There are two definitions of tunnel vision.

As far as leadership and management are concerned, tunnel vision is not being able to see the bigger picture. There can be many reasons for that, but the main one is usually this; we’re so confident that the decisions we’ve made and the outcome we’re focused on is right that we’re unable to accept there might be better ways of achieving our goal. We don’t even stop to consider other possibilities or seek the input of other people. We just keep forging ahead, certain that we’ve got it all worked out, and unable to see the wood for the trees.

Notice I used the word ‘unable’ a couple of times there. That’s because, in my experience, having tunnel vision doesn’t tend to be an obstinate ‘I’m right; you’re wrong’ refusal to see things any other way. Tunnel vision is much sneakier than that. It’s the complete inability to recognise that there are other ways of doing things.

The second definition of tunnel vision is the medical one. I think it’s worth mentioning because the consequences of not correcting the tunnel vision in our eyesight can be very similar to what could happen if we don’t correct the tunnel vision in our leadership.

‘Tunnel Vision, or Peripheral Vision Loss (PVL), is a result of the loss of peripheral sight, or side vision. A person with tunnel vision can only see what is directly in front of them. Without your side vision, it will look as if you’re looking through a tunnel, so you would only be able to see things in a small circle directly in front of you.

‘There are many different causes of tunnel vision but some, like glaucoma, can eventually lead to blindness if left untreated.’ (Thanks for that, Specsavers!)

I don’t need to go into detail about what that means in leadership terms. Fortunately, though, leadership tunnel vision is a lot easier to correct than eyesight tunnel vision. You’ve just got to recognise the symptoms and then readjust your focus. It won’t be long before you’re leading clearly again.

What are the different forms of tunnel vision?

Looking too far ahead.

Linear leaders suffer from this type of tunnel vision more than others because linear leaders tend to focus on whatever task shouts loudest for their attention and then they’ll pursue that task until it’s achieved, often to the detriment of everything else. Effective leaders must be able to switch between the far-view and the near-view, holding onto their vision while still maintaining awareness of what’s happening in the here-and-now.

Looking too narrowly.

This can be a sign of insecure leadership. Insecure leaders think that putting their heads down and focusing solely on what they can see ahead of them is the only way to achieve the outcome they’re looking for. The truth is, looking too narrowly and not searching outside ourselves for other possibilities is playing it safe by keeping us trapped inside our comfort zone. We won’t realise that’s what we’re doing because our comfort zone’s a tricky little sucker who doesn’t want us to know what it’s up to, but that’s what’s happening when our tunnel vision is too narrow.

Looking too introspectively.

On paper, introspective leadership can seem like a good thing. After all, an introspective leader is someone who thinks so deeply about what they’re doing that they must have all the self-awareness they need to make the best decisions, right?

Wrong. Introspection and self-awareness are two very different things. Introspection can lead to poor decision-making because a highly introspective leader will place too much importance on one aspect of the outcome without considering all the other factors. Also, introspective thinking can easily turn into procrastination or, just as bad, over-thinking, i.e., even if the introspective leader’s decisions are right, he/she might still be overcomplicating the process of reaching the goal.

Looking too confidently.

Overconfident leaders know they’re always right because no-one else can see things as clearly as they do. Ironically, that usually means they’ve got the dodgiest tunnel vision of all.

Overconfident leaders have a distorted view of their own abilities and usually think they’re performing better than they are. They won’t listen to other people because they won’t want outside opinions to influence their decision-making, and if anyone does dare to express their opinion, they’ll generally take an “I could agree with you but then we would both be wrong” attitude.

(That phrase, “I could agree with you but then we would both be wrong”, is a first-class sign of tunnel vision. It’s also appalling leadership and a guaranteed way to poison the work environment.)

Overconfident leaders are more likely to follow their own instincts instead of taking on board objective information and hard data. They’re also prone to going after the rewards without properly assessing the risks, which means corners are cut and the outcome is more likely to fail.

What does all this add up to?

Tunnel vision – in whichever form you’ve got it - is always dangerous.

