Thursday, August 1, 2013

Blind Spots: What You Can't See WILL Hurt You


Every driver knows (they do, don't they?) about the perils of blind spots.  They are places in your car that you just can't see through or around.  Whatever is in that blind spot is at risk.

We all carry around personal blind spots, owing to our history - our self-endorsed Life Story. Our blind spots are conditions that others may see or recognize in us but we do not see ourselves.  A mentor of mine once asked me what my greatest weakness was.  A stock interview question, that most people either answer sincerely with some challenge they are facing and dealing with or disingenuously with a strength they try to sell as a weakness, e.g. "I'm too results-oriented sometimes."  Please.  If you've recruited and hired I know you've heard it all.  After we discussed it, he explained that blind spots are everyone's greatest weakness.   The oncoming threat you don't see is the one that takes you out.

Businesses suffer from collective blind spots all the time.  When business under-performance occurs, especially on a continuing basis whether explained or not, one of the likely culprits to look for is blind spots.  Strong groups, taken together as a team, try to blend strengths and weaknesses and a variety of viewpoints to mitigate against team-wide blind spots.  Some teams actively try to discover their blind spots and address them.  Few do both.  Your business could be one that does.  And you would be very well rewarded for it.

It takes practice and diligence to root out blind spots but in the end, it is simply good practice, a habit of effective teams.  You always have the choice to design the practices your team uses.   Would you rather be blind, or see?

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Strategic Venture Consulting's Conversation Driven Business(TM) practice will help you identify and correct blind spots from individual to enterprise.

(c) 2013 Strategic Venture Consulting / Robert Kimball all rights reserved.


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