How many times have you asked yourself, “What in the world was he thinking; doesn’t he know what he’s doing?” Or, how many times have you wondered, “Why doesn’t anyone tell me the truth? Why do I have to wade through vague and evasive answers to find out what’s really happening?”

The two questions are connected and related to the blindspots with which leaders are afflicted. In an ideal world, leaders would have the most current, valid, relevant, and objective data upon which to make a decision. In reality, leaders are all- too-often told partial truths, provided filtered information, and made to sort through a wide array of incomplete, sanitized, and skewed data. They also fail to recognize they are often their own worst enemy and continue to shoot themselves in the foot.

Blindspots are the inability to see what’s happening. Imagine driving a car the windows of which are covered so that there are only a few, narrow tunnels of light to see through. The inability to see around you would certainly make driving dangerous.

Blindspots are dangerous and problematic for leaders, too, because they reflect an inability to see themselves or their businesses clearly.

There are understandable causes for blindspots, among them:

The tendency for subordinates to filter information because they are concerned about how the leader will respond and the likelihood of information becoming skewed as it moves up through the layers of bureaucracy.

The blinders leaders wear, in terms of personal predispositions and expectations, that cause them to reject or modify information that doesn’t correspond to their initial conclusions or assumptions.

Two examples:

One organization I worked with suffered from the filtering of information as it moved upwards. The information, when it got to the senior executive, indicated that the major cause of staff attrition was dissatisfaction with pay. However, when the people who left were interviewed, the real cause was determined to be boredom and frustration with having to work on only one project and the inability to learn and use new tools and methodologies. The primary filter came from the managers who didn’t want to acknowledge that they contributed to the attrition by keeping staff locked into doing the same work repeatedly.

The CEO of another client failed to see that his leadership style created significant and irreparable problems. He had risen to the top by playing it close to the vest and keeping information to himself. Once he became CEO, he continued to withhold information from others, including his direct reports, the board, and the employees. Eventually, he was replaced by someone who was widely regarded as a “good communicator.” The leader’s blindspot was his undoing.

Blindspots can be comforting for leaders. In an age when so much is changing and their jobs are so demanding and the resulting stress is so great, it is understandable for leaders to want a degree of certainty and assurance. Confronting their blindspots is just one more thing requiring energy and attention. It’s natural for leaders to avoid the actions needed to reduce their blindspots.

What do leaders do to reduce their blindspots? There are two general approaches, both of which rely on establishing a culture of candor.

With regard to the inability to get good data from the organization, develop alternative methods for collecting data, for reducing bureaucratic filters, and for overcoming the reticence of direct reports to be candid. These methods include such things as: MBWA (Management By Walking Around) to talk with front line staff members directly, meeting with key customers (especially dissatisfied and long-standing ones), and working with your direct reports so that, with time and practice, they become increasingly frank.

To reduce the blindspot pertaining to the inability to see yourself clearly, leaders find trusted advisors who can provide them with frank observations and candid feedback. These often include networks of colleagues in other organizations, outside consultants and advisors, board members, mentors, business coaches, and family members and friends.

The larger issue regarding blindspots is to not just develop practices to reduce their impact, but to have the insight to recognize their existence and the courage to address them.

To what extent are you blind to your blindspots? What have you done about it?

Nigel Nicholson is quoted in the Harvard Business Review as follows, “A fundamental rule of management is that you can’t change people’s character; you can’t even control their actions most of the time.”

Many leaders make the mistake of believing they can change people more than is possible and are frustrated when their change efforts produce mixed results or outright failures. Time and again, I’ve seen leaders try to get their staff members to do things that, in retrospect, were doomed from the start. They failed to recognize what their staff members were able and willing to do and what they were not.

One quick example. One leader tried to get his staff to be innovative and creative, failing to recognize the extent to which their long-standing practice was to follow directions and obey policy. Their habits were so deeply ingrained that his efforts fell on deaf ears. The staff outlasted and outwaited the leader. Frustrated, he changed companies.

Was he wrong to try? No! However he misunderstood the degree to which he had control. Nicholson advises leaders to recognize the limits of their control and to do what’s possible.

What does that mean for you? Are you over-estimating the degree of control you have? If so, what do you have to do differently to be more realistic in how you try to influence those you lead?

A recent Washington Post article by Shankar Vedantam uses Shakespeare’s King Lear as a warning to leaders. He writes that the king “comes to a tragic end because he surrounds himself with flatterers and banishes the friends who will not varnish the truth to please him.”

Yes-men do leaders a disservice by contributing to a flawed decision-making process – they only provide information that agrees with the leader’s preset preferences or perspectives.

It takes a courageous and committed leader to encourage honest and robust debate, one of the steps that can reduce the impact of yes-men.

How good are you at recognizing the yes-men around you and taking steps to avoid a regrettable decision by fostering a more rigorous and thorough analysis?

email: archie@archietinelli.com archie@archietinelli.com