Article: Blind spots in leadership

Leadership

Blind spots in leadership

This session in People Matters L&D address blind spots in leadership and how these blind spots can derail the leader and could possibly lead to a far more critical impact for the organization while preparing a talent pipeline.
Blind spots in leadership

The need to engage, inspire, and the lead is essential to the success of any organization. And rebooting for success starts with leadership which involves identifying, pinpointing, and implementing new frameworks in action and developing the mindsets required to guide teams and enable a more versatile recovery. Join this session to learn about the blind spots in leadership and how these blind spots can derail the leader and could possibly lead to a far more critical impact for the organization while preparing a talent pipeline.

The session, Blind spots in leadership during the People Matters L&D Conference, led by Preeti Bose, Head Global Talent Management & Leadership Development, Lupin, and Pramath Sinha, Founder & MD, Harappa Education, share their experience and observations around some of these blind spots in leadership and how one can plan to tackle them?

Here are some key takeaways from the session:

Move out of your leadership style

There is no one universal common leadership style. There are multiple styles and over a period of time, leaders start adapting to a style that is most convenient to them, more suited to them, or a  style that can give them more results. In this process what happens is that leaders end up having a dominant style of leadership which is often their area of strength. This area of strength is often overused and it ends up being a blind spot. 

You end up becoming comfortable in your space, you would not feel the need to change and you might end up slipping into the dark side of your personality. 

Fixing unconscious bias

We all have a monkey mind and believe it or not, we are all biased. Our unconscious bias is our belief system, how we view the world, do what we do. It’s what enables preconceived notions and gives liberty to our brain to do short term thinking and apply shortcuts while making decisions. 

For leaders, it’s imperative to realize and control the monkey mind that applies inherent biases at work and causes blind spots. When faced with difficult situations at work or while making decisions, leaders need to have a presence of mind to understand reality and put the monkey mind to rest.

Better decisions by practicing inclusion

Better decisions require a more inclusive process where other ideas and perspectives are taken into account. If you know what others think and have their support, your decision will not only have fewer errors, it will be more valued since the people executing it feel ownership in decision making.  

Another aspect of better decision making is being aware of what other people think about us and how our actions impact them. There are gaps in what we think we are projecting and how others perceive it. As a leader, discovering this unknown requires learning how to create a feedback-rich environment with the courage to seek feedback first. 

(This article is based on the session ‘Blind spots in leadership’ hosted during the People Matters Virtual L&D Conference 2020).

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Topics: Leadership, Diversity

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