Top Ten Leadership Blind Spots

TOP TEN

LEADERSHIP

BLIND SPOTS

THE EXECUTIVE WHITE PAPER SERIES | 2012

PRESENTED BY|

Over the last 30 years I have coached leaders atevery level, across many companies, and in almostevery part of the world. These people came from anincredibly diverse set of backgrounds, performed rolesacross all company functions and had a large variety ofstyles and worldviews.

Over time an interesting pattern began toemerge. Independent of culture, industry, company, orindividual, the issues that leaders faced were the same.More importantly these leaders seemed to strugglewith clearly identifying these areas of weakness orrisk.

I began to gather these common issues into aset of coaching principles I could use to discuss keymanagement challenges during my individualcoaching sessions or in management training coursesthat I taught. That outline became the basis of this listof the 10 areas that create significant risk to bothpersonal and organizational success.

PAGE 1TOP TEN LEADERSHIP BLIND SPOTS |


INTRODUCTION |

Allen R Sockwell, President of Sockwell Performance Advisors, has advised boards and senior executives inpublic and private companies, through growth and restructuring, across industries and major global markets. Hisunderstanding of client strategy, business objectives and operating plans serves as the basis for consulting on theleadership capability and human capital required for enterprise success.

Allen has over 30 years of experience as an advisor and business partner to executive management, mostrecently as Senior Vice President and Chief Talent Officer at Advanced Micro Devices [NYSE:AMD]. Recently, he hasfounded his own enterprise performance consulting firm. Sockwell Performance Advisors specializes in enhancingenterprise value and profitability through improved leadership and effective management. He currently serves on theboard of 3 early stage companies and consults with CEOs and senior executives across multiple industries.

I think of them as Blind Spots, those unseenthings that create danger that we don’t react to untiltoo late. In this paper, I hope to expose some of theseareas of risk to help leaders question how they leadtheir organizations.

If you think these don’t apply to you, I wouldsuggest you think again. By definition, we are unawareof these Blind Spot issues in our organizations. I can’tthink of one leader, of one team, that hasn’t had some ofthese issues degrading performance to some degree. Idoubt that your team will be the first.


LEADERSHIP BLIND SPOTS #1: Under-communicating strategic direction and priorities

Under-communicating strategic direction andpriorities is one of the most common mistakes I haveseen leaders make. Executives typically have a set oftop priorities or organizational goals they have definedand communicated. Usually, this communication takesthe form of a PowerPoint presentation that is shared inexecutive staff meetings; then again in some form ofemployee communication process…an all-employeeemail or company-wide meetings. Some leaders evenremind their organizations of these goals in quarterlycommunication meetings. But in our world of hyper-information availability and constant communication,this is not enough to maintain the focus needed toensure success.

Competing inputs drastically dilute the focusleaders are trying to create. Think about the world welive in today. We are constantly bombarded with email,text messages, Tweets, web-based news, andinformation. Boards, customers, employees and otherkey stakeholders thrust new projects and pressingrequirements on us…and these are just the distractionsin the workplace. Add to this our lives and prioritiesoutside of work. The impact of all of these is that ourtop priorities actually achieve very little mind-shareagainst this other clutter.

Priorities are never as clear as we think!

The most effective leaders recognize this mind-share issue and have decided to dramatically increasetheir message volume and frequency to overcome theclutter. Think of this as an advertising campaign justlike any other in your business. A clear and compellingmessage is a good start, but insufficient. Next, you must

define the channels and the frequency required for themessage to be understood in order to have the impactyou desire.

The way some effective leaders address this isby starting almost every discussion with a reminder ofthese top priorities. Every one-on-one, every staffmeeting, every operating review, every employeemeeting….you get the point. They say, “Remember ourtop 5 priorities are…… Now let’s talk about our agendatoday in light of those key areas of focus.” And it works.You really have to hammer this home way beyond whatfeels necessary.

Priorities are never as clear as we think!

Cutting through the clutter is very difficult. But,allowing a continuous dilution of focus on your topgoals will lead to continually degrading organizationalperformance.



