Yes they were valuable. Thank you.

I think #2 drives many of the awareness programs in the workplace, certainly valuable.

#3 is difficult because as you say it’s institutionalised and therefore, to some extent, invisible. I think that all-angles approach would bring up insights. You’d need a strong leader to drive rigour in that approach.

Look forward to the next piece. Cheers Mike.

Dionne

Hi Dionne:

Thanks for the kind words. Blind spots usually occur for one of three reasons: 1.) Arrogance 2.) Ignorance, or; 3.) Dominant Logic. The first 2 are somewhat self-explanatory. The third is a by-product of institutionalized thinking. Part of personal growth and development requires the willingness to embrace dissenting opinions and apply what I call “unlearning.”

The best way to help people identify blind spots is to utilize a combination of personal historical analysis, and third party feedback. Work through negative outcomes in order to assess why things went wrong. Then compare those conclusions with third party feedback attained by interviewing all relevant constituencies (peers, subordinates, leaders, customers, vendors, partners, board members, etc.). Use the information gathered to frame a development road-map.

I hope these thoughts help.

We know humans have a tendency to like ‘people like us’ and find it difficult to identify our own biases.

I think this is an area in which self-awareness will be critical for leadership development.

I saw an interesting doco just the other day (here in Australia) on the same CV being submitted multiple times to various employers with just the name changed and the impact that had on the selectors.

I’d be keen to know pragmatic tools or tips that leaders can focus on to help them make the best choice, rather than just replicating unconscious decision-making.

I love your blog Mike and follow it as well as your Forbes pieces. Always interesting food for thought.

Thanks so much for the kind words and I greatly appreciate the recommendation. Thanks for stopping by and best wishes for continued success.

Sorry for the misunderstanding – I never meant to talk about moral superiority. Quite the opposite, actually. I was trying to say that I, as an inexperienced new manager, never thought about hiring a disabled person. I would totally welcome training from my company to help me make better hiring decisions, broaden my horizon a bit.

Hi Anna:

I think this train of thought is starting to devolve into an argument of moral superiority which I find very presumptuous. I have hired special needs workers, but I didn't do it because of a mandate. In fact, most special needs kids are entry level workers doing minimum wage work. They need a break just like those entry level workers without challenges who also don't have experience. I've also hired physically challenged people for more senior positions, but they were just as, if not more, qualified than those that were competing for the position. Again, these hires were not done to check off a box. Here's the thing, when we're talking about special needs hires, you want people to hire them because they want to, not because they have to…You want them treated well, not abused and/or taken advantage of.

You see, the government has this thing where they're trying to uplift previously disadvantaged people. Depending on who your customers are, you may find yourself forced to make some kind of plan to hire these individuals – who are, almost by definition, going to be a drain on your company. At least for the first while, while you get them skilled up to where they need to be.

I suppose it's a good thing in the bigger scheme of things, one has to address the failures of the past. However, it can get quite expensive.

The way they do it, if you're interested, is they have auditors that assigns a score to each company. When the government needs to do business with a company, this score is one of the factors they take into account when they decide who to do business with. I believe it's possible that you may find yourself unable to deal with them at all, if your score is too low. Also, your "score" is heavily influenced by the scores of your partners, so even if your customers' customers' customer is the government, you may find your customers would rather buy from your competitor, because they have a better score.