What Is A Growth Mindset?

In the book “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success'' by Carol Dweck, a Stanford University Professor of Psychology, she explains how we behave distinctively, especially in our mindset, and discusses the considerable influence of that on our behaviours, actions as well as future success and achievements. Dweck argues that people can have either a "fixed mindset" or a "growth mindset".

People with a fixed mindset are more likely to avoid challenges for fear of failure or looking unintelligent. This leads to poorer performance outcomes.

Those with a growth mindset see failure or setbacks as opportunities to improve. They are more willing to take on challenges which can lead to better learning outcomes.

A fixed mindset promotes focusing only on outcomes like performance, while a growth mindset emphasises the learning process which builds long-term skills.

Life and career are inveitably challenging, often leading to demotivation and discouragement. However, it is important to acknowledge that failure is not permanent but an opportunity for growth and improvement. This mindset is crucial for achieving success, both personally and professionally. Let's explore the benefits of adopting a growth mindset.

Overcome fear of failure

Having a positive attitude is the key to overcoming failures and hardships. A growth mindset embraces those obstacles as a chance to develop new skills. As a result, growth-oriented individuals do not shy away from burdensome tasks and desire to step out of their comfort zone to broaden their knowledge and expertise, fueling professional growth.

Foster creative and innovative thinking

A growth mindset welcomes diverse ideas and viewpoints. It encourages experimentation, risk-taking, and thinking outside the box, which fuels creativity and innovation. Individuals with this outlook can hatch groundbreaking solutions and approaches to problems.

Gain deeper job satisfaction

For those with a growth mindset, careers are not just about reaching milestones; they are about the joy of the journey. Bouncing back from setbacks and taking on challenges become their rewards, which lead to a sense of accomplishment and pride. As a result, they tend to be more satisfied and fulfilled in their careers, with greater confidence and self-esteem.

Identify a fixed mindset

When faced with challenges, have you ever caught yourself thinking, "It’s simply the way I am"? Understanding the concept of a fixed mindset and acknowledging it are the initial steps to bettering yourself. By consciously reframing these thoughts and perceiving them as opportunities for growth and development, we can start cultivating a growth mindset.

Take the first step

Taking the first step by stepping outside of our comfort zones and seeking new opportunities and projects allows us to expand our skills and capabilities. It is through facing challenges that we can discover our true potential and push the boundaries of what we thought was possible.

Celebrate effort and progress

Rather than solely focusing on the end result, we should acknowledge and appreciate the growth and development we achieve along the way. Focus on the journey, not just the destination. By recognising the small steps we take towards our goals, we can maintain motivation and stay committed to our personal growth.

Seek feedback

Your attitude towards criticism is crucial for adopting a growth mindset. Individuals with a fixed mindset perceive criticism as unhelpful. On the other hand, those with a growth mindset feel comfortable and even seek out constructive feedback from others, which plays a critical role in helping them identify areas for improvement and growth opportunities while also cementing relationships with others.

A tip is to actively look for mentors, coaches, or colleagues with insightful advice to leverage and improve.

Appreciate your small achievements and others' successes

Others' successes are not a threat; they can be perceived as a source of inspiration. Honour the success of your colleagues and reflect on the lessons you can learn from their journey. Finding inspiration in your environment is a wonderful experience. Every step forward, no matter how small, is a testament to our progress and deserves to be acknowledged and celebrated.

In many ways, the benefits of a growth mindset at the organisational level mirror those at the individual level and positively impact culture, productivity, innovation, problem-solving, and overall performance and success.

Improved performance

Our mindsets have an impact on how we view our goals and react to work and difficulty. A team filled with individuals with a growth mindset can be more innovative and efficient. They welcome difficulties and failures since they help them understand where things went wrong and how to overcome setbacks to achieve success.

Fixed-minded individuals tend to resist change, which can potentially impede the organisation's ability to innovate. These people seek chances only to showcase their prowess rather than expand it. Additionally, they fear experimentation will fail and jeopardise their productivity at work.

Better management

A growth mindset in a manager substantially benefits their staff. A growth-oriented leader will welcome suggestions and criticism from staff members without taking it personally or viewing it as a threat to their career.

Managers with growth mindsets are more adept at approaching and directing people when it comes to coaching and mentoring. They will invest in helping their staff members grow through adequate coaching and training programs, which will further nurture a growth culture within the organisation.

Irrespective of their past achievements, a leader with a growth mindset will give equal importance to both positive and negative progress in their team members.

