3 Leadership Blindspots That You May Not Know You Have

Do you find yourself repeating patterns that do not serve you?

Have you been given feedback by your team and/or manager but are not able to make the changes you know you need to?

You may have a leadership blind spot that is holding you.

At Tenacious Leadership Institute, we define leadership blind spots as “an unconscious thought, belief or habit that is driving your behavior and presents in your daily leadership activities as a weakness, obstacle or hindrance.”

Most leaders operate with at least 3 - 5 unidentified blind spots that are holding them. The good news is that when they are identified and addressed with an executive coach trained in working with blind spots, they are able to shift them over time.

Here are three of the most common leadership blind spots that we address with our Executive Coaching clients

Blind Spot #1

Not Being Visionary (But You Think You Are)

You probably hope to be visionary and inspiring as a leader but may actually be quite tactical and short-term in your approach. You most likely are “wired” to focus on getting things done but have not yet developed your ability to be visionary and create a new future for your organization.

Blind Spot #2

Not Truly Being Collaborative (But You Say You Are)

While you may value collaboration, you may not have the tools to generate collaboration with others. Further, you may want to step into driving the conversation and results (as most leaders do) but, in doing so, you may prevent others from sharing their ideas.

Blind Spot #3

Not Offering the Coaching Your Team Needs (Even Though You Think You Are)

While you are committed to your team and their growth, you may actually not be offering them the coaching that they need to truly develop. You may find yourself holding back and/or avoiding coaching conversations even when you know they are beneficial.

Do you see yourself in any of these blind spots? Or, perhaps you are beginning to see that you may have your own blind spots that are different from these?

Engage in the leadership practice below to begin identifying your own blind spots.

It’s important to begin addressing these now before your annual review to ensure that you are being proactive in your leadership development.

Leadership Practice

A great way to begin pinpointing your blind spots is to return to feedback you’ve gotten in the past year (formal and informal), conversations you’ve had with your team and heart-to-heart conversation with your manager. What blind spots may they be pointing to?

About Athena

Athena Williams, Founder and CEO of Tenacious Leadership Institute, has been supporting leaders worldwide to become more tenacious for over 20 years. She has found that tenacity is the key to sustained leadership success in today’s ever-changing world. Through her coaching and leadership development programs, she helps leaders expertly handle change, complexity and other challenges so they can quickly get better results for themselves, their teams and their organizations. Take the first step to becoming a tenacious leader by scheduling a call with us.