Sometimes what you need in your business is right in front of you but you cannot see it? Maybe you need a particular talent in an employee or a partner for pursuing an new opportunity but you can't find a solution. What gets in the way? I believe that sometimes this is caused by hanging on to a past process and/or a lack of anyway to innovate within your business.

I am currently working with a large (I mean large) mass retailer, who shared with me that they are really challenged by finding good management talent. They are so challenged with this that they are even buying other companies just to have a talent pool of managers.

After spending about 3 weeks with them I shared that I think the talent pool of management skill is right under their nose, they just cannot see it. Why can't they see it? They are so embedded in their recruitment and hiring process that it does not allow for the discovery and exposure of management talent when it does present itself. Sometimes even when a hiring manager sees extraordinary talent that the company can use he doesn't know how to make the organization pay attention to the discovery.

There are a basket full of issues that this points out for this company? What talent are they missing and what is the business cost? What other blind spots are there in other areas because the processes are so systemic that there is no room for innovation or improvement? What happens when someone does try to raise an exception and it is ignored?

What are your organizations blind spots? How do you keep them from happering your business? What kind of behavior do you practice to see at all times?