Every leader has blind spots…
But ignoring them could cost you your team’s trust, engagement, and performance.
Blind spots are dangerous because they are more difficult to see the more successful you are. And they are often invisible to the very people who have them. As a leader, what you think is true about your team’s experience might be far from their reality.
These gaps in perception, if left unaddressed, can erode trust, morale, and results.
And there are three critical areas where blind spots often occur and what you can do to bridge the gap between your intentions and your team’s experiences:
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Recognition: The Disconnect of What They Feel
Leaders often assume they’re providing enough recognition to their teams, but the data suggests otherwise. Studies, like those by Gallup, reveal a striking disparity: while most managers believe they regularly give praise, team members often report feeling unseen and unappreciated.
Recognition isn’t just about making people feel good; it’s about reinforcing behaviors you want to see repeated. Acknowledging your team’s efforts fosters motivation, boosts morale, and strengthens relationships. Yet, when leaders fail to recognize their contributions authentically and consistently, team members may feel undervalued and disengaged.
How to Fix it –
Daily Praise: Commit to recognizing at least one positive contribution from each team member weekly. Praise can be public or private, verbal or written. The key is sincerity and specificity.
Systemize Recognition: Use tools or schedules to remind yourself to celebrate successes. Set a recurring calendar reminder to reflect on and share team wins.
Ask for Input: During one-on-one meetings, ask team members how they like to be recognized. Tailor your approach to match their preferences.
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Feedback: The Gap Between Giving and Receiving
Another glaring blind spot for many leaders is feedback. Most managers think they provide regular feedback, yet team members often report receiving little or none.
The result?
A lack of clarity about expectations and missed opportunities for growth.
Feedback is a leader’s greatest tool for guiding and developing their team. Without it, team members are left guessing about their performance, which can lead to frustration, stagnation, and even attrition. Constructive feedback ensures your team knows where they stand and how they can improve.
How to Fix it –
Plan Feedback: Before your next one-on-one meeting, identify one specific piece of feedback for each team member. It should be actionable, clear, and relevant to their goals.
Make it Regular: Treat feedback as a routine, not a rare event. Aim to deliver informal feedback weekly and formal reviews quarterly.
Improve Your Technique: Use a framework like the POINT feedback model to ensure your feedback is constructive and focused.
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Collaboration: The Gap Between Teamwork and Synergy
Leaders often pride themselves on building collaborative teams. However, many team members experience something far less cohesive. Without intentionality, collaboration can devolve into miscommunication, silos, or even conflict.
Collaboration is the foundation of high-performing teams. Effective teamwork leads to better ideas, faster execution, and stronger results. However, real team collaboration requires psychological safety, clear communication, and mutual accountability—none of which happen by accident.
How to Fix it –
Ask for Feedback: During one-on-ones, ask your team how you can improve collaboration. Their answers may reveal overlooked pain points or barriers.
Reflect and Adjust: After every team meeting, spend five minutes reflecting on what worked and what didn’t. Did everyone contribute? Were decisions clear?
Build Psychological Safety: Consciously create an environment where people feel safe to speak up, take risks, and share ideas. This might involve modeling vulnerability, addressing conflict constructively, or inviting and celebrating different perspectives – all of which are part of meaningful team building events.
Address Blind Spots with Feedback and Coaching
Blind spots aren’t just about ignorance; they’re about missed opportunities to grow as a leader and to serve your team better. The three areas outlined above—recognition, feedback, and collaboration—are vital to creating a thriving workplace culture.
By actively seeking feedback and taking deliberate action, you can close the gaps between your perceptions and your team’s experiences.
No leader can see everything alone.
That’s why it’s crucial to seek out leadership coaching, a mentor, or a trusted advisor who can provide an outside perspective. With their help, you can uncover blind spots, develop strategies to address them, and unlock your team’s full potential.
The best leaders aren’t perfect, but they are self-aware. By addressing these blind spots, you’ll not only improve your leadership skills but also create an environment where your team can truly thrive.
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Sean Glaze is a leadership speaker, teambuilding facilitator, and author who delivers engaging experiences
that ignite your team’s performance. Sean has worked with clients like Cisco, John Deere, the CDC, and Emory University to increase collaboration, boost productivity, and build more positive and profitable workplace cultures.
As a successful basketball coach, Sean gained valuable insights on turning talent into teamwork – and now he travels around the country to share those lessons. Sean’s conference teamwork keynotes and custom team building events deliver laugh-out-loud moments and memorable take-aways that transform your people into winning teammates and more effective leaders.
Sean’s books, Rapid Teamwork, The 10 Commandments of Winning Teammates, and Staying Coachable are entertaining parables that help accelerate the growth of leaders and their teams!