Positive and Negative Blind Spots, Can You See Them?

It has been a long time since I have posted anything, over a year. Since I posted over a year ago, I have changed jobs and seen a big shift in my thinking about work/career and development.  More on that in future posts.

As part of my new role as an Organizational Capability Manager, I recently had to get certified to be a 360 Feedback Facilitator. In order to be a facilitator, you need to receive your own feedback first. The best counselor, is a good counselee. I went through the process and received my results, really not knowing what it would say about me or my ability to manage or where I needed to see things more clearly.

After reading it, all in all it seemed favorable but I have areas that they call Positive and Negative Blind Spots. I don't think I am as good at Growing Capabilities as other people think I am, this is a Positive Blind Spot. I think I am better at Delivering Results than other people think I am, this is a Negative Blind Spot. I won't go on and on about the whole process but it made me think of Career Development and the importance of having people point those Blind Spots out to us, either anonymously or face to face.

Ken Blanchard says that "Feedback is the breakfast of champions." I can understand his point but my question is how much is enough feedback for me to be able to do something with it? At what point do I stop asking and receiving feedback and now have to go out and do something with the feedback?

Here are the implications that I took related to Career Development...

1. Besides your boss or supervisor or spouse who gives you feedback and points out your negative and positive blind spots, especially the positive ones? If you don't have someone, who can you ask that will be even handed?
2. If I want to work on these areas, and they do take work, who can I enlist to help me see myself more objectively about my technical or soft skills? When will you document these and hold yourself accountable to change?
3. How can I take the Positive Blind Spots and use them to close my Negative Blind Spots? Is that even possible? Can clarifying a Positive Blind Spot help you on your current or next Job Assignment?
4. Are there any of my positive blind spots rewarded in my company and I am just not saying something about a strength I have? Let me explain by example. If I am good at building relationships but I don't think I am very good at it or I am self-deprecating about my ability, so when someone asks me if I am strong at networking and I undersell my ability, am I depriving that person asking me to help them do further networking or building important relationships? Who is losing out? Me? The person asking? The company?

Until Next Time...