If you are leading an organization, you are in greater danger than you might think because there is so much you just can't see within your organization. It's what you don't know that you don't know that is fraught with hidden issues and teeming with untapped possibilities. What is in your blind spot? Can you afford not to know?

The biggest challenge today's organizations face is one that you, like many leaders, may not even see: it's the large gap between how you think the organization works versus how it actually does work - the blind spot. In fact, it's stunning how large this perception gap is, and that it occurs in every organization to some degree. As a result, you may wonder why efforts aren't more successful or why your teams aren't more agile.

How is this possible? Executives tend to be people of action and eagerly work on the problems they can see. Because of the blind spot, you as executives and your employees end up working diligently but see little progress ... or you may actually lose ground through unintended consequences.

While such a situation is discouraging to the leaders, it's equally as stressful and discouraging to the employee - to the ones actually doing the front line work, usually interacting with your customers. Workers often feel under-appreciated and unheard (especially since they experience where the process breakdowns occur), and they eventually either get angry or disengage. No wonder some organizations feel ineffective and service for customers suffers. To customers it can manifest as the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing.

So the real problem in most organizations is that people are working hard individually, with the best intentions. But how they work with each other, across the processes and hierarchy will determine the organization's success. All organizations have an interarchy (the horizontal version of the hierarchy), which is the very real web of accountability and coordination that impacts performance and customer satisfaction. Most leaders don't understand how their organization's interarchy really works, which creates the organizational blind spot. When you illuminate this blind spot, you can see and address the issues that reduce productivity or drive cost, and you can better recognize strategic opportunities when they arise.

To better understand your interarchy and how it works, you must first be willing to see your organization as a web of commitments and accountabilities to achieve a vision that provides value to customers. Use the following three-step process to gain insight into your interarchy.

1. Know the real promise your organization makes to its customers.
You likely have a vision for your organization and know what work needs to be done to achieve it. But does everyone in the company know and understand how that vision translates into customer promises in which they participate? Chances are they don't, even if you believe you've articulated it clearly. As a result, the organization's vision doesn't penetrate to the front line as much as you think it has, resulting in process breakdowns and missed opportunities.

Additionally, the overall vision that's outlined may not be the relevant vision for every department and person down the line. Therefore, it's essential that your C-suite team come together and not only agree on the overall vision, but also agree on individual department or division promises to achieve the main vision. These cross-departmental promises need to speak clearly to the roles within so the employees doing the work have a clearer idea of workflow, goals, and accountabilities.

2. Demonstrate how each role contributes to the overriding promise of the department and organization.
With the departmental promises aligned across the organization with the overall vision, your divisional executives can assess how well each person they oversee understands the true accountability of their role. While most people know their job duties, they don't fully realize how their specific job affects the customer experience. This is especially true for people who are accountable for the sub-processes - those that don't touch the customer directly. In fact, because these people don't touch the central promise to the customer of the organization in an obvious way, they often feel disconnected, which is why the cross-departmental promises are so vital. However, when they see the full picture of how they fit in, how they contribute, and what their accountabilities are, they finally understand and appreciate how their work impacts others in the organization and its ability to deliver to the customer as promised.

As you demonstrate the importance and contribution of each person's role, it helps everyone realize what their true accountability is and to whom they are really accountable. Often, the person counting on them is not their boss. That is a profound understanding in terms of work flow and building interarchy relationships.

If you've ever watched the television show Undercover Boss, you've seen how eager people are to open up to someone - even a stranger - who is willing to listen. You've also seen how perceptive the front line workers usually are and how they are able to pinpoint key organizational issues with amazing accuracy. Now imagine getting that level of detailed and insightful feedback from your entire organization.

Realize that your front line workers want you to listen to them, and they will be very truthful with you because they want their work experience to be better and for the organization to succeed. But rather than spend hours or days talking with each employee one-on-one, get a cross-functional group of employees together so you have a broad view of each process. Additionally, this group format makes it a safe environment, as there's always safety in numbers. Find out from them how their piece of the work puzzle works - what's effective and what isn't.

As they talk, bring everything they say back to the business impact and how it affects their ability to do their job or the organization's ability to fulfill its promise to customers. Even if someone says, "I don't like Suzanne in customer service," ask, "What's the business impact of that?" You may find the person doesn't like Suzanne because she's often late and therefore the phone lines are backed up with callers on hold each morning. By keeping everything focused on the business impact, you'll be able to see the real breakdowns in your interarchy and avoid the blame game.

Once You See it, You Can't Ignore It
By using the new information about your organization's interarchy in your future decision making process, you can accelerate organizational results, insights, and overall engagement. It is possible for a new level of alignment within and across the organization to emerge that will propel performance, grassroots problem solving, and overall coordination. Ultimately, when you see the gap between management's belief about the way work gets done and the way it actually does get done, you can drive action to create a stronger and more successful organization.