Greater diversity

Organisations promoting a growth mindset understand the importance of creating an inclusive and diverse workforce. In a growth-minded environment, diversity is not just seen as a box to be checked or a token gesture. It is embraced as a valuable asset that brings a multitude of perspectives and ideas to the table. A growth mindset encourages organisations to go beyond surface-level attributes and prioritise the potential and talent that exist in every individual.

By fostering an inclusive culture, organisations with a growth mindset create an environment where everyone feels welcome and supported. Employees from underrepresented groups feel empowered to contribute their unique perspectives, knowing that their voices will be heard and valued. This sense of belonging and inclusion motivates individuals to fully engage and invest in their work, leading to increased productivity and innovation.

Continuous learning and development

Organisations that promote a growth mindset also recognise the importance of continuous learning and improvement. They understand that building diversity is an ongoing journey and that mistakes or unconscious biases may occur along the way. However, with a growth mindset, these organisations are committed to learning from these mistakes and constantly improving their inclusiveness over time.

Lead by example

Leaders play a crucial role in shaping the mindset of their teams. By openly discussing their own challenges and learning journeys, they not only demonstrate vulnerability but also inspire their employees to embrace a growth mindset. This sets the stage for a culture where effort and progress are celebrated over perfection, creating an environment that encourages continuous improvement and innovation.

Recognise and reward growth

It is important for organisations to acknowledge and celebrate instances where employees demonstrate a growth mindset. By valuing effort and learning even through mistakes, leaders can foster a culture that encourages personal and professional development. This recognition and reward system not only motivates employees to continuously learn and grow but also reinforces the importance of embracing challenges and seeking opportunities for improvement.

Invest in development

Beyond managing the workload, it is essential for organisations to prioritise the growth and development of their employees. By offering comprehensive training and mentoring opportunities that cater to diverse skill sets, leaders can empower their teams to acquire new knowledge and enhance their abilities. Encouraging skill exchange and promoting knowledge sharing within teams further fosters a collaborative environment where individuals can learn from one another and expand their skill sets collectively.

Experimentation

Creating a safe and supportive space for experimentation is paramount in cultivating a growth mindset within an organisation. By normalising setbacks and viewing them as valuable learning experiences, employees are encouraged to take risks and explore innovative solutions. Embracing both successes and failures as opportunities for growth enables individuals to develop resilience, adaptability, and creative problem-solving skills. This culture of experimentation not only drives continuous improvement but also stimulates a sense of curiosity and exploration among team members.

Embrace feeforward

Feedforward is a powerful approach that focuses on looking ahead to goals and improvement rather than dwelling on past performance. This aligns perfectly with the growth mindset philosophy, which believes that abilities can be developed and improved over time.

Targeted feedforward takes feedback a step further by providing concrete actions and recommendations for expanding capabilities. Instead of vague and general feedback, it offers specific guidance that gives individuals a sense of control over their outcomes. This empowers them to take ownership of their development and actively work towards their goals.

Constructive, future-oriented guidance plays a crucial role in building self-efficacy. By showing individuals their potential through achievable goals, it strengthens their belief in their own abilities. This internalisation of ability further reinforces the growth mindset, as individuals start to see themselves as capable of continuous improvement and success.

As individuals, we often find comfort in staying within our comfort zones, but it is crucial for us to embrace the growth zone.

A. Comfort Zone - A familiar place. Things are easy. You seek understanding if it benefits you and isn't too hard. Prefer to be a spectator rather than a player.

B. Growth Zone - It is challenging but doable with time, effort, and perseverance.

C. Shutdown Zone - When it is too much, like hitting "the wall" in a marathon, you cannot go on due to burdens, unfamiliarity, lack of support, and tunnel vision.

To keep pushing yourself and embracing growth, it is essential to acquaint yourself with the five key attributes of the growth zone:

• 1. Effort: The growth zone is not a leisurely stroll. It requires intentional effort on your part to ensure progress and forward movement.
• 2. Transparency: We can't be all things to all people. To experience growth, we must be willing to acknowledge our weaknesses and failures openly and honestly.
• 3. Understanding: To foster growth, it's essential to understand what motivates and inspires us. Reflect on the experiences that have shaped your behaviours and thought patterns. The better you comprehend yourself, the more effectively you can navigate your limits and avoid reaching the point of overwhelm.
• 4. Risk: Growth demands taking risks. It involves being authentically honest with others and having the courage to step forward in faith, knowing that failure is okay and a valuable learning opportunity. Seek bold feedback from your colleagues, supervisors, mentors, and friends. Embrace the uncertainty that comes with risk-taking.
• 5. Vision: Ultimately, you need a clear destination in mind to chart your course towards growth. What are your professional aspirations? Identify the skills you need to develop and maintain a running list of areas you want to work on to support your ultimate goal.

