I have seen many companies, whose employees are so happy with their current processes and practices that they fail to see any major market changes. Look at Kodak for example; even after being the market leader for imaging solutions, it missed the opportunity to be a part of the digital revolution in image processing. Obviously, no company wants to lag behind, but sometimes we become victim of our own success. Following are some of our organizational strengths that can turn into blind spots very easily.

Business focus: When your company grows in size, you become the victim of your own success. Instead of thinking about the basic fundamentals of the company, which made you successful, you are mostly occupied in projects, delivery dates and customers. While it is not a bad thing to narrow down your focus on the priorities at hand, this narrowed focus may kill your company’s business over time. By focusing your attention repeatedly on certain (or should I say, same) things, you can seduce yourself into believing that these are the only things that matter. This approach can prevent your leadership from noticing new options or opportunities. For example: Sony Diskman, once the largest sold music listening device, was ill prepared for the digital music revolution, and hence, the completely new way of listening to music, iPod, dominated the market.

Efficient processes: Whenever we start something new, we always look for the best alternative available out there. But once we have identified those particular alternatives, we are more likely to stick with it. Thus, it is natural for an employee to stick with an already established process. After all, it frees up their time for doing other tasks. But then, we are ought to develop an organization-wide practice where our employees follow the same processes, not because they are efficient but because they are well known and comfortable to follow. If we get too much used to our existing processes, and stop reexamining the new options, we are ought to blind ourselves with the resistance to change attitude, later on.

Successful relationships: In order to succeed in any organization, your employees must build strong relationships with other employees, customers, suppliers, lenders, investors, etc. But when the business paradigm changes, companies often find that their relationships have turned into shackles by limiting their flexibility. The need to maintain existing relationships with past customers can, sometimes, hinder companies in developing new products or focusing on new markets. This phenomenon doesn’t just affect customer-facing employees, sometimes, managers (or leaders) can also find themselves constrained by their existing relationships with their employees or their leadership.

These are some of the blind spots that your organization will face, no matter how big or small it is. Do you know of any other organizational strength that can turn into your blind spot very easily? If so, please share your ideas with me through your comments. Thanks – Bhavin Gandhi