I’ve always been struck by how little of our bodies we can actually see ourselves. We rely on mirrors to see reflections of our heads and faces; our backside can only be seen by others, and imaging is required to see internal components. We require someone else to provide assessments for much of our physical being.
There is a parallel in organizations, where leaders must rely on others to see the whole. Truth-tellers serve as mirrors, helping those in charge see what is happening and alerting them to blind spots or festering issues they might otherwise miss. There are tools to help organizations uncover internal issues, and outside consultants can see things that those within cannot.
Just as it is unwise to rely solely on the visible parts of your body to assess your well-being, it is foolish for leaders to determine their organization’s health only by what they see. Value the many types of inputs to help diagnose the whole picture.
