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In an effort to expand a business, it's easy to miss the less obvious elements that can hold things down. As someone who has always been deeply involved in pushing my company ahead, I've seen that even well-intentioned leadership can have blindspots — areas where your approach, despite your best efforts, may impede success.
These aren't just minor oversights. When you're too focused on the bigger picture, sometimes critical areas are left unaddressed and can stand in the way of actual growth.
I'd like to highlight three leadership blind spots that may be boxing you up.
1. The product-driven blindspot
I have always been a product-focused CEO. My personality tends to be very bullish, and I am never satisfied with a product being "good enough." I am always pushing the product to be better. When people tell me something can't be done, it kicks me into overdrive to find a way to prove them wrong. I also regularly take in feedback from our customers about what improvements they want to see with our products. Over time, this led to an ambitious list of product enhancements that didn't have a clear roadmap behind them. While this didn't have a negative impact on revenue growth, it impacted efficiency and adoption because we were rolling out so many new products at once, sometimes even before they were fully tested.
Our Chief Technology Officer was constantly shifting priorities and focus to accommodate my growing list of product ideas. One of my best decisions yet was promoting one of our VPs to Chief Product Officer. Once he stepped in, we were able to refine our product development processes and ultimately improve our speed to market. Our product roadmap is better prioritized, and product releases have become more evenly spaced out. This strategy provided more time to properly educate our team before releasing to our clients. As a result, our product rollouts have been more successful with higher adoption rates.
Related: Stop Ignoring Your Blind Spots — Start Embracing Them Instead
2. The feedback-ignorance blindspot
Every successful company is driven by a strong, collaborative team. Our company lives by our core values — TEAMS, which stands for Teamwork, Empower, Accountability, Mutual Respect, and Serves. We are a very team-oriented company, and I value my team's feedback and advice. As a CEO, it's just impossible and unsustainable for me to be involved in every detail of the organization. So, I had to learn to trust my team to provide me with thoughtful feedback and attainable solutions. These insights should always be objective and in alignment with our long-term goals. When I see a decision made or an initiative going in a direction that I wouldn't have necessarily chosen, that's when it becomes my job to step in and guide the team back to the charted course, even if it's unpopular.
Any CEO's obligation is to shape decisions, not necessarily make every call. One of our company's fundamental principles is to "empower," and I believe it is crucial that our leaders have the authority and confidence to make critical decisions. I look for leaders who fully understand the company's vision and can be trusted to make judgments that I can support.
Related: What Makes a Great Leader vs. a Great Manager?
3. The change-resistance blindspot
Change may be frightening, and humans, as we are, have a natural tendency to resist it — especially when everything appears to be operating well as usual. I've observed that waiting too long to implement critical changes can be just as damaging as changing too often.
Businesses are like living, breathing organisms; decisions or strategies that worked in the past may no longer be effective as the company grows and evolves. That is why leaders should welcome change rather than avoid it. A recent example in our own business is our support model. We had the same support model for years, and for a long time, it worked really well. In the last two years, we have released several new products and nearly doubled our client count, so we realized we needed a different structure to better serve our clients.
This pivot required a reasonably significant reorganization, which was met with resistance. Not only did we implement a new support structure, but we also opened a new support center, which carried a hefty price tag. Delaying didn't necessarily slow our growth, but implementing the change led to noticeable improvements in efficiency, retention and overall client satisfaction.
The blindspot here is the fear of disrupting the status quo. Change will always be welcomed with raised eyebrows and incongruity, at least in the initial implementation. Change, whether good or bad, is resisted with equal intensity. However, as leaders, we must be prepared to anticipate the need for change, recognize the indicators, and act before the situation compels us to. It's a tricky balance — you change too frequently and you'll disrupt the team; delay too long, and you miss out on opportunities.
Related: 4 Financial Blind Spots That Could Be Preventing You From Making More Money
Staying close to your customers
One last blind spot worth mentioning is leaders or business owners getting too far away from their customers. Sometimes, we tend to have layers and layers of people between us and the end customer. However, you must remember that remaining deeply connected to your customers is critical. In our company, we have an executive sponsor program where every executive is assigned to a group of clients to provide an additional layer of support that elevates the customer experience.
Although the executive sponsors aren't responsible for ongoing account management, having that relationship with the customer provides invaluable insights that could otherwise get lost. Additionally, customers feel more valued when they know that top leaders at our organization are actively involved and genuinely care about their business.
Overcoming blindspots
Leadership blindspots are often overlooked, yet they can substantially impact a company's progress. Business owners and leaders must be able to spot and fix these blindspots right away, whether it's balancing product innovation with a clear execution plan, acknowledging team feedback, accepting change, or maintaining the connection with their consumers.
This discernment and proactiveness can open up fresh possibilities for your organization and the team's development and growth, ultimately leading to even greater success.
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