Growth is a challenging journey, but its rewards are immeasurable.

Coaching

Coaching is not the last resort to salvage an individual with performance issues. A coach does not weigh in their personal opinion or try to solve your specific problems. What they offer is a confidential and supportive board for you.

If your company harbours a growth mindset and provides plenty of opportunities for employees to maximise their potential, coaching should be viewed as a business imperative. And it starts with building a coaching culture for sustainable growth.

A coaching culture requires a coaching mindset and coaching practices to be embedded and applied throughout the organisation. It becomes a part of the company's identity, so it impacts not only the way your employees interact with each other but also with customers and potential clients.

A coaching culture is the breeding ground for radical organisational transformations, that combined with a coaching mindset and coaching practices daily, can facilitate:

• Frequent, natural feedforward sessions without triggering negativity nor intimidating behaviours.
• The development of support, challenge, and stress-test each other's thinking, ideas, opinions
• Conversations that can have lasting impacts.

360-degree feedback program

A 360-degree feedback program is a tool, a ram, or a method to evaluate one’s behaviour and performance. The process draws in feedback from your supervisors, direct reports, peers, subordinates, and even customers. The process provides a complete overview of how an individual is behaving professionally, hence the "360-degree" name.

360 feedback provides a more holistic view of an individual's strengths and weaknesses from multiple perspectives, not just their manager. This shows room for growth in new areas. Furthermore, the program can highlight specific behaviours and skills that colleagues see as opportunities for development. This allows for the creation of a targeted action plan for strengthening self-awareness.

Seeing feedback from reports and peers puts less emphasis on past performance and more on how one can continue maturing relationships and their professional brand. This underscores the fundamental concept and advantage of feedforward.

Organise frequent 360-degree feedback sessions to allow tracking progress on goals set previously, motivating continuous refinement of skills, and recognising changes in how others perceive you then and now. It also cultivates an environment where asking for performance input is valuable rather than threatening self-perceptions of brilliance or talent.

Managers who model, discussing their own 360 results, demonstrate a growth orientation organisationally.

Psychometric assessments

Psychometric tests offer a valuable tool for gathering objective data on an individual's strengths and areas for development across a range of skills and competencies. Unlike traditional assessments that focus on fixed traits, psychometric tests highlight potential and emphasise that competencies can be moulded and improved with practice.

Psychometric assessments are a scientific method used to measure an individual's capabilities and behavioural style. They are designed to measure a job seeker's or candidate's suitability for a role based on the required personality characteristics and aptitude (or cognitive abilities), or, in other words, the extent to which candidates' personalities and cognitive abilities match those required to perform the role.

Employers use the information collected from the assessment to identify the hidden aspects of candidates that are difficult to extract from a face-to-face interview. Many employers use psychometric assessments as part of the recruitment process.

In addition to identifying the best-suited individual for the job in need, these assessments can also help hiring managers and organisations assess the candidate's fit for the company and team's culture, as well as fast-track the screening stage and schedule to interview only the most promising ones.

The results of these tests are typically accompanied by growth advice, which presents a positive outlook on development and encourages individuals to see their competencies as flexible and adaptable rather than innate talents. By viewing competencies as moldable, individuals are motivated to put effort into practicing and honing their skills, leading to continuous growth and improvement. This growth mindset approach to psychometric testing recognises that individuals have the capacity to develop and evolve their abilities over time through deliberate practice and effort.

What's the ultimate solution to unlocking an individual's full potential? There might not be a single solution for all talent-related challenges. However, organisations can consider leveraging multiple sources of data, including assessments, 360-degree feedback, and coaching, to acquire a comprehensive and well-rounded view of an individual's strengths, weaknesses, and areas for growth.

By integrating these multiple sources of data, organisations can create a comprehensive approach to talent development. This approach recognises that competencies are not fixed or limited but can be nurtured and cultivated through ongoing assessment, feedback, and coaching. It empowers individuals to set goals for themselves, seek continual improvement, and embrace a lifelong learning mindset. Ultimately, this reinforces the idea that potential is not static but can be expanded and developed with the right support and resources.