Are Your Beliefs Holding You Back as a Leader?

Key Concepts

• Hidden Blockers: Underlying beliefs, narratives, stories, or assumptions that individuals hold, which may have been beneficial in the past but are no longer effective and can hinder current progress, often operating unconsciously.
• Dissonance: A feeling of unease, frustration, or a gap between desired outcomes and actual experiences, serving as a crucial cue for identifying hidden blockers.
• Action-Biased Approach: The common tendency to immediately focus on "what to do differently" without first examining the deeper, underlying mindsets or beliefs driving current behaviors.
• Mindset-Driven Change: A more sustainable approach that involves understanding and reframing the beliefs that drive actions, leading to more lasting behavioral shifts.
• Uncover, Unpack, Reframe: The three-step methodology for addressing hidden blockers: identifying the belief, understanding its origins and past utility, and consciously developing a new, more effective belief.
• Toxic Productivity: The detrimental pursuit of productivity at all costs, leading to burnout, frequent organizational change, and an inability to build sustainable capacity within a company.
• Learned Helplessness: A state where individuals become overly reliant on others for solutions, often a consequence of leaders consistently providing answers instead of guiding and developing their teams.
• Organizational Culture: Defined as a collective set of beliefs within an organization; addressing individual and collective hidden blockers is key to driving genuine cultural transformation.

Introduction: Understanding Hidden Blockers

Muriel Wilkins, an executive coach, introduces the concept of hidden blockers as fundamental to personal and organizational effectiveness. She emphasizes that the initial step in addressing challenges is to cultivate curiosity, moving beyond an "action-biased" tendency to ask "what do I need to do differently?" Instead, leaders should first inquire: "What is happening right now? What are the outcomes that I'm getting? Where's the dissonance?" This leads to a process of reverse engineering: identifying current behaviors/actions that lead to outcomes, and then stepping back further to understand the underlying mindset and assumptions (about leadership, those being led, and the context) that drive those behaviors. Hidden blockers are essentially beliefs—narratives, stories, or assumptions—that, while potentially helpful in the past, have become so habitual that individuals are unaware of their continued operation, even when they are no longer effective.

Identifying Hidden Blockers: The Role of Dissonance

Hidden blockers typically become apparent through dissonance, a discrepancy between desired outcomes and actual experiences. This dissonance can manifest through:

• External Cues: Receiving feedback that doesn't resonate, observing a team underperforming, or realizing one is not perceived in the desired way.
• Internal Cues: Experiencing frustration, burnout, unease, or a general malaise regarding one's work or leadership style. These internal signals are crucial indicators that a limiting belief or hidden blocker may be at play.

Muriel Wilkins' Journey to Understanding Blockers

Wilkins' understanding of hidden blockers evolved through a "parallel path" of observing her clients and reflecting on her own experiences.

• Client Observations: She noticed that while her clients were "very action oriented" and could implement short-term behavioral changes based on feedback, these changes were "not sustainable." Despite external success (e.g., promotions), clients frequently "kept hitting a wall," experiencing persistent frustration and unease. This led her to realize that "what's driving the behavior is the belief. It's our internal operating system."
• Personal Reflection: She also recognized similar patterns in her own professional and personal life, acknowledging her contribution to these recurring challenges and the need to change "the way I think about what I'm doing," not just what she was doing.
• Analogy: Wilkins draws a parallel to other domains like health and weight loss, where a fundamental shift in mindset (e.g., around food) is recognized as a prerequisite for lasting behavioral change. She argues this principle applies equally to work and leadership.

The Seven Common Hidden Blockers

Through an analysis of over 300 leaders she coached over 20 years (who varied in gender, demographics, sectors, and hierarchical levels from managerial to C-suite), Wilkins identified seven common hidden blockers. While not exhaustive, these were the most prevalent:

1. "I need to be involved"
2. "I need it done now"
3. "I know I'm right"
4. "I can't make a mistake"
5. "If I can do it, so can you"
6. "I can't say no"
7. "I don't belong here"

She notes that these blockers become "more consequential the more that you're trying to lead at scale" or advance in one's profession.

Specific Examples of Blockers and Their Impact:

• "I need it done now":

  • Manifestation: This blocker often doesn't cause internal distress for the leader but has severe external consequences. It leads to a perception of a "lack of prioritization," where "everything is important and urgent at the same time." This results in team burnout, a perpetual feeling that "nothing is done," and frequent, unsustainable organizational change, akin to being on a "change acceleration wheel."
  • Damage: It fosters toxic productivity, where tasks are pursued "at all costs or at any cost," severely impacting employee well-being and hindering the organization's ability to build long-term capacity.

• "If I can do it, so can you":

  • Origin: This belief often stems from a positive, motivational intent, where the leader thinks, "If little old me can do it, why can't you?"
  • Assumption: The core assumption is that others possess the exact same capabilities, experiences, and approaches as the leader.
  • Damage: This directly contradicts "Developing People 101," which emphasizes the need to "meet people where they are." This fundamental principle is crucial for effective talent development, leading change, growing organizational capacity, negotiation, and influence. Starting from "meet me where I am" (the essence of this blocker) significantly impedes effectiveness.

• "I can't make a mistake":

  • Context: This blocker is particularly prevalent at higher leadership levels, where expectations of perfection are high, and in periods of significant economic, geopolitical, or technological uncertainty. It can lead to paralysis and increased risk aversion.
  • Damage: It obstructs forward momentum. Leaders are tasked with two mandates: managing risk and moving the organization strategically forward. This blocker undermines the latter by causing hesitation in decision-making, reluctance to "put a stake in the ground," frequent changes in course instead of follow-through, and an unwillingness to delegate and build internal talent. It ultimately prevents leaders from fulfilling key leadership responsibilities.

