The Question You’re Not Asking: Unveiling Blind Spots

Welcome to an unconventional Two-Minute Tip as I record this with half my face still numb after some dental work. The reason I'm recording right now is to draw a parallel between my numbed face and a common leadership challenge.

Just as I can't fully sense what's happening on one side of my mouth, leaders often have blind spots – areas where they're unaware of challenges or needs within their team. More importantly, they are often unaware of their unawareness!

So in this video, I'm challenging you to ask a specific question in your upcoming one-on-ones to help uncover potential blind spots and gather the insights you need to better serve your team.

• Read the video transcript

  All right folks, I'm taking a risk today and recording this immediately after getting some dental work done. Half of my face is numb right now. You can probably tell. Hopefully, you can understand me. If you can't stand looking at this right now, feel free to look away. You can even still see the line from the sunglasses at the dentist's office.

  So why am I recording this right now? Well, because half of my face is numb, I can't feel over here. If I were to go eat something right now, likely I would cause some damage: bite my cheek or something.

  And this applies to leadership. I'll tell you how.

  So sometimes, we, as leaders, have blind spots, right? We're not even aware of something that's going on with our team; we're not aware that we may actually be causing more harm than good because of these blind spots.

  And so, I have a question that I want you to utilize in your upcoming one-on-ones with your team members. And that is, it's very specific: What is a challenge that the team is facing right now that I may not be aware of? Not just a challenge facing the team but specifically that I, as your leader, may not be aware of. Or what's something the team needs right now that I may not be aware of? Adding in this specific and calling out to them that, "Yeah, I've got blind spots, and I want you to help me uncover them," is going to make them feel comfortable enough to truly share what's needed and to help uncover those blind spots.

  So give that question a try this week and see what comes of it.