Three Blind Spots That Keep You From Growing

The views expressed by the business participants are their own.
In an effort to grow a business, it’s easy to miss the subtle elements that can hold things back. As someone who has always been involved in moving my company forward, I’ve seen that even well-intentioned leadership can have flaws – places where your approach, despite your best efforts, can hinder success.
This is no small exaggeration. When you’re too focused on the big picture, sometimes sensitive areas get overlooked and can stand in the way of real growth.
I would like to highlight three leadership blind spots that may be hitting you hard.
1. The product-driven blindspot
I have always been a product-oriented CEO. My personality tends to be very smooth, and I am never satisfied with a product that is “good enough.” I’m always pushing the product to be better. When people tell me something can’t happen, it kicks me into overdrive to find a way to prove them wrong. And I always take feedback from our customers about what improvements they want to see with our products. Over time, this led to a series of product improvements that had no clear road behind them. While this did not negatively impact revenue growth, it did impact efficiency and adoption because we were releasing many new products at once, sometimes before they were fully tested.
Our Chief Technology Officer has been changing priorities and focus to accommodate my growing list of product ideas. One of my best decisions was promoting one of our VPs to Chief Product Officer. Once he was on board, 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 been evenly distributed. This strategy allowed more time to properly educate our team before releasing it to our clients. As a result, our product launches have been very successful with high adoption rates.
Related: Stop Ignoring Your Blind Spots – Start Embracing Them Instead
2. Feedback blindspot-ignorance
Every successful company is run by a strong, collaborative team. Our company lives by our core values - TEAMS, which stands for Teamwork, Empowerment, Accountability, Mutual Respect, and Collaboration. We are a very team-oriented company, and I really value the feedback and advice of my team. As a CEO, it is simply not possible and impossible for me to be involved in every detail of the organization. Therefore, I had to learn to trust my team to give me reasonable feedback and achievable solutions. This information must always be objective and consistent with our long-term goals. If I see a decision made or an action going in a direction that I would not have chosen, that is when it becomes my job to intervene and guide the group back to the planned course, even if it is unpopular.
The CEO’s responsibility is to plan the decisions, not to make all the calls. One of our company’s core values is “empowerment,” and I believe it’s important 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 decisions that I can support.
Related: What Makes a Great Leader Vs a CEO?
3. Blindspot-resistance
Change can be scary, and humans, like us, have a natural tendency to resist it – especially when everything seems to be working fine as usual. I have realized that waiting too long to make critical changes can be just as dangerous as changing too often.
Businesses are like breathing organisms; decisions or strategies that have worked in the past may no longer work as the company grows and develops. This is why leaders should embrace change rather than avoid it. A recent example in our business is our support model. We had the same support model for years, and for a long time, it worked very well. In the past two years, we’ve launched several new products and nearly doubled our customer base, so we realized we needed a different structure to better serve our customers.
This pivot required a significant logical restructuring, which was met with resistance. Not only did we introduce a new support framework, but we also opened a new support center, which carries a higher price tag. The delay did not slow our growth, but implementing this change led to significant improvements in efficiency, retention and overall customer satisfaction.
The blindspot here is the fear of disrupting the status quo. Change will always be greeted with raised eyebrows and disapproval, at least on first use. Change, whether good or bad, is opposed with equal force. However, as leaders, we must be prepared to anticipate the need for change, recognize the signs, and act before the situation forces us to do so. It’s a tricky balance – you’re constantly changing and you’ll disrupt the team; delay too long, and you lose opportunities.
Related: 4 Financial Blind Spots That May Be Preventing You From Making More Money
Staying close to your customers
The last blind spot to be addressed by business leaders or owners is 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 staying deeply connected to your customers is important. At our company, we have a senior sponsor program where all managers are assigned to a customer group to provide an extra layer of support that elevates the customer experience.
Although major sponsors are not responsible for ongoing account management, having that relationship with the customer provides valuable information that might otherwise be lost. Additionally, customers feel more valued when they know that senior leaders in our organization are involved and care about their business.
Overcoming blindspots
Leadership blind spots are often overlooked, but they can have a significant impact on a company’s performance. Business owners and leaders must be able to identify and correct these areas of disagreement immediately, whether it is balancing product innovation with a clear execution plan, accepting team feedback, accepting change, or maintaining communication with their customers.
This insight and diligence can open up new opportunities for your organization and team development and growth, ultimately leading to even greater success.
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