The Awareness Gap – Finding The Blind Spots

If you’re in a position of leadership and don’t feel you have any blind spots, you’re either very naïve or very arrogant. All leaders have blind spots – the question is what are they doing about them? The reality is most leaders invest so much time assessing the cultural and functional dynamics of their organizations they often forget the importance of critically assessing themselves.

The learning journey doesn’t come to an end just because you reach a certain station in life – or at least it shouldn’t. It has consistently been my experience that leaders who are not growing simply cannot lead growing organizations. Moreover, leaders who fail to continue developing will always be replaced by those who do. A leader who fails to understand the value of self-awareness fails to understand their true potential as a leader. The further up the ladder a leader climbs the more they must be on top of their game as they have the broadest sphere of influence, the largest ability to impact a business, and they also now have the most at risk. It is at this place the leader should make the heaviest investment in refining their learning, because increased performance will pay the biggest dividends. The more responsibility a leader has, the bigger their obligation to be on the forward edge of learning, growth and development.

The Key To Awareness – White Space

Here’s something you might not want to hear, but you should definitely take to heart; if you’re having difficulty ordering your world, it’s nobody’s fault but yours. It has no bearing on how busy you are, but what matters is about what you accomplish – the former doesn't always lead to the latter. One of the easiest things for leaders to do is to bite off more than they can chew. All successful leaders are accomplished at working out their schedule to create more time for clear thought.

Bright and talented executives with a bias to action will often take on more than they should. These leaders don’t understand the value of white space. The reality is maximizing results and creating a certainty of execution is all about focus, focus and more focus. Here’s the thing – it’s difficult to focus in the middle of chaos. One of the hardest things for leaders to do is to learn to create white space. The best leaders are those who understand the most productive things often happen during intentional periods of isolation used for self-reflection, introspection, and the rigor of critical thought.

All good leaders have matured to understand they can be fully engaged and present and yet still be alone. Smart leaders don’t fill their calendars with useless activities. They strategically plan for white space allowing them to focus on highest and best use endeavors. Leading doesn’t always mean doing. In fact, most often times it means pulling back and creating white space so that others can do. This is true leadership that can be scaled.

  

I have found the best leaders are harder on themselves than anyone else could ever be. In fact, this is so much the case that the best leaders constantly self-assess and are relentless in challenging themselves. They relish their solitude because it gives them the ability to be alone with their thoughts, to challenge their logic, to refine their theories, and to test the boundaries of their intellect. It’s during these quiet moments that leaders willing to be honest with themselves will examine their own flaws and frailties. They are forever in search of new ways of dealing with old problems.

The beauty of leveraging white space is it helps you avoid falling into the all too common leadership rut.  It’s now time to focus on your self and your unknowns.