By
Thabiti Anyabwile
Nearly every driver has had the
experience. You look in your rear view and side view mirrors, hit the signal,
and begin to drift into the next lane of traffic. Those routine procedures give
you a sense of safety, so you turn your mind to the things ahead of you. Then
suddenly, you hear the loud horn blast. Your heart jumps into your throat, you
swing the car back into your lane, and you make apologizing motions to the
driver in the car you did not see.
The problem with blind spots is you
don’t see them .Blind spots make lane changes surprisingly dangerous. It
happens in leadership, too. Leaders have blind spots. I know I do. We don’t
often discover them until we’re making a change, adjusting course. You’re
cruising along, changing lanes, and sometimes someone has to honk the horn real
loud. Have you ever had that happen? I have. So, here are a couple lessons
I’m learning as I lead with blind spots.
1. I have more than one blind spot. They’re on both sides. Leaders can
sometimes act as if they have a good view of themselves, a solid assessment of
strengths and weaknesses. But if our assessment is limited to self-perception,
chances are there will be some gaping holes in what we see. So, it’s really
vital to have others contribute to our assessments.
2. I really need to signal well in
advance. Others are
around me. They’re trying to keep speed and match movements with the pace car.
Leaders have to communicate changes in direction, even changes as gradual and
gentle as lane changes. Lane changes can crush other drivers. They need to know
what I’m thinking and where I’m headed before I actually make the move.
3. I need to look over my shoulder. Mirrors are helpful, but alone they
don’t eliminate blind spots. My driver’s ed teacher taught us to always take
that backward glance over the shoulder. In leadership, looking back to find
others traveling with you can help immensely. How many of us have charged hills
with breakneck speed and reckless abandon only to look back and see the troops
still in the camp. How do we look over our shoulders? Ask the people who follow
our lead what they see that we seem not to notice. Ask them, “What are my blind
spots?” “How is my leadership affecting others around me in ways I appear to
overlook?”
4. I need to heed the honks. Horns are fabulous pieces of
equipment. They can be loud and obnoxious (hooonk!!) and sometimes light and
chimey (beep, beep). Like leaders. When it comes to blind spots, leaders need
to know something about honkology, what the horns are signaling to us. Some of
us live in cultures where horns are used for everything–lane changes, greetings
to pedestrians, and musical accompaniment. Some of us live in countries where
horns are only used in emergencies, to alert others to dangers. Interpreting
horns depends on where you live and how they’re used. We have to interpret the
feedback we’re getting. Is the driver simply honking to constantly
communicate, or is he laying on the horn because he’s angry? Is he signaling
that the lane change is okay, or is he protecting his space?
5. Finally, I need to adjust the
mirrors. We know we’re
heeding the honks and adjusting to reality when we adjust our mirrors. Again,
mirrors alone won’t help you see everything. But they’re still useful. Leaders,
we need to compensate by including the perspectives of other, growing from
feedback, and expanding our view. We can’t include all the feedback at once.
But the incremental adjustments of the mirrors might just widen our field of
view enough to keep our lane changes safe and keep the traffic flowing with us.
Thabiti Anyabwile is Senior Pastor of First
Baptist Church of Grand Cayman in the Grand Cayman Islands and a Council member
with The Gospel Coalition.
