What are blind spots and how can you unravel them
Self-awareness can help you become an enhanced version of you
Literally speaking, blind spot is a small part of the retina that is insensitive to light due to interruption. This is the area where the optic nerve joins the retina, and the area lacks in photoreceptor cells. Any light falling in this area does not form an image.
Similarly, we humans have blind spots too. These are aspects about us which are the not so good things about us that we aren’t aware of. Were we to be made aware of these, we could be more mindful and conscious in how we conduct ourselves and avoid these shortcomings in our demeanor. The point is blind spots are areas which can be addressed by bringing in more self-awareness.
As an example, few days ago my husband commented on how I keep repeating myself to my kid asking him to do some chores or to study. More often than not, my six year old does not listen and I tend to repeat myself without realizing that he is forming a habit of listening only when I repeat myself for the fourth or fifth time. I realized that for him to take me seriously and consider me as someone with authority in his life, I need to break this pattern. Else he may end up looking at me as someone who keeps rambling and he may assume that he needs to act only when he gets the fourth- fifth reminder or so. This comment from my husband was a total eyeopener — it helped me become more self-aware and I am working on breaking this pattern.
In organizational space, we see great leaders who are influential and who exhibit strong leadership. Yet sometimes, there is something about these leaders that comes in the way ofseems to pull them being tall enigmatic leaders.down. These could be simple things like avoiding difficult conversations, blaming others, inability to zoom in and zoom out or being afraid to ask for help. All of these can be examples of blind spots — these are personality traits or demeanor that may develop over time and the leader in question may not even be aware of these.
I am an HR professional, and part of my job is partnering with leaders and coaching them. In this journey I often help leaders reflect and see where they may be getting blindsided. I remember working with a leader who was great at what he did. However, he very extremely democratic in his ways, so much so, that he never prevailed and never exerted his opinion and decisions. The downside was that his teams saw his as meek and indecisive. Once the leader in question was made aware of how his approach was being viewed by others, he corrected it and consciously and positioned himself as more authoritative.
Now the question is, how do you learn about your blind spots? Is there really a way for you to understand where your gaps may be.
The good news is yes, it is very much possible to discover your blind spots. Here is how:
1. Ask for Feedback:
This is an absolute starting point. You must learn to seek feedback from those around you. Your organization may offer you tools such as 360 feedback and survey for seeking feedback from team. Leverage these and verbal feedback to understand where you are doing well and where your gaps may be. In personal space too, those around you can really hold the mirror for you — in addition to your family members, surround yourself with honest friends who can help you there.
2. Exhibit an open mindset
Well, no one would say they have a closed mindset if they were asked do they operate with an open mindset or closed. But take a pause and reflect — do you really operate with an open mind? Ask yourself these questions:
- How did you react when your ideas where challenged by a colleague?
- In meetings, do you probe others to share more about their ideas or you focus disproportionately on sharing your opinion?
- What matters more to you — being understood or understanding others?
- Do you seek alignment to your idea most of the times or are you open to seeking contrarian views as well?
Now evaluate if you are an open-minded person or not. Others will feel comfortable sharing feedback candidly with you only if they believe you are an open-minded person who would not resist the feedback and justify otherwise.
3. Introspection is your friend
Nothing can replace this. If you introspect and reflect on the feedback you got during appraisals, what your colleagues said in passing, where you excelled vs where you faltered — you will begin to see a pattern emerging. You will realize that typically there is a common thread running. For example, in my case I realized that I am often labeled as emotional — more than what would be usual for workspace. And as I reflected, I realized I tend to hold high standards for right and wrong. Unfair practices and actions trigger me and make me emotional. I am not proud to say this, but there have been few occasions when I have had emotional outbursts with colleagues when I believed — very strongly believed — that they are not doing right.
Being aware of this blind spot along with the understanding of what triggers me and makes me blindsided has helped me avoid such instances.
Introspection here implies you need to work on getting self-aware. You could journal, talk to a professional coach, or simply reflect. The idea is not to self-critique or pull yourself down. It is about really identifying your triggers, frustration points and patterns that you are not mindful of as of now.
4. Evaluate if you are overusing a strength
I recall working with an authentic leader who strongly believed in right vs wrong. He also believed in being true and authentic to others, and to self. In the process, he sometimes ended up being overly fixated on what his worldview of right was. He was also not adaptive and flexible in his mindset.
Imagine someone who is highly collaborative and helpful. It is not unusual to see such individuals finding it difficult to say no assertively.
These are examples of individuals who are excessively using their strength areas. Overuse of any one strength can work against you. Take a pause and think about what your deeply etched strength areas are. Are they blocking you in some way that you are blind to?
I earnestly hope you find this useful and unravel your blind spots with these techniques. I’d love to hear about your experience and stories of gaining understanding of your blind spots in comments.
