Leadership blind spots happen to everybody, no matter how strong of a leader you are.

What’s that we hear - you don’t have any? Oh, the irony.

We know, it’s uncomfortable to hear, but it’s absolutely true. 

The real question is, how will you deal with them when they rear their ugly heads?

The most effective leaders learn to identify their blind spots early on, so they don’t derail their decision-making. The least effective ignore them until they cause chaos, particularly under stressful situations when no solutions are doing the job.

In this article, we’ll explore what blind spots in leadership are, how to identify them, and the role of stress in exacerbating them. We’ll also demonstrate how if they’re left unchecked, leadership blind spots can multiply faster than a Mogwai taking a shower.

Let’s kick things off with the million-dollar question.

What Are Blind Spots in Leadership?

Leadership blind spots aren’t a weakness or gap in your skillset. They’re mental shortcuts and that everyone is guilty of. Unfortunately for you, lovely leader, they can severely limit how well you solve problems.

Blind spots in leadership take many forms, but often look like:

• Overcomplicating simple decisions
• Relying solely on past experiences to solve issues
• Failing to question how things have always been done, and whether it’s still helpful

Because they’re invisible, they can be incredibly dangerous, costing you and your team clarity, time, and opportunities.

Can Stress Cause Leadership Blind Spots?

Stress is one of the key drivers of blind spots in leadership because it not only causes them but camouflages them.

How does it do this, we hear you ask? Well, your brain seeks certainty when you’re under pressure, so it instinctively clings to what it already knows. As a result, you double down on systems and analysis you’re comfortable with and ignore alternative ways of thinking.

As we explain in Episode 32 of the Stop Managing, Start Leading podcast, this common leadership thinking pattern often looks like:

• “We need more time.”
• “We need better data.”
• “We need more people working on it.”

Sometimes, these might be just what the doctor ordered, but usually, stress has made you chase effort instead of insight. This can happen to any leader, no matter your experience, and stress makes blind spots much harder to detect.

How Insight Helps You See What Others Miss

Okay, sit down and grab your juice box. It’s story time.

There’s a red, double decker bus stuck under an old Roman bridge in London. Teams of engineers try to solve the issue in various ways. Some suggest cutting the bus open, while others suggest building elaborate structures around it. None of them really make sense.

After hours of arguments, a boy walking past the debacle says, “Why don’t they just let the air out of the tires and reverse it?”

This eureka moment gets the bus moving again, and it’s the perfect example of insight, or a shift in perception that changes everything.

And before you ask, no, the lesson here isn’t that we should have more children in board rooms. It’s that as a leader; you should ask better questions rather than relying on old knowledge or systems that have worked in the past.

Because we often see breakthroughs as a result of working harder, but it’s almost always about working smarter and seeing things a little differently. Just like that little boy who got the bus moving again with a flippant remark.

Leadership Blind Spot Zones: Where You Might Get Stuck

When it comes to leadership blind spots, the Complexity vs Leverage model gives us three ways that leaders approach problem solving.

The model looks like this:

1.      The Obvious Zone

This is where blunt solutions like “Cut the budget” or “Drop the price” are the default responses. They’re simple solutions, but not exactly revolutionary.

2.      The Overengineered Zone

The Overengineered Zone is essentially an excuse for innovation and unnecessary complexity. Simply put, it’s when people start showing off.

While you might look like a smarty pants, you probably won’t solve the problem. Instead, you’re more likely to add risk, cost, and noise, with zero positive impact.

3.      The Expert Trap

The Expert Trap is where leaders try to outwork the problem by piling on more knowledge, data, and analysis. It’s sophisticated, but way too much, and it’s usually ineffective.

Leadership blind spots live in all three of these zones, because they all ask the wrong question: “How do we win this game?”

But the best leaders don’t just play the game and try to win with brute force. They reframe the question and find better routes to get to the finish line.

Let’s jump into another story to demonstrate this idea, this time with Derren Brown.

What Derren Brown Teaches Us About Leadership Blind Spots

Derren Brown, the famous illusionist, challenged nine of Britain’s top-ranked chess players to games, even though he’d only studied chess for less than a year. He beat all of them, but not because he was better than them at the game itself.

He did it by thinking differently.

Specifically, he memorized the moves of each player and copied them, so they were unknowingly playing against each other, not him. This simple reframing of the game was the insight needed to change it completely, and crucially, win.

This can be applied to leadership, too, and instead of spending ages trying to solve a problem, ask yourself:

What if this isn’t the problem at all?

A Simple Tool to Spot Leadership Blind Spots

Insight isn’t random or an ability you conjure up on the spot. It’s something you need to train for, just like training a muscle.

In the My Daily Leadership journaling system, we call it the Hindsight – Insight – Foresight – Recite Model, and the more you practice, the more you see.

Here’s what it looks like in the form of leadership journaling prompts:

1.      The Hindsight Prompt

Where do I feel stuck today, and what assumption was I operating under?

2.      The Simplicity Question

What would this look like if it were embarrassingly simple?

3.      The Leverage Test

What small action could trigger a big result?

4.      The Reframe Exercise

Am I playing the problem or the person setting the rules?

Reflecting on these questions for just ten minutes a day can shine a light on leadership blind spots, helping you identify them before they ruin your decision-making.

Say Goodbye to Leadership Blind Spots

Insight isn’t about being loud or making decisions at lightning speed, it’s about making better decisions more consistently. This comes from pausing to think about what other people are missing and regularly reflecting with intention.

That’s why insight isn’t something you just have. It’s something you build daily through small contemplations and ultimately, perspective shifts. Both of which can be achieved with leadership journaling. Not sure where to start? Download our 31 complimentary journal prompts - because your next big leadership breakthrough might just be one scribble away.

You can also take our leadership assessment to uncover the expensive blind spots – the habits costing you talent, momentum, and credibility, and the ones everyone sees… except you.

For more information on blind spots and the power of insight, head to our YouTube channel, specifically Episode 32 of the Stop Managing, Start Leading podcast.