I've always preferred to have a window in my office. It helps my vision.

A Johari window is especially useful to leaders to help us see what we might be missing.

Charles Handy introduced the concept of a Johari House with four rooms. Room 1 is the part of ourselves that we see and others see. Room 2 is the aspects that others see but we are not aware of. Room 3 is the most mysterious room in that the unconscious or subconscious part of us is seen by neither ourselves nor others. Room 4 is our private space, which we know but keep from others.

If we apply this concept to our leadership style we can hypothesize: 

• There is a portion of our leadership style that we see and others see as well.
• There are things about our leadership that others see and we do not.
• The mysterious room of leadership occurs without the leader or his followers aware of it.
• The private space of our business has our highly valued "Do Not Enter" sign. Leaders do not allow access to this room.

Today, I only want to consider the blind spot of a leader (Room 2).

As leaders, sometimes we want to change lanes, but we're not sure if our rear view mirrors are telling us the full story. A staff learns about a leader through frequent and critical observation. 

Followers see things that hide in the blind spot of leadership. Followers see leaders long before following becomes sincere and, therefore, productive.

It's not enough to know we don't know. The real question seems to be, "are we prepared to know?"

We've all seen leaders fail ... not because of weakness but because of failure to see the weakness and begin corrective action. Some leaders don't want to be told about their blind spot and thereby reduce their effectiveness.

Effective leaders create listening posts or other feedback mechanisms. Blind spots are removed with better vision. Be open to see what you've been missing.

Disciplined leaders have many windows.

"He will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will reveal the purposes of the hearts" (1 Cor. 4:5b).

Dr. Steve Greene is the publisher and executive vice president of the media group at Charisma Media and executive producer of the Charisma Podcast Network. His book, Love Leads: The Spiritual Connection Between Your Relationships and Productivity, is now available.

Leaders, Dr. Greene wants to help you understand the spiritual connection between relationships and productivity. Read his new blog, here.

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