LEADERSHIP BLIND SPOTS #2: Poorly communicating expectations

Another common blind spot is poorly definedsuccess measures. Vague expectations are dangerous!Communicating top priorities creates the basis for areasof focus for an organization, team or individual.However, without clear definitions of success,management and employees can be aiming for verydifferent levels of performance. This creates significantrisk in execution to committed operating plans andstrategic projects.

In addition, there is nothing that sucks energyout of a team or individual more than thinking theyhave met or exceeded key objectives only to be told thatthe expectations were much different. It is a bit likeplaying a game thinking you understand the rules, onlyto have someone explain at the end that winning isdefined differently than you expect. That crushes ateam.

Specific targets and timeframes clarify whatachievement levels are expected. Leaders need to bevery specific in defining how they are going to measuresuccess. What indicators are going to be used? Whatweight will be put on different measures? And what arethe specific target levels for each of those measures thatare expected? (A personal career note to leaders: Neverlet others define what success looks like for you at theend of the game. Define it VERY clearly at thebeginning, then all that is left is keeping score).

Highly visionary leaders struggle with thismore than most. They tend to be heavy on pitching bigideas, but very light on communicating priority andspecific expectations. The way I suggest dealing with

this is by having the visionary leader and the catcher ofthe visioning walk through the following process:

1. Start with the big idea…what is the keyconcept AND how does it relate to the key strategicpriorities of the organization.

2. Solidify and communicate 4-6 key definingprinciples, which provide further insight into the keyelements or concepts the leader has in mind (but oftendoesn’t explicitly communicate).

3. Have the vision catcher shape the goal/project. Develop explicit measures and targets thatdefine success.

4. To prevent drift from the vision, managersneed to establish a Short Feedback Loop Review,frequently rechecking the trajectory of projects andfunctions against the original direction. Only a few daysof work should pass before a quick review to check foralignment, through to the acheivement of the goal.This allows corrections to be driven in time to savetime and money, gain improvement, and ensure properproject execution.


Managing under-performance is a critical skillfor all organizational leaders. But, dealing effectivelywith low performers can be a difficult and time -consuming task. Too often low performance goes un-addressed, leading to loss of management credibilityand lower unit performance.

Leaders often hope performance improves.Hope is not a strategy. It is often denial disguised.Sometimes leaders simply don’t see the performanceissues. More often, they spot low performance based onmissing key milestones, low project quality, orineffective people management. Often they areperplexed about what the root performance issues areand how to address them. This confusion turns intoinaction, allowing the underperformance and resultingoperational impacts to continue.

I coach leaders to use the diagnostic frameworkat right to understand the root causes of poorperformance. Once these questions are answered, thentargeted action can be taken.

These situations almost always get worse if leftalone. They never get better on their own.Understanding the real issues and taking action quicklyleads to faster improvement and reduces the risk ofunrecoverable failure for your team members andyourself.



LEADERSHIP BLIND SPOTS #3: Waiting for poor performance to improve — Hope is not a strategy

Does the employee understand what is expected?

Is this something the employee has the capacity to do?

Are they passionate about the work?

Is the environment a fit for this employee?

Ensure there are clear goals and expectations outlined.Don’t assume they know (see Blind Spot #1).

If not, then how big is the gap andhow much time and effort to fix?

Can you afford the time and effort to close the gap?

People gravitate to the work that they enjoy. Sustained success won’thappen if the employee isn’t passionate about

the tasks being performed. Be wary here of attemptingto change someone’s natural inclination.

Get people in the right roles.

You must evaluate if the employee can perform to expectationswith the resources, support and environment that exist

or that you can reasonably create.


LEADERSHIP BLIND SPOTS #4: Buying into the myth of the “Irreplaceable Employee”

NO ONE is irreplaceable.

I worked with a company who tolerated aterrible manager and team player. The employee wasthe key account executive for an important client andthey made the numbers. Thus, the employee wasbelieved to be irreplaceable by a number of seniorexecutives. Their destructive behavior was toleratedfor a long time. The warning signs … low team morale,high team turnover (including a new executiveassistant every year), disparagement of uppermanagement, and a tone in every communication thatsaid “everyone else is stupid, but me”… were visible,but tolerated.