And, on top of everything else, it can waste your time, money, and energy, as well as put a serious dent in your credibility.

I watched a fantastic example of this on Netflix the other day. It was a documentary about a guy called D.B. Cooper (not his real name) who hijacked a plane in 1971 and then skydived out of it with $200k of ransom money. Fifty years on and still nobody knows who D.B. Cooper was or where the money went, although there’s a long list of suspects and a cottage industry of internet sleuths who are still trying to find out the truth. One of those sleuths was so sure he’d identified the right guy that he devoted years of his life and a massive wedge of his own money to prove he was right, despite the fact there was equally as much information out there to suggest he was wrong. Even when the stewardess who’d served D.B. Cooper on the aeroplane and was the only one to get a close-up look of his face said the suspect wasn’t the same guy, his tunnel vision still refused to accept it. If you want to know what tunnel vision looks like in all its all-singing, all-dancing glory this is a fascinating programme to watch because it demonstrates how far someone will go to prove they’re right without ever once stopping to consider the possibility they could be barking up the wrong skyjacker, not to mention the absolute waste of money, time, and effort they haemorrhaged out along the way. In the end, a lot of the people who used to think the sleuth was credible now think he’s an obsessive nut, and the guy who was the suspect a) never admitted it, and b) ended up dying of old age anyway. So what lesson did the sleuth learn?

Actually, I’m not certain that he did, because now his D.B. Cooper hope is pushing up daisies he’s apparently gone all tunnel vision over what happened to the union boss Jimmy Hoffa, who disappeared in 1975. Weirdly, when I just looked up the date Jimmy Hoffa disappeared (because, you know me, I like to get my facts right), I discovered that one of Hoffa’s most famous quotes is; “I may have many faults but being wrong ain’t one of them.”

That sounds like the perfect definition of tunnel vision to me.

Tunnel vision is a type of obsession. When we become obsessed about accomplishing a goal, stress and anxiety narrow our vision and limit our thinking and situational awareness. We miss the clues, cues, and opportunities that could help us accomplish our goal more effectively, and we don’t see the road signs telling us we’re heading in the wrong direction.

How to avoid the tunnel vision trap

Never stop challenging your own perspective.

When we become comfortable with routine, we become lazy. We stop looking for ways to improve and be a better leader. Instead, we either stay trapped inside our comfort zone (looking too narrowly), fooled into thinking we’re better than we are (looking too confidently), lose awareness of what needs to be done right now (looking too far ahead), or start second-guessing ourselves and making poor decisions (looking too introspectively.)

All of those traps can be easily avoided when we:

Refuse to settle with what is, even if it’s all going well right now. Effective leaders are always asking themselves and their team members ‘why’ and looking for ways to make their business, people, processes, and profits better than they were yesterday.
Seek out other points of view; actively ask the opinion of people you trust. Listen to feedback and don’t be defensive of criticism.
Investigate all the different ways you could reach the goal or solve the problem. If it’s a goal that will ultimately involve other team members to make happen (like a change in a process), discuss it with them from the outset and draw upon their expertise. After all, their expertise is the reason you put them in those roles.
Observe what else is happening around you. Don’t just see what’s happening, pay attention to it, and factor in how it might influence or affect the action you eventually decide to take. Not only will taking the observational big-picture view highlight risks and obstacles, it could also present you with unexpected opportunities. If nothing else, stepping back to assess the big picture will help prevent you from tunnelling down on a single goal and neglecting everything else.
Stay flexible; keep monitoring progress to check that your goal is still on track. Another part of the tunnel vision trap is thinking that, once you’ve made the decision and started the process of taking action, there’s no room to adjust course or you’ll show weakness if you do. On the contrary, flexibility and adaptability are both traits of an effective leader.

P.S. The series is called ‘D.B. Cooper: Where Are You?’ and it’s worth checking out, even though I’ve told you how it ends so now you won’t have to. Sorry about that. It’s the reason why, whenever I go to the movies, no-one asks me what I thought of the film if they’re planning on seeing it themselves.