Association Executive - November/December 2007 - (Page 13)

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Turning Your Blind Spot into an Asset By Claudia Shelton 5 Most Common Blind Spots 1. Misused strengths: Many people use a strength too little or too much. 2. Old habits: We often rely on old behavior that made us successful in the past, but that are no longer effective. 3. Stress expressed: Our behavior often affects others when we are under stress. 4. Untuned radar: We may be ignoring non-verbal cues that we give and receive. 5. Disconnect: We may ignore factors that are important to good communication. A blind spot is something we do that we are not aware of that disturbs other people—or causes us to underestimate or overestimate our abilities. Regardless of our talents, accomplishments, or how hard we work, our blind spots can lead us to miss promotions, raises, and opportunities. With clear sight of our blind spots, we turn them to our advantage and find significantly greater possibilities for ourselves that we previously could have imagined. Here are some ways to turn our blind spots into strengths. and resilience. We need to use our imaginations to stay f lexible and open to new opportunities. Shift to Neutral When we’re driving a car and believe we are lost, we can stop and shift to neutral gear to get our bearings for a moment. The same applies to considering blind spots. We need to stop momentarily and examine how and where we are going with our current habits. Do we want to keep operating exactly the same way or would we like to make a few alterations? When we shift to neutral, we get the chance to see things about ourselves that we couldn’t see before. Simply Focus on Success However we each define success, our ability to state a goal clearly will inf luence our ability to reach it. We view our blind spots within the context of the goal we choose to reach. Understanding our blind spots inf luences whether we meet our goals as well as the very nature of the goals we set for ourselves. Stretch Our Strengths Thinking about our strengths helps us to develop a positive attitude where we more easily shift to neutral. We need to use our strengths to help develop our weaker skills. Imagine Positive Possibilities A particularly troublesome blind spot is one that limits our ability to use our imagination or to use it in only limiting ways. To see what we can’t see is to imagine new possibilities. The mindset we should hold in working with blind spots is not about eliminating weaknesses. It is a single-minded focus on creating new ways to connect with a constant supply of energy, vitality, both knowing we have the necessary skills and abilities and a feeling of selfbelief to be able to do what we plan. Self-confident people are willing to take risks. Even with failure, they have the resilience to keep believing in themselves. Uncovering our blind spots is an ongoing process. The behaviors that made us successful five or 10 years ago are unlikely to be effective today. Times change; so do work requirements. Reality shifts over time, and when we don’t recognize that shift, when we still think of success in old ways, we have blind spots. It’s not useful to look at blind spots as something we do that’s right or wrong. What’s important is that it’s something we do that doesn’t work to meet our goals and needs to be seen and changed. Choose with Confidence Being overconfident may put us in a position to take on goals we are ill-prepared to reach while underconfidence creates a blind spot when we retreat from goals we are well-prepared to accomplish. However, self-confidence is vital to our success. It comes from Claudia Shelton is the founder and president of The Hopewell Group, LLC, and author Blind Spots: Achieve Success By Seeing What You Can’t See (©2007, Wiley). She can be reached through her website at www. whatsmyblindspot.com. NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2007 AS SOC I A TI ON E X E C U TI V E 13 http://www.whatsmyblindspot.com http://www.whatsmyblindspot.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Association Executive - November/December 2007

Assocation Executive - November/December 2007 Contents From the CEO The First 5 Slides: Unlocking the Story Buried in Your Presentation What Does That Mean? Pay Attention to Non-Verbal Cues Avoiding Telephone Turmoil Turning Your Blind Spot into an Asset Inside NYSAE Book Beat Save the Dates Member News Meeting in Calgary Meeting in Delaware Meeting in Chicago Meeting in Pennsylvania Index of Advertisers

Association Executive - November/December 2007

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