Why? Because management believed that theycould not replace the production this person delivered.They thought this person had unique skills andrelationships and tolerated the behavior as a price forgetting results. As a result, they chose to ignore thenegative impacts created by this destructive person. Forsome reason, those behaviors are often seen as areasonable price to pay to get results, but the drain onother organizations and individuals is always fargreater than what management appreciates.

Finally, management addressed the situation.Not surpisingly, the company survived the loss of this“irreplaceable” employee and was better off when theywere gone.

In other situtations, a uniquely skilled andvaluable employee stands out on a team. They play acritical role in product design, marketing, sales or otherkey functions. Management values this contributiontrememdously. They are invaluable...and then they aregone. The company flounders, unprepared for the loss.

You can address this problem two ways. Oneway is by never letting one person become that criticalin the first place. Single points of failure create toomuch risk. Build breadth and depth around thesepeople. Do it before you think you need to. The secondway is more typical. We adjust role and structures, andwe go searching for a a replacement. That is a veryreactive solution to a problem we can address inadvance.

I have never met the irreplaceable employee. Inever will. In my career, I have worked with someincredible business people, outstanding leaders andinnovative engineers. None of them was irreplaceable.Some of them did leave. However, organizations havean almost infinite capacity to adapt to the loss of asingle person.

NO ONE is irreplaceable.



LEADERSHIP BLIND SPOTS #5: Investing too much time trying to coach radical change

I believe people can change and learn newskills. My consulting practice helps executives gain newperspectives and tools to lead people and organizations.That being said, many leaders invest too much timetrying to coach radical changes in behavior.

People behave the way they do for a goodreason. Their behavior makes sense to them based onthe way they think and see the world. Mid-careerprofessionals with a track record of success have aningrained way that they think about their role, howorganizations work, and what leads to success.

If that doesn’t mesh with your organization’sstyle, culture or with your needs as a manager, there isonly so much you can do to create a sustainable changein their fundamental behavior. You can apply pressureto create a change in the short term, but once thepressure is gone, most people will snap back to the waythey are used to interacting with the world. They haveto revert, simply because it doesn’t make sense to themto behave any differently.

To require a large degree of change is askingthem to behave in a way that doesn’t make sense tothem or fit within their worldview. 5° to 10° of changeis doable, 90° is unlikely and 180° is impossible.Employees early in their careers are more moldable;their habits are not as formed yet. But for those mid-career or senior leaders, I have rarely seen sustainable,dramatic changes.

We owe our employees honest feedback andgood coaching. As pointed out in the model in BlindSpot #2, we need to ensure our expectations have beenclearly communicated. But I have seen this situation somany times. Leaders invest time and effort to try todramatically change behavior when someone is just abad fit for the role or organization. It always has thesame ending. Failure to meet expectations andemployee dissatisfaction is always the result. It is just amatter of how long leaders choose to allow employeesto fail and how long they will try to do the impossible.


Coaching for new perspective or new skills is much

more successful. While dramatic behavioral change is

uncommon, learning how to apply new tools can be

accelerated with good executive coaching.


LEADERSHIP BLIND SPOTS #6: Hiring for capability and nothing else

A successful candidate for a role must have thecapabilities, the necessary skills to perform the targetedwork. We have gotten fairly good at assessing thisthrough evaluating work history, conducting interviews,and qualifying references. While capability is important,it is insufficient for success. I have seen many peoplewho have the skills andexperience to perform a role,but fail to do so successfully.Why? They often lack theother two critical elements— Passion and Fit.

There are manytasks that I can perform well, but I don’t want to dothem. A job with too high a mix of these undesired taskswill not be one performed well. Doing this work doesnot fuel the motivation that creates sustained highperformance. I need to do work that I am good at ANDthat I am passionate about.

Fit is the final element required for sustainedhigh levels of performance and employee satisfaction. Asuccessful employee can work within the framework ofhow decisions are made, with the resources and toolsavailable, and in a manner consistent with thepersonality of the organization. All environments aredifferent and what is required for success can varygreatly from one company to another. Just becausesomeone was successful in their prior company doesn’tmean they will be in yours.

