Spotting the Blind Spots

Are you a procrastinator? Too critical? Impatient? Rubbish at delegating? Absolutely perfect and everyone else has the problem?

As leaders ascend through the ranks at work, emotional intelligence plummets. 

The reason? Companies sometimes choose the people who lack empathy but display power. Also, acquiring top positions can mean losing direct contact with staff, and that can erode emotional intelligence.

Peak EQ levels sit at middle-management level where people are promoted to those positions because they’re good with people and have practical skills.

A little self-awareness of our blind spots can go a long way at making us better leaders. That in turn makes us better equipped to succeed in top positions you might apply for in the future.

Here are 3 checks you can do to get rid of your blind spots.

1. Get honest and regular feedback about how you approach and respond to work issues.

2. Surround yourself with a diverse range of people and perspectives so you can challenge your thinking and behaviours.

3. Have someone at work who holds up a mirror to any negative traits, will be honest and help you work on changing.

The more we check our blind spots, the better we are at reading and empathising with other people too.

We all have a blind spot or 10. But us humans are more capable of change than we sometimes think.

Written by Jason Connolly