Do you have a Growth Mindset?

Photo by John Thomas on Unsplash

In this series, Dr. Jared Bleak, introduces mindsets as well as a set of behaviors and ways of working that will help us grow and develop as leaders.  We will be covering these behaviors in-depth in the next four articles.  In this first one, Jared discusses the growth mindset, and how, for organizations that inspire their people to adopt it, anything is possible.

Have you ever turned down a new challenge because you didn’t think you had the right skills?

Or held back from taking a risk, or proposing an idea, for fear of failure, or not looking smart?

Be honest…

If your answer to either of these questions is yes, then you may be more fixed in your mind than you realize.

Although many of us like to think we are open to new challenges and unafraid of failure, the deep-down truth may be different.

Growth mindsets can drive change

"Why is this important?", you may ask. The reason is that people with a fixed mindset are one of the biggest barriers to achieving change and driving growth in an organization.

A growth mindset — shared and encouraged across the business — is the secret to achieving change. But how can you get people to start behaving in a new way?

It is possible. In fact, people do it all the time. Our established routines are regularly turned upside down. Think about how life is changed when we have children, or how the smartphone has revolutionized the way we communicate and socialize.

So, whatever our mindset, we are all capable of embracing change. But to get there, we often need help. In business, this boils down to leadership. It’s very difficult to persuade anyone to start acting differently unless someone is leading by example.

Leaders "make the weather"

Once our leaders learn how to adopt a growth mindset, others can follow. As the famous German writer Goethe said, our characteristics and behaviour "create the climate" around us. At times of change and uncertainty, when accepted parameters are unclear and the future seems fuzzy, the behaviour of a leader and the "weather" he or she creates can be decisive. Whether we are leading teams, working with our peers, or just in our everyday life – the climate we create around us has an impact.

This is especially true when it comes to exemplifying a growth mindset. People who think this way see the world in a very different way to those with a fixed view. "Fixed" people tend to think talent is innate: you either have it or you don’t. Growth mindset people think that with work and effort, anyone can master anything.

Anything is possible

Growth people are unafraid to push themselves out of their comfort zones. They are prepared to make mistakes as they learn and look for a better way. They realize that, in a world of growth, what we don’t know is more important than what we do. Once we think like that, anything is possible — barriers fall away. But if you allow a fixed mindset to dominate, the organization and the talent within it, will be held back.

Look at the table below to see how fixed and growth mindsets compare and ask yourself — where do I sit and can I change?