We all, without exception, have blind spots in our understanding of what we do.  I see it in myself.  I see it in my clients.  I see it in my colleagues.

No matter how aware someone is about what they do well, and no matter how diligent they may be in gathering top-quality testimonials that help them understand more about what their clients appreciate, there are always blind spots.

And those blind spots hide gems.  Nuggets of value that you provide to your clients without realizing it.

I posed a question along this line to a mastermind group of small business owners that I facilitate.  I asked them to reflect on things they deeply enjoy doing – but that they’re not bringing into their businesses.  What would it be like to put more focus on that talent or activity, and bring it into their work more fully?

In a subsequent meeting, one woman, Rebecca Everett, was excited to share her report.

She’s a performance coach.  As she describes it, she works with individuals and organizations to help them improve team and individual performance.  Her particular approach is to target what she calls “interaction intelligence” – since it’s the quality of the interactions between people that ultimately determines performance.

As a result of my question, she had rediscovered her love of music and singing.  She’d signed up for classes, joined a group of fellow singers, and was scheduled to perform publicly in the upcoming month.

We were thrilled for her, of course.

What I found fascinating, though, was that she prefaced her story by saying, “I don’t think this has anything to do with my work.”

A performance coach doesn’t think that taking voice lessons, joining a group of performers, and performing in public is relevant to her business. 

Yet I’d bet that the ways she learns and grows personally in her singing and performing will impact - perhaps subtly, but probably quite directly - the work she does with clients.

And I’d also bet that potential clients would love to know this about her, and that it would be a real boost to their feelings of confidence and trust in her abilities.

Don’t misunderstand, and please don’t think I’m just confused here.  I get that it seems like we’re dealing with two different meanings of the word ”performance.”  

But … are we really? 

Isn’t it true that how an individual or team performs in their work is, in many ways, about performing in the sense of being present in their role, being alert to their audience, being able to show up in situations and interacting with people in ways that may not be altogether comfortable?

It’s fascinating to me how we all have blind spots about what we do.

What are yours?

And if you see mine, will you please point them out to me?

I get that this is tough, believe me. That’s why I created the business intensive workshop. A BIG part of what we’ll work on is this whole question of really getting your value to your clients. From your clients’ perspective. It’s all this blind-spot stuff, and then some.