Ask any team leader about the decisions they make when it comes to leading their employees, they will tell you that everything they do is to benefit the organization.
As humans, we are genetically programmed to focus on the future. Even though past experiences color us, every choice we make, we make to build a better tomorrow. However, when being responsible for a whole group, leaders tend to only focus on the big picture but not the little dots connecting everything. And this is a fact backed by science.
In the 90s, scientists made an experiment called the 'invisible gorilla.' This study demonstrated that people focusing really hard on a problem become blind to unexpected events. This applies even when the unpredictable circumstances are more than obvious. In scientific terms, this situation is called "inattentional blindness."
So there is no wonder why so many leaders are blind to their employees' unhappiness. They don't miss the signs because they don't care but because they are too fixated on something else. Thus, it’s hard to point the blame. Signals have been missed and team members have become disengaged as a result.
This is why the most straightforward yet most effective way to keep a team together is listening. If you listen to and act on signals from the team that may be beneath the surface, your team’s mood will be lifted. A simple answer to a just as simple 'How happy are you with your organization' question is the key. Getting periodical feedback about the employees' happiness represents the eyeglasses needed to treat the inattentional blindness so many leaders suffer from.
With this thought in mind, we ask you to be the leader who is 100% focused on the organization’s success but who is also interested in seeing the gorilla in the room.
