17 Coaches On How To Address Leadership Blind Spots

Even the most accomplished leaders can have habits, assumptions or behaviors that limit their effectiveness without them even realizing it. As a leader, your ability to identify and address these blind spots can be the key to unlocking your next level of growth. But what exactly should you be looking for, and how can you confront these challenges?

17 Forbes Coaches Council members discuss leadership blind spots they encounter in their work with leadership clients and strategies for addressing them. Their following insights can provide tools for becoming a more self-aware, adaptive and effective leader.  

1. Dedicate Time To Personal Development.  Read, meditate, reflect and seek new perspectives daily.
2. Slow Down And Listen For True Intent.   In dialogue, we bring our own reality, meaning and understanding to every word. The blind spot is when we do not slow down and release judgment. We miss the other’s true intent by not asking about their needs or assumptions—then misalignment begins and buy-in is misconstrued.
3. Assign Responsibilities For Executing Strategic Plans.  Companies can spend a lot of time creating a spectacular strategic plan and creating and executing a communication strategy for the organization, but when that is done, responsibility for execution is missing.
4. Remember To Develop New Strengths.  A major blind spot is overusing strengths and not developing new ones.
5. Talk Through Tough Situations.  Leaders can be too positive by overlooking small issues and not giving enough feedback, typically with the goal of not hurting feelings or not taking the time to have a potentially uncomfortable conversation.
6. Recognize What Makes You Different.  An effective leader is a self-aware leader. One leadership blind spot that an executive coach could help a client identify would be that their own working genius and styles of communicating with, motivating and empowering others may look very different compared to other leaders’ styles.
7. Seek Feedback On How Your Actions Affect Others.  What evidence do you have that shows your actions as a leader are either helping or hindering the performance and contributions of others? If you are unaware, it’s a good time to seek such feedback.
8. Become Aware Of How You Communicate.  Most leaders default to a leadership style they were taught early on, whether it’s “control and command” or collaborative. As a coach, making them aware of how they communicate can lead to an instant transformation when you uncover how it exposes their limiting beliefs.
9. Watch How People React To Your Words.  One potential blind spot is the impact of small words and behaviors on others. A habit of saying, “Yeah, but …” might shut down input, for example, while a shift to saying, “Yes, and …” could encourage more engagement. Consistently asking if there are “any questions,” but then failing to be quiet long enough for people to ask is poor behavior; all it takes is counting to seven to give people a chance to speak up.
10. Ask For Advice Instead Of Feedback.  A common leadership blind spot is not knowing there may be a disconnect between how you think you are coming across to others and how others are really experiencing you. In the short term, address this by asking others for advice instead of feedback.
11. Recognize And Transcend Your Leadership ‘Bubble’.  The more senior you become as a leader, the more you find yourself in an invisible “bubble.” Honest, candid feedback becomes increasingly rare, especially when it carries risks for the giver. People may carefully calculate how, when or if to share information with you, often investing more energy into managing you than addressing the message itself. Develop the vision to recognize and transcend your bubble!
12. Have 360-Degree Interviews Done With Your Inner Circle.  A leader’s blind spot is usually in plain sight of those who work around them. Inviting an executive coach to conduct 360-degree interviews with the leader’s inner circle is a very effective method for uncovering and discovering their few essential behaviors that need attention.
13. See Every Conversation As A Leadership Opportunity.  Consider that every conversation starts and ends with your audience. Get curious—who is the audience, and what do they care about? Shape a message that considers what they care about.
14. Avoid Overused Strengths Becoming Toxic Traits.  Any core strength that is overused can become a derailer. For instance, if healthy skepticism crosses into cynicism, it becomes a toxic trait that needs attention. Critical thinking requires cognitive diversity.
15. Try New Behaviors And Test Out New Tools.  A leader relying too much on their current toolbox is a real possibility. Experiment with new behaviors or tools and observe the results. Often, the result is really illuminating for them, and that allows them to consider its application and opens them up to other possibilities.
16. Identify How Your Impact Reflects Your Intent.  An executive coach is tremendously helpful in identifying impact versus intent. As executives move up in leadership, they often assume their interactions with people are a direct reflection of their intent. In their role of confidant and “mirror holder,” an executive coach is well-positioned to help leaders recognize when they need to be more focused on their impact on others.
17. Learn To Trust Your Team And Delegate Effectively.