Understanding what is really going on in your blind
spot is a critical key to creating a significant breakthrough in your business.
But due to the very nature of your blind spot, it is
practically impossible for you to discern directly what is going on in this
area of your business.
In medicine, the blind spot is the area in the visual
field, which corresponds to the zone on the optic disc of the retina in your
eyes, where there is a lack of light-detecting photoreceptor cells. The brain
interpolates the missing input-data, which is not available in the area of your
blind spot, based on information gained from the surroundings, as well as data
obtained from the other eye.
As a result you are usually not aware of your blind
spot’s existence.
According to our experience, you may be unable to take
in and process new information in the blind spot of your business, too. Your
past experiences may have shaped and cemented your beliefs, assumptions, and
expectations of how the world works to such an extent, that you have literally
become blind to what is going on in and around you in such an area. You
interpolate, making assumptions about your reality, based on factors you are no
longer conscious of, forces at work in your blind spot which are no longer
under your control.
Most of these subconscious filtering programs and
mental shortcuts were probably originally well intentioned, designed and
created to help, support and protect you! But more often than not, the forces
active in your blind spot will sabotage your ability to make effective
decisions to change your business for the better.
I see these forces at work virtually every time I
coach corporate clients, top-executives and business owners, although they are
usually not consciously aware of what is going on below the surface of our
conversations.
The forces
active in the business blind spot often include:
- An unwillingness or inability to engage in creative, constructive conflict, both within the organization, as well as with external stakeholders
- Emotional disengagement or employee inertia, due to excessive change initiatives, project overload, leadership fire-fighting, and an overall lack of direction
- Negative associations with projects, products and processes that failed in the past
- Difficult clients, markets or product segments employees have learned to avoid
- Opportunities business leaders no longer pursue due to past issues, perceived potential risks, or the lack of low-hanging fruit to create short-term success
- Assumptions about what is permitted, compliant, politically correct – and what not
- Extrapolating past experiences to predict future developments of market trends, economies, buyer behavior, the competitive landscape
- The business taboo everybody avoids mentioning… although they intuitively know that this taboo holds the key to creating exponential growth, profit and prosperity
- Etc.
But in my executive coaching engagements, I have found
very positive factors to be present and active in the business blind spot, too!
According to my experience these often include:
- Untapped innovation potential, stifled under a blanket of politically correct, streamlined management power-talk
- Process improvement know-how and the employees’ implicit ability to make better decisions on the shop floor than what the executives dream up in their ivory towers
- Market intelligence and intimate customer knowledge which is often left untapped even by the most sophisticated CRM or touch-point management systems
- Game-changing business ideas employees work on in their spare time, because they don’t believe their company would value their input anyway
- Contacts to thought leaders, political movers and shakers, potential business partners, and possible affiliates or potential clients which employees are acquainted with, but would never share as contacts with their employer
- Etc.
Your business blind spot usually is the direct result
of your perceptual filters, including your formal and informal business values,
rules and beliefs. The moment you start updating, upgrading and correcting your
perceptual filters you actually create the basis for a new, more successful
reality for yourself and your business.
Understanding the cause, nature and effect of your
blind spot is a critical key to accessing a new dimension of influence, impact
and income for your business.
How can you leverage the secrets tucked away in your
business blind spot to create exponential business growth and profit in 2020?
If you wish, we can help you to see what you normally
can’t about your business.
Find out more about how you can turn your blind spot into your sweet spot at