Do You Have a Growth Mindset?

Last month, I wrote about the quality of grit and what leaders and teams stand to gain from it.  A major predictor of grit  is what Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck, Ph.D., dubbed a “growth mindset.” That’s the belief that you can develop your abilities and intelligence through hard work and feedback. Setbacks don’t tend to stop you in your tracks. If you have a growth mindset, you see challenges as an opportunity to problem-solve and learn from your mistakes, rather than confirmation that your skills are set in stone.

Growing significance. 

Since Dweck published her landmark book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success 14 years ago, her research findings have not only encouraged students to reframe their view of personal challenges and success. They’ve helped countless others – including organizational leaders – in work, sports, and the arts. In the most recent edition of Dweck’s book, she also expands the concept of mindset beyond individuals to the culture of groups and organizations, and she describes what she sees as a “false growth mindset” – for example, praising effort that is not effective. 

A sample of mindset research.

Other researchers have parsed other significant aspects of mindsets. For example, one study indicated that cultivating a growth mindset may go a long way toward fostering intrinsic motivation, the ability to work hard and improve without needing an external incentive to take action.

 Another qualitative study examined how mindset affected individuals’ ability to anticipate and adapt to the idea of future artificial intelligence (AI) in the workplace. Study participants were asked to embody a fixed or growth mindset and respond to the following: “In 2030 your manager says: AI is already smarter and faster than humans. This means that from now on process and predictive focused jobs, including yours, will be replaced. If you are not technically capable or [do not] offer a unique ‘value add’ you will be unemployable.”
Unsurprisingly, a fixed mindset in this study reflected sadness, incredible loss, and fear. A growth mindset revealed kindness, practical problem-solving, and mutual learning. Data from the research showed that participants operating with a fixed mindset were focused more on lower levels of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, while those with a growth mindset could focus more on higher levels such as learning and passions. Although the research does not suggest that adopting a growth mindset is the only way to cope with changes out of our control, it did demonstrate that empathy and support were vital in helping people make the shift from a fixed to a growth mindset. 

Assess your mindset. 

When it comes to mindsets, how do you – and your organization – measure up?

Do you:

• View your failures or hard work as evidence of your shortcomings?
• Focus on results at all costs, rather than valuing what’s learned during the process?
• Micromanage staff, controlling their actions or doing tasks that could be done by others – perhaps with a little more guidance?
• Stay with what’s familiar or create a culture where your team is reticent to take risks or innovate?
• Blame others during a crisis?

Or do you:

• Investigate your current limitations and use that self-awareness to make meaningful changes?
• Embrace ambiguity, encouraging team members to do the same?
• Encourage staff to evolve, take feedback, offer their perspectives, and use their powers of influence?
• Welcome challenges and new levels of leadership?
• Break down workplace silos that are barriers to growth?

Of course, no one is saying that we’re all cut from the same cloth – that anyone can become a brain surgeon if they just set their mind to it. But what we do all share is the ability to develop our skills through hard work, useful strategies, and mentoring from others. And that’s surely something to celebrate.
 
Lead well out there!
 
Renee