A good hire has the required capability, passionfor the work, and is a good fit for an organization. Theintersection of these three elements is the source oflong-term employee satisfaction.

How to Measure Capability, Passion & Fit

in an Interview?

Don’t tell an applicant what you are looking for or they will

shape their answers to please you. Don’t let them tell you what

they would do... you want to hear what they’ve done.

C - Capability

� What have others told you that you do best? Your keycapabilities?

� What were the key measures of success in yourprevious positions? How did you perform against theexpectations that were set?

� Can you give me 3 examples of work that you havedone that is similar (press for specifics).

P - Passion

� What work projects have you most enjoyed? Give me3 examples.

� What parts of your past work energized you, why?

� What work projects have you lest enjoyed, why?

F - Cultural Fit

� What work environments from your past have youenjoyed most? The least enjoyable?

� What are you looking for in your coworkers andsupervisors?

� Describe the characteristics you want in your newcompany?

� Why did/are you leave/leaving your last/currentposition? - Listen for what didn’t work, probe hardhere and get specifics.


I have listed here some questions I use in the

interview process to get at these qualities in a candidate.

Compare what you gather from the interview with what you

receive in both candidate provided references and independent

sources you can find.


LEADERSHIP BLIND SPOTS #7: Accepting the current capabilites and limitations of your team

Leaders vastly underappreciate theopportunity they have to increase performancecapacity in their organizations. The current capabilitiesand limitations of your team are just that. They arewhat exist today. But they are only limitations if youdon’t choose to do anything to improve. I believeleaders should ask themselves this question everyday:“What have I done today to make my team better?” Somany leaders simply accept what they have with noplans to make them better …everyday.

You can grow capacity in three ways: hire theright new talent, coach your existing talent, and/orimprove teamwork and coordination.

Lets apply this to how a coach approaches thecapabilities of a team. When a basketball coachconsiders developing the best team possible, he thinks“I can make the team better by getting more talentedplayers. Or I can coach to improve the skills of theplayers I have.” Most coaches continually do both ofthese. Instead, many managers accept limitations andsimply accept what the team can and can’t do.

The coach can also improve team performanceby ensuring the players understand their individualroles, the game plan, and how they will work together.Working on how plays are executed and developing the

teamwork of his players is a huge improvementopportunity. Think about America’s Olympicbasketball”Dream Teams.” Here were teams comprisedof the best players in the world, and yet they weredefeated by teams with nowhere near their level oftalent. Teamwork is a differentiator.

You can recruit new talent, coach what youhave, and/or focus on improving execution throughbetter teamwork. The choice is yours. Accept what youhave or choose to build new capability each day.


A strategic executive search partner can be a critical

element of this capacity improvement effort. Good search partners

develop deep understanding of a client’s business, jobs and

culture. They can be critical advisors assisting you in making

sure you hire for Capability Passion and Fit. Find a search

partner that wants to develop a long–term relationship and one

that seeks to drive success for your organization.


LEADERSHIP BLIND SPOTS #8: Acting as the sole integrator of team goals and performance

I see this mistake made at every level ofmanagement, but it has the greatest negative impact onthose at the top. This blind spot involves the manageracting as the sole integrator of the work across theorganization. Everything flows through one leader —every individual’s contribution, every project strategy,all data. It is all gathered in the central hub where themanager plays a singular role integrating outcomesacross the functions. The leader becomes responsible formany of the decisions or the sole initiator of all keyactions.

A better approach is one of sharedaccountability. The CEO or manager shares the companyor division goals and responsibilities across the nextlevel down. Goals and rewards then spread theresponsibility across the organization. The functionalleaders drive excellence within their vertical, but arealso responsible for how their part fits across theorganization and the performance of the whole piece.

To cross over your hub and spoke managementprocess to the shared accountability model, createexpectations and a system of accountability and reviewthat rewards functionality across borders. This effortwill pay off across the whole organization, but mostespecially for the leader who is no longer singularly tiedat the hub, but is able to focus on the whole and nimblyrespond to any problems.

This creates a chokepoint for getting thingsdone, and limits an organization’s or company’s growthpotential. The larger and more complex theorganization, the less likely that one leader will have thecapacity to be effective, actively directing andintegrating the processes of all the spokes. Invariably,the process breaks down and productivity suffers.



