Executive coaching blog

Look at the cross below with your left eye and cover your right eye, moving the page from too close to you to position about 30cm or so away and you will find the circle simply disappears. This is the true Blind Spot.

 

The term has come to mean things we don't 'see' but many people do not realise that it really means that. If something is in your blind spot you are not aware of it and also don’t realise that you are not aware of it. It might be described as a nil awareness area.

Let's find some examples. It is easier to see blind spots on others than ourselves because our own blind spots, by definition, we're not aware of.

Have you ever noticed how other people's children have much more annoying habits than your own? The parents don't 'see' that behaviour as a fault, but you do. Your own children will have faults too that you are not aware of.

Customer service is a typical area of a blind spot. Some businesses you deal with at odd times do things that are annoying or not conducive to getting you to come back. This tends to be true of small businesses and the staff of big businesses. If some of the large department stores realised how much business was lost by poor staff sending customers away, after the millions they spent getting them into the store, they would have a fit. Ask them and they will defend them. They may talk about 'customer service' but they don't see what really goes on, and so it continues. That's a blind spot.

If you think of what your customers and potential customers think of your service you may get an idea of where they place you or your business. If a competitor has a bigger market share, then let's face it, customers think more of them than you.

So what do your customers think of you? This is a common blind spot. People don't 'see' what problems the customer has with the company.

The road to success is really a journey of finding the blind spots that prevent you from being where you think you should be.

People who do stupid things or who don't do the right thing are simply displaying their blind spots. Even pointing out their shortcomings doesn't work. This is because they can't 'see' them. As far as they are concerned they are simply 'not there' and there must be something wrong with you.

An effective way to become aware of blind spots is to observe results. If expected results do not occur, then there are blind spots. The trick is to find them and you don't even know what you are looking for! This is why an outside observer is so valuable. If they don't have your blind spots they will be able to point them out to you, but often people close to you have your exact blind spots.

You are where you are with the problems you have, due simply to the blind spots you have. Once you get the opportunity to distinguish your blind spots your actions will immediately be impacted and so will your results.
 

Leaders strive to excel, to go beyond what is predictable and to be proud of the legacy they create with their people and the organisation.

For many leaders unpredictable results are normally associated with long hours, intense stress and pressure, sacrificing aspects of life that are important to them such as family and well being.

What does it take to double our turnover in the next 3 years?

Although most leaders strive for this kind of goal, in most cases, they fail.

Leaders and their teams are good at implementing initiatives that bring about incremental improvements. Most organisations are not good at implementing initiatives that bring about exponential change. Why?

There is a lack of understanding as to what brings about exponential change.

Initiatives taken inside of the same worldview or paradigm will produce at best incremental results i.e. results that are some improvement on what has already happened and are limited by what is seen as possible. The worldview defines what is seen as possible – if you can’t see that it’s possible you won’t even try.

So the access to unpredictable results, exponential results is a new worldview or paradigm. You have to be able to see things from a completely new perspective and that perspective has to occur as real and achievable. If not, it will not happen.

Now the question is, “How do I create a new worldview”. Good question!! It’s the right place to start.

The term ‘comfort zone’ is something that most people are familiar with. Yet on the Webster’s Online dictionary the only definition you get is: “The temperature range (between 28 and 30 degrees Centigrade) at which the naked human body is able to maintain a heat balance without shivering or sweating.”

I kind of like that definition because it conjures up what people experience when they get jolted outside their comfort zone in the terms described by Wikipedia: “The comfort zone is a behavioural state within which a person operates in an anxiety-neutral condition, using a limited set of behaviours to deliver a steady level of performance, usually without a sense of risk (White 2009).”

In other words, when we get pushed outside of our comfort zone we experience being vulnerable (naked) and very likely we have associated physical reactions to that state such as increased heart rate, sweaty palms, reddening face, feeling sick in the stomach, tight in the chest etc. and then we do stuff to deal with that experience – we might make a joke, or blame someone else, or withdraw, or pretend we know something, or justify ourselves.

The funny thing about comfort zones is that whilst it is generally accepted that we all operate within them, if I asked you to describe what yours is you would probably have a hard time doing that with any kind of accuracy. The truth is that the only way we know we operate inside of a comfort zone is through the experience we have when we are outside of it, when we are uncomfortable. The experience of being uncomfortable indicates we are outside of our standard ‘behavioural, ‘anxiety-neutral’ condition, and for most of us that is a rare occurrence.

Not knowing what constitutes and defines your Comfort Zone can be a handicap in the game of being a better manager or leader. It means you have a blind spot and until you have identified what it is that is dictating your behaviours and actions you cannot effectively interrupt them to adjust and impact your effectiveness and performance.

Here’s 3 things you can do in the space of 30 minutes that will help you to define your Comfort Zone:

Reflect on and write down in what situations, including which conversations, do you feel uncomfortable?

In each of those situations, what do you experience physically?

In each of those situations, what do you do to get yourself back to feeling comfortable again?