The Impetus for Change

Change is rarely spontaneous; it requires a clear impetus. This can be:

• External: Frustration from key stakeholders (boss, peers, direct reports). A leader might decide to change to avoid alienating these critical relationships.
• Internal: Personal angst, a feeling of being stuck, dissatisfaction with one's performance level, or concern that the organization isn't progressing fast enough. These internal cues prompt self-reflection on one's contribution to the problem.

The Three-Step Process for Overcoming Blockers

Wilkins outlines a structured, three-step methodology:

1. Uncover:

   • The first step is to acknowledge the dissonance ("something feels off") and then explicitly "name the belief" that is contributing to this feeling. This identification must precede any attempt at behavioral change.
   • Challenge: Individuals often resist this step because the belief "is not bad" and has likely contributed to their past success.
   • Key Insight: Adaptable leaders learn to "open up the aperture" and consider that what once helped might no longer be effective. The goal isn't to eliminate the belief entirely but to understand its context and develop the flexibility to tap into different mindsets as situations demand. This adaptability becomes a "superpower."

2. Unpack:

   • This involves understanding why the belief exists and identifying specific situations in the past where it did serve a positive purpose. This process is akin to "befriending" the belief.
   • Benefit: By understanding when the belief is helpful versus unhelpful, leaders can proactively assess new situations and consciously choose the most appropriate mindset to achieve desired outcomes, reducing the risk of misapplying the belief.

3. Reframe (and Act):

   • Belief in Change: A crucial prerequisite is believing that change is possible. Wilkins clarifies that this process is not about "changing who you are," but rather recognizing that beliefs are "learned" and "malleable." It "expands who you are" by adding new perspectives and approaches.
   • Action Phase: Once a new, more productive belief is reframed, the final step is to align actions with this new mindset.
   • Examples of Reframing:
     • For "I can't make a mistake": Reframe to "We're going to do the best that we can with the resources that we have," or "with the information that we have."
     • For "If I can do it, so can you": Reframe to "I will meet you where you are." This acknowledges individual differences while maintaining focus on the desired output.
     • For "I need it done now": Reframe to "I need it done now if it's a priority," or "if it's actually urgent," or "if it falls within the parameters of what we have set as our objectives." This introduces a "filter" to prevent it from being a universal, always-on rule.

Case Study: "I know I'm right" Blocker

Wilkins shares a case study of an executive whose hidden blocker was "I know I'm right."

• Client Profile: This executive was often genuinely correct and possessed an "uncanny ability to see around corners."
• Consequence: Despite his accuracy, his approach alienated stakeholders, making meetings unpleasant because he "led with... him knowing the answer."
• Impetus for Change: He realized his role had evolved from being solely a "subject-matter expert" to needing to "lead in that organization." Leading, he understood, involved "building the capacity so that they could come up with the answers," developing people and systems, and aligning others without alienating them.
• Redefining Success: His definition of success shifted from merely "getting to the answer" to fostering capacity and alignment.
• Reframe: His new belief became, "I need to guide people to the right answer," rather than "I have the right answer."
• Challenge: This guiding approach can feel "slow" (e.g., a manager editing a piece vs. guiding the writer). Wilkins emphasizes that the choice of approach depends on the desired outcome: quick delivery versus talent development. Constantly providing answers, she warns, can lead to learned helplessness in team members.

Tackling Multiple Blockers

Wilkins advises tackling blockers "one thing at a time." Leaders should prioritize the blocker they are most motivated to address or the one currently causing the most significant "just-in-time consequences" or "cost." She encourages viewing this process as a continuous "practice" rather than a finite "work." The goal is to become "more nimble," able to "coach yourself in the moment," and measure progress by faster "course correction" and approaching situations "with a lot more ease."

Self-Coaching and Broader Applications

• Self-Sufficiency: Wilkins' ultimate goal for her clients is for them to become self-sufficient in this process, capable of "doing this work on themselves." She believes the "answer is already there" within individuals, accessible by asking the right questions.
• Benefits of Self-Coaching: Learning to coach oneself enhances a leader's ability to coach others and navigate complex situations with greater ease, benefiting the entire ecosystem.
• Applications Beyond the Individual:
  • Organizational/Industry/Team Beliefs: While external factors are often beyond individual control, leaders can control "how you experience any situation." This starts with "what you think about what you do in that situation" (e.g., seeing risks vs. opportunities).
  • Team Leadership: Leaders can role model the process by openly stating their assumptions and beliefs in meetings. When providing feedback, instead of directly prescribing actions, they can ask team members: "what were you thinking about that situation before you approached it in that way?" or "what is it that you're thinking... that's getting in the way?" This helps team members identify their own mindsets and explore alternative approaches.
• Overarching Positive Benefit: Addressing hidden blockers at individual and collective levels can drive profound "real culture change" within organizations. Since organizational culture is essentially a "collective set of beliefs," consciously examining and aligning these beliefs can help teams move past "storming stages" caused by misaligned expectations, fostering collective progress.

Conclusion: The Impact of Addressing Blockers

The discussion underscores the transformative power of shifting from an action-biased approach to a mindset-driven one. By systematically uncovering, unpacking, and reframing hidden beliefs, leaders can achieve sustainable personal growth, cultivate talent within their teams, and navigate complex challenges with increased effectiveness and ease. This process not only empowers individual leaders but also fundamentally reshapes team dynamics and organizational culture by fostering a collective awareness and intentional shaping of beliefs, ultimately propelling change beyond organizational boundaries.