LEADERSHIP BLIND SPOTS #9: Believing all needed info flows up and down

Communication, as we know, works two ways,so I suppose it makes sense that managers are blindabout the flaws in their organization’s communicationboth up from the ranks and down from the c-suite.

No matter your level of management, neverbelieve that you have all of the needed information andtherefore know the Truth. In actuality, you might havesomething that looks like the Truth. The more complexthe channels, the deeper theorganizational levels, the more formalthe culture – the more near to nothinglike the Truth you are. This isparticularly true if you are dependingonly on the information that comes toyou via formal channels. Informationis shaped and filtered as it travelsthrough each level, becoming warpedor incomplete. If you use this as asingle source for the Truth about yourcompany, you will make flaweddecisions.

To address this you need toinstitute communication mechanismsthat create a culture of transparency. Simply put,communicate in a variety of ways. Email, roundtables,

skip level meetings, even just walking around canprovide invaluable and, oftentimes, non-verbalinformation. This way you know what interpretationsto believe that come through the hierarchy. Approach itwith the mindset of “As a leader, I know what I heardmight resemble the truth, but this needs context and Ineed to find another way to sense what is actually goingon.”

Managers are often equallyblind in their perception of howmuch of the information they arecommunicating down is actuallyheard and understood, againespecially in a very hierarchicalstructure. The same structure thatfilters information going up caninhibit information flowing down.Pointed feedback, good or bad, onprojects can be softened, warped orlost. To help ensure messagecommunication flow, createadditional indirect methods ofcontact between levels.



LEADERSHIP BLIND SPOTS #10: Going quiet in times of change and uncertainty

When stressed or in times of uncertainty, thekey leaders within a company tend to go quiet justwhen the people around and beneath them need to hearfrom them. Most people don’t like the idea of standingin front of folks and delivering bad news or incompletemessages. As a group, managers are trained to be thepeople that have the answers. They often fall intouncertain territory when they can’t tell a “complete”story of problem, cause, solution. However, it is exactlywhen there is uncertainty that leaders need to guide anorganization’s view – defining reality and risk. Ifleaders abdicate this role, organizations will fill thevoid, usually with the more tragic interpretation or anegative spin on the challenge facing the company.

Manage your organization’s collectiveunderstanding of a problem. Talk truth as you know itto be, explain what is known and what is unknownclearly, and be willing to say “I don’t know” or “I amgoing to have to look into that further.” A true leadershares the brutal reality that the organization faces andpotential consequences to both the company andindividuals. Then, that leader creates a picture of hopeof what can happen and how organization can deal withit in a positive way. The key is a balanced message --not overemphasizing the end of the world negativitynor delivering only sunshine and roses.

In a difficult situation, people value havingfacts and a leader’s input to anchor their reactions to.Simply put, do you let your company’s collectiveviewpoint of a situation form organically through therumor-mill? The rumor-mill never creates upliftinginspirational messages. Or, do you as the leadermanage that viewpoint proactively? To do so, you mustengage your employees even when the picture andtherefore the answers are not clear. When managersrun and hide from the unknown, the organizationstaggers and spins in an unpredictable way.



CONCLUSION |


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insights to today’s executives. To view more topics in the series, visit one of the sites below.

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Sockwell Performance Advisors is an executive coachingand enterprise development consulting firm. Our practice iscentered on assessing organization capability and developingstrategies to improve leadership effectiveness and financialperformance. We also offer services for functional andenterprise strategic planning and restructuring, mergers andacquisition planning, executive transition management,coaching and executive on-boarding.

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These are all manageable issues. I have coachedmany managers successfully through each one of thesechallenging blind spots. Following the recommend-ations I’ve laid out will bring about significant andpositive change. But the reality is, leaders often don’tsee or have the experience or capacity to approach these

often multi-faceted human resource concerns. Havingsomeone take a fresh look at your organization andhelp shine a spotlight on these issues, can be worth theinvestment. Each one of these blind spots directlyimpacts your company’s productivity, financialperformance, and employee effectiveness.

Documents

Top Ten Leadership Blind Spots