We all have blind spots, but most of us are – as the saying goes – blind to them! The difference between good leaders and truly powerful leaders who get results is the awareness of blind-spots.

Powerful leaders are self-aware of their blind spots.

Developing the self-awareness to identify blind-spots usually isn’t organic, so the executive leadership coaches at Awesome Journey have developed a list of the Top 10 Blind-Spots we see the most with our clients:

 

1. Being Stuck – We all get stuck sometimes. It’s that feeling of not being happy in your current situation, but being uncertain where to go next.

Powerful Leaders Know:

• State of Awareness: they recognize that they’re stuck because they are self-aware of their emotional state (feel frustration or anger and a fight or flight state-of-mind).
• State of Action: they move from being stuck back into action by asking for support from others in less than 24 hours.

 

2. Asking for Support – Leaders tend to believe that they need to figure everything thing out on their own all the time.

Powerful Leaders Know: Vulnerability = Power and Action

• Being able to say, “I don’t know” means they are curious to explore new possibilities.
• They have a support network that is committed to holding them accountable to their big goals

 

3. Emotional Triggers – It is important to understand how your environment affects you

Powerful Leaders Know: Being self-aware of what their emotional triggers are, gives them the power to shut them down and view situations from a more objective and positive mindset.

 

4. Relationship to Language – What you say and how you say it matters. When your language is generative (action-oriented) vs. descriptive (not action-oriented) you speak with more intentionality and power.

Powerful Leaders Know:

• Making clear requests of others leads to better outcomes
• Using the language of accountability will generate action with others
• Creating clear agreements with others leads to clarity of expectations and a stronger relationship
• Designing every conversation with a clear intention of the desired outcome

 

5. Relationship to Time – We all have the same amount of time each day, yet some people achieve more each day than others. When your relationship to time is proactive (planned) vs reactive (wing-it) you become the owner of your time.

Powerful Leaders Know:

• What their time is worth per hour
• Have a “Chief Accountability System” – they book time for their tasks and activities to turn promises into priorities because it is in their calendar

 

6. Intentional Listening – When you understand how your listening impacts your interactions with others you are able connect to create.

Powerful Leaders Know: The power of listening with the intention to connect and co-create with others vs listening to fix problems

 

7. Impact of Your Daily Practices – Daily practices are the routines we all have that set us up for success.

Powerful Leaders Know: How their practices keep them focused, productive and centered:

3 daily practices that are common for Powerful Leaders:

• Meditation/Deep Breathing to support quality thinking time
• Self-Reflection – what worked well today and what was a frustration today
• Power of a Pause – when emotionally triggered they pause before they respond

 

8. Coordinating Action through Others – No leader can do it all; at least not if they want to grow. Powerful leaders understand the power of delegation.

Powerful Leaders Know: When they delegate responsibilities to others they coordinate action by being:

• Thorough with details
• Creating clear agreements with others
• Holding others accountable for their performance by following up in an appropriate time frame

 

9. Negative Self -Talk – Everyone engages in negative self-talk occasionally. It is important to be aware of when you are doing it and how it impacts your daily performance.

Powerful Leaders Know:

• What their dominate negative self-talk is – “I am not enough or I am right”
• How negative self-talk can shut them down in any conversation
• How to minimize it and bounce back

 

10. Power of Their Personal Mission Statement – Your personal mission statement is your “Why” (why you do everything you do). You mission statement drives all your actions, so it is a very important statement.

Powerful Leaders Know: What their mission statement is and how they are living it.

Check out “Know Your Why” by Michael Jr.

 

Challenge: 

List 3 blind-spots you have and how you could overcome them.