I was driving 70-something, coming up on my exit. Needed to change lanes. Dang! Did not see that shiny new sports car in my blind spot.
Good thing I craned my neck and turned my head at the last minute, just before colliding with his left front bumper!
When we don’t realize where we are in relation to others... or how we come across to them – how they perceive and experience us – we have a blind spot. Blind spots can hinder our effectiveness in leadership, relationships, and work.
We could have blind spots like these...
Humor. You thought you were being funny. Others perceived you as hurtful and insensitive.
Attitude. You thought you were exuding confidence. Others found you arrogant and conceited. You sounded like a know-it-all.
Verbosity. You thought others would want to hear your thoughts. Perhaps they did, but you sounded condescending and you droned on and on. You bored them. They were too kind to interrupt.
Eye contact. Did you know that you always look away when you talk to women? What’s up with that?
A blunt tone. You thought you were just being truthful and to-the-point. Others found you harsh and rude.
Pet’s behavior. You're such a pet lover / dog person, and you thought your guests wanted to be greeted at the door and followed around the house by your pedigreed dog. They actually didn’t want to be slobbered on by your mutt.
Answering questions. You thought you were being helpful when you answered questions directed to your wife (or girlfriend). She – and those who posed the questions – thought you were being rude and insensitive. Domineering.
Job performance. You believe that in some of what you do at work you’re just adding your personal flair. Living out the finer expressions of your personality. But people at work actually find you trivializing the job. Or missing the point of what you’ve been assigned to do. They find your leadership difficult to follow and wonder how you’ve kept your job as long as you have.
I could go on, but these examples should suffice. Their point is to illustrate that you see and believe one thing about yourself, while others see something entirely different. The deal with blind spots is that we don't know what they are. We're blind to them unless we ask others to help us see what we're missing.
If you ask someone to help you with your blind spots, you might have to persuade them to be honest with you. They might worry about hurting your feelings. You’ll have to be open to hear whatever they share. You might have to risk getting your feelings hurt.
What have you learned about blind spots?
