comments;

silently endorsing a negative point of view by not

speaking up; displaying nonverbal cues of

disapproval, disappointment, or disinterest;

talking about people, not to them; enlisting others

as co-conspirators against a person or group.

Why it's damaging: When you conspire against

others, you are perceived as dishonest, deceitful,

and weak. People withdraw their trust and

constantly wonder what you are saying about

them. Your behavior erodes partnerships and you

are unable to influence change or people

Conspiring against others


What to do: Practice catching yourself when you

make negative comments about others. The

moment you notice yourself conspiring against

others, stop and take accountability. Apologize for

your impact, restate what you have to say in a

supportive manner, and immediately talk to the

person with whom you have an unresolved issue.

Conspiring against others


The symptoms: Complying & going along with a

decision, resisting change and withholding

support, withdrawing your passion and

enthusiasm, agreeing intellectually but not

committing emotionally, going through motions

Why it's damaging: Leaders who are not

transparent are viewed as disingenuous,

disengaged, and inauthentic. When you withhold

your emotional commitment you separate

yourself from others and they notice it. Your

behavior slows or stops change. If you are not

committed, why should they be?

Withholding emotional commitment


What to do: When you are unable to fully

commit, communicate and share where you are

stuck instead of letting your behavior do the

talking. Make a clear and direct request to the

appropriate person for what you need in order to

commit intellectually and emotionally.

Withholding emotional commitment


The symptoms:

• Lack of clarity & direction on small / large issues

• Not making decisions

• Reversing decisions that you have made

• High levels of ambiguity

• Lack of decisive action, paralyzed teams

Why it's damaging: People lose confidence in

leaders who wait for consensus, are slow to make

decisions, or are unwilling to take a clear and

decisive stand. Ineffectiveness results as others

spend their time trying to second-guess what you

really want

Not taking a stand


What to do: Stop making others read your mind

and be clear about what you want and what you

are willing to commit to. You can always take a

stand—even when you have not made a

decision—by saying, "I am not ready to make this

decision today. But I will give you my answer by

the end of next week.―

Not taking a stand


The symptoms: Failure to anticipate & embrace

change, maintaining status quo or only making

incremental changes, defending why things are

fine as they are, refusing to investigate solutions

that are outside of your comfort zone, rejecting

new ideas, reacting instead of being proactive.

Why it's damaging: Others are discouraged and

resigned when the leader does not demand

excellence in all areas. No one wants to be

second best; people want to be on the winning

team. Leaders lose support and enthusiasm as

people resign to "nothing will ever change here.―

Tolerating good enough


What to do: Examine what is holding you back:

What are you tolerating and where are you

resigned that this is as good as it gets? Raise

your level of leadership awareness and

effectiveness and lead by example. This will

inspire others to do the same.

Tolerating good enough


Few interesting 10 spots1.Under-communicating strategic direction & priorities

2.Poorly communicating expectations

3.Waiting for poor performance to improve — Hope is

not a strategy

4.Buying into the myth of the ―Irreplaceable Employee‖

5.Investing too much time trying to coach radical change

6.Hiring for capability and nothing else

7.Accepting the current capabilities and limitations of

your team

8.Acting as the sole integrator of team goals and

performance

9.Believing all needed info flows up and down

10.Going quiet in times of change and uncertainty


Few interesting 10 spots

Few interesting 10 spots


Few interesting points1.Leader must have vision. Without vision, you

cannot be a leader

2.Leader to travel into an unexplored path. & not

just along well-laid out ways

3.Leader must know how to manage success,

and even more importantly, failure.

4.Leader to have the courage to make decisions.

5.Leader to have nobility in management. Every

action of the leader to be transparent

6.Leader to work with integrity and succeed with

integrity. When failure occurs, the leader of the

organization owns that failure.


Few interesting pointsThe best management lessons did not come from

reading the books

Those came from the experience

To be a great leader, you have to be

• a coach rather than a commander,

• an advisor rather than a manager and

• a representative of your colleagues instead of

becoming a director


We express gratitude for making the content available free of cost

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/09/0901_blind_spots/1.htm by Loretta

Malandro, PhD;; socketwell performance advisor

http://www.onpartners.com/news/resources/top10blindspots.pdf by Allen

Sockwell and Brad Westveld

http://executivecenterofexcellence.wordpress.com/2012/07/31/10-blind-spots-

that-cause-leaders-to-fail-and-undermine-organizational-performance/

Gratitude & references

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/09/0901_blind_spots/1.htm
















http://www.onpartners.com/news/resources/top10blindspots.pdf











http://executivecenterofexcellence.wordpress.com/2012/07/31/10-blind-spots-that-cause-leaders-to-fail-and-undermine-organizational-performance/





































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17 c-earthsoft-leadership - 10 blind spots

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