Dealing with Blind Spots

Sometimes as we go about plotting strategies toward a desired change [whether it be structural, technological or operational] blind spots occur where we or someone on our team is not aware of information necessary to achieve the change desired.

A blind spot can virtually disable a strategy, slow down a process or completely stall a plan for change. There is no greater frustration as a leader then when the process toward change is delayed because the necessary information was not available.

How can we avoid blind spots and be sure that all the information we need is on the table as we look toward implementing change? One of the important steps in coaching change is to help a client with getting all the possible information on the table. Sometimes this takes time - more time then we think but time well spent. Blind spots exist because an individual has been seeing information in one particular way. Try and help someone to look at a potential change goal from different angles. Here are some powerful questions to ask that can help with opening up a blind spot:

• Who do you need to speak with in order to gather all the information you need? [repeating the question "who else" continually to push the person to exhaust all the possibilities will help with this question]
• Who's input depends on the success of this change? [using "who else" again will push one to consider every possible person involved or affected by this change]
• How can you be sure you have all the information you need? [this question will cause the person to consider what they may not have thought of before]
• What makes you feel uneasy about this change? [this will bring up any remaining questions that exist]
• On a scale of 1-10, how confident are you that you have all the information you need? [this will help you gauge confidence - the more information a person has the more confident they'll be]
• If scored low on the previous question ask - "How can we move your confidence to a 9 or 10?" [again this will probe what else is missing and so needs to be part of a more confident approach]

As you can see above, two of the questions have to do with exhausting the people resource available. I specifically start off with these questions because I believe that people are the single most important resource to making good decisions. The more people involved the better chance at avoiding blind spots, both personally and among your team members.