Leaders must act with deep confidence in their abilities while also remaining aware of their vulnerabilities. In his book “Leadership Blindspots: How Successful Leaders Identify and Overcome the Weaknesses That Matter,” Robert Bruce Shaw offers insights into identifying unrecognized weaknesses or threats.
• Don’t lead the witness. Hard-charging leaders often push to confirm their own assumptions about what is occurring in a given situation and often want to move quickly to a plan of action. This can result in questions that are really statements, such as, “Doesn’t this mean that we don’t have a problem with compliance in this area and can move forward as planned?” These types of questions, particularly when posed by those in positions of power, often prevent contrary points of view and necessary data from surfacing.
• Ask for supporting data and examples. Leaders need to ask questions that clarify which answers are based on fact and which are based on speculation or opinion. Not all decisions can be based on data but the leader needs to know the basis on which a decision or recommendation is being made.
• Paraphrase to surface next-level details. One technique to surface necessary information is to paraphrase what you are hearing from others. For example, a leader might say, “Let me summarize your recommendation. You are suggesting that we go ahead with the product launch as planned despite the issues we are having with product supply. Is this correct?” While this
can result in a yes or no response, summarizing what you are hearing can open up the dialogue. Some leaders go even further and deliberately paraphrase what they are hearing incorrectly in order to provoke a response that further clarifies the issue under debate.
• Give an opening for contrarians.
Leaders also need to deliberately provide an opportunity for others to offer dissenting points of view. Often, the final moments of a discussion are the richest, as people will wait until that time to surface what is truly important to them. Savvy leaders will ask if there is anything left unsaid that should be heard before they end a meeting with a group or an individual. A leader might say, for instance, “I don’t want to hear later that you had concerns that we didn’t discuss. What else do we need to talk over?”
Learning to ask the right questions in the right way is a key technique for surfacing blindspots that can easily be overlooked. The best leaders know that the questions they ask are as important as the answers they provide.
