How Coaching Can Help You Identify Your Leadership Blindspots, by Nick Roud.
For as long as humans have been on this earth there has been a huge appetite for knowledge. Personal and professional. Growth doesn’t come easily to many, and, with so called quick hacks many fall short of reaching there full potential. Frustrated and more confused when starting out.
Leadership confidence plays havoc with professionals across the globe. It has little respect just because you went to university and or was born with a silver spoon in your mouth. Self doubt, reluctance to see what others see in you continues to hold many leaders back thus not reaching full potential. I believe we have an generation of untapped leaders. Executives who slowly follow what was laid out before them, self doubting ones our unique gifts to lead. Unable to back themselves due to the fact that they are waiting to be found out and moved on from the organisation. These are all too common in my 1:1 leadership coaching conversations and why every coaching engagement incorporates an evidence based approach.
In my ongoing research of leadership and the ability to lead effectively I am seeing leaders incremental blind spots which once made aware of can move the leader onto greater things. I rarely coach a Chief Executive Officer, senior executive who is not actually aware of his/her blind spots. They make claim to their leadership strengths and blind spots in our initial conversations. As I note them down I also pause and make reference of them in the back of my mind. Again at this stage they are only opinions, we haven’t gained any evidence yet!
To me leadership is simply, maybe it’s my dyslexia brain many overcomplicate it and throw so much jargon that it simply isn’t supporting or helping a leader. To be a leader you really need to
- Understand yourself (*strengths and blind-spots)
- Understand others (*who are your people)
- Understand your business (*where are you at – where are you going)
As a leader gets clarity of themself, they are then free to elevate themself, those they lead and the organisation. To understand what is enabling you and what might be holding you back you need to collect up today and relevant insights. For a leader to truly deepen there knowledge of themself and to enhance their leadership presence having an awareness of both strengths and blind spots is a non-negotiable.
Leaders around the world have so much data at their fingertips they forget the most important piece of data, ‘who they are’. I’d encourage you not to be distracted by the noise. Laser focus is paramount.
In my executive leadership coaching practice we bring evidence front and centre. Sometimes it’s hard hitting, other times it’s a comfort either way we must get insights. The evidence that a leader must have their hands shares a story of he/she see themself and how others see them as a leader. Let’s call that your leadership fingerprint. Others call it a 360 degree leadership assessment. Either way the intent is to allow the leader to gain valuable insight into how they and others see them.
Far to often I see leaders assuming a great deal about themself. The RLA360 (Roud Leadership Assessment 360) assessments brings fresh perspectives, narrow a leaders focus and more importantly attention. When a leader lasers in on the development of their strengths and addressing blind spots momentum shifts.
What I’ve noticed when meeting the leader to debrief their assessment is that the leader jumps straight to ‘how do I fix this or that’. A massive opportunity has therefore been overlooked. What are you doing well at I normally ask? As humans we are quick to want to fix the weaknesses! Blind-spots are in all of us its understanding if you ‘should or shouldn’t’ focus on certain blindspots that my coaching work focuses on. Fundamentally we seek to see themes not outliers.
Leadership isn’t a complex job, it takes an enormous amount of daily attention to get to the very top and then to sustain that level. We have for decades over complicated the very essence of leadership. Let’s draw a line in the sand appreciate what our has happened in the past and move our attention to the future.
A 360 degree leadership assessment should incorporate aspects of leadership and ask specific questions that allow the leaders stakeholders to share his or her view points confidentially. In my coaching practice I incorporate an assessment called the MLEI/RLA which allows the leader to answer a number of questions on how they see themself as a leader. Its a powerful lens for the leader to reflect on, are they mature or immature, coupled with the RLA360 we now have a starting point to get to work on. Let the fun begin!
Coaching enables a leader to understand how they tick, what get’s them going, what holds them back. How are they making decisions, What is there impact on people, How are they communicating to others, When under pressure how do they show up etc.
Are you an over-thinker? Do you lead effectively? Are you brining your ‘super-power’ front and centre? Have you addressed your blind-spots and put pathways that bridge gaps?
As a leader it’s important to stop regularly and check what is actually going on. That is why great leaders regularly check in with me post our coaching engagement to discuss progress and or to conduct a RLA360.
Dealing With a Blind Spot
Let’s get real for a second, having a blind spot is one thing, accepting it is another thing! Have you ever heard of the ‘tail on your back’ story? If one person tells you that you have a tail on your back you may laugh it off. If two people tell you that you have a tail on your back you may glance over and check to see if you do have a tail on your back! If four, five, six people tell you that you have a tail on your back then you do have a tail on your back and you need to acknowledge it. Knowing can be an uncomfortable thing to take, but for mature leaders they take that feedback on and do something about that. An immature leader will try and justify it! My encouragement is ‘own-it’.
I have shared with many that effective leaders must commit to ongoing self-reflection and continuous development to ensure the tail isn’t re growing! I also believe that its not a once and done approach. When under pressure a leader may well fall back into certain behaviours. Elite leaders like sports professionals regularly gain feedback from others on how they are performing. Just like your car’s annual warrant of fitness making sure you are checking that you are not falling back into those blind spot behaviours is critical to a leaders success.
We all have blindspots. What is more important is being clear on what those blind spots are and if you should address them! It is also good to appreciate to what level those blindspots might well be holding you back as a leader. Effective leaders continue to evolve and grow, they do not stand still.
What if you ignore Blind Spots
Like anything in life you have a choice. You can choose to ignore your blind spots, hope they will go away, blame everyone else or you can choose to acknowledge them, name them, look at them and understand if you should look to improve those blind spots and shift them to strengths. Leadership coaching isn’t about fixing the leader. Leadership coaching focuses on giving the leader relevant evidence, feedback, perspectives and support the development of a growth mindset. Again elite leaders learn and grow and that involves focusing in on specific blind spots which are not enabling them. A coach will have the necessary skills to help the leader to build on a blind spot. The effective leader will quickly grasp onto what is being shared back to them, and quickly put plans in place to minimise that blind spot. The effective leader will work on it but not to the detriment of what is his/her core strengths.
The primary issues with understanding your blind spots is having the appetite for self-awareness. CEOs and very senior executives share with me that they rarely get feedback, when they do the world is a better place. EQ is very important, more important than any of us can imagine, as a leader one of your areas of focus is on helping others, leading others, if you are not putting the oxygen mask on yourself first how well are you actually leading others?
Common Themes among Executives
When looking over research and insights from my leadership 360 assessments, here are some common blind spots that plague executives.
- Avoid rocking the boat
- Avoid having difficult conversations
- Drive personal agendas not team or organisation first mentality
- Reluctant to commit, make decisions
- Over commit
- Spread themself to thin, and burn themself out
- Struggle to keep relationships internally and externally
Leadership Coaching Offers Solutions to Blind Spots
A leadership coach addresses blind spots systematically by
- Gaining evidence through key stakeholders interviews and 360s
- Pinpoints aspects the leader may not be seeing
- Supports the leader to create an action plan where progress can be measured
- Shares insights to help the leader
- Knows how to deliver feedback constructive and timely.
As a leadership coach my role isn’t to run your business that is what you have been employed to do, instead, my role is to help you lead effectively.
To discuss your leadership coaching for yourself or those in your organisation reach out to Nick directly on +6421375630.