Mindset — what is it and how can we benefit from understanding it?

Mindsets are considered to be beliefs that people hold about their talents and potential and as mindsets are essentially beliefs, mindsets can be changed, through changing beliefs (Dweck, 2009).

Dweck’s (2006) research has found that there are essentially two mindsets. Individuals with a fixed mindset see their talent as fixed and their focus is on looking talented and avoiding effort, where as individuals with a growth mindset, view their talent as something which can be developed by learning through effort and practice (Dweck, 2009). Dweck has found that effort is welcomed and even sought by individuals with a growth mindset as they are aware that they develop their capacity to learn and solve problems through the effort.

Fixed Mindset Examples

Growth Mindset Examples

Benefits

The benefits of adopting a growth mindset are well documented and a good starting place for people new to the concept is to be aware that, as you practice a growth mindset and leave your comfort zone to learn something new; your brain actually develops, making new and stronger connections between neurons, that over time results in you becoming smarter (Dweck, 2009).

Your talent is not fixed. It truly is about getting better rather than just being good now!

It has been shown that adopting a growth mindset promotes enjoyment from challenges and enables individuals to view challenges as opportunities to learn and develop whilst reducing their fear of failure (Dweck, 2014).

Change and transformations of any kind, understandably put a lot of pressure on employees; not only because of the requirement to make changes to the way that they work, but also to the way that they are measured. Adopting a growth mindset has been shown to promote greater employee performance via their enjoyment from challenges and their ability to view challenges as opportunities to learn and develop whilst reducing their fear of failure (Dweck, 2014).

Employees with a growth mindset have been found to be more committed and open to innovate, two qualities that are important when experiencing an organisational transformation (Dweck, 2014).

Dweck also shows that having a growth mindset also enables an individual to openly share their deficiencies and to work towards rectifying the deficiencies, making them stronger. On the other hand, an individual with a fixed mindset will go out of their way to avoid failures (Dweck, 2009).

Encouraging employees to adopt a growth mindset helps them to be more collaborative and shifts their focus to the importance of the effort they are putting into the transformation and how they are growing as a result (Dweck, 2014).

In relation to performance and measuring it, a growth mindset can help in implementing a more collective performance model; one it which employees are measured on their ability to share their learning’s with each other and to contribute to others success. When individuals adopt a growth mindset, Dweck (2006) has shown that “they change from a judge-and-be-judged framework to a learn-and-help-learn framework” (p. 244).

A growth mindset also helps reduce the likelihood that employees will keep secrets from each other, cheat and ignore feedback (Dweck, 2014). Employees become more likely to listen and learn from each other.

Praise forms an important part of encouraging a growth mindset, especially from a managerial perspective (Dweck, 2014). The employees will learn that if they praise their colleagues’ effort and the strategies that they use to achieve their work, instead of praising intelligence or talent directly (Dweck, 2014); this will help to foster a growth mindset throughout the organisation and therefore to keep the employees engaged and motivated, no matter how challenging the work (Dweck, 2014).

Dweck (2009) also explains that if a leader or manager conveys to their team that they value an individual’s talent above all else, the manager’s employees will be more likely to impress the manager with their talent and compete with their colleagues in regards to talent. Where as if the manager adopts a growth mindset and expresses their value of effort, passion and continued learning and improvement; their employees will be more inclined to welcome challenges, pay attention to feedback, accept and learn from mistakes and ultimately to understand the importance of effort in developing them selves and the team (Dweck, 2009).

We all exhibit fixed mindsets from time to time even if we strive not to.

What are your examples of recognising when you display a fixed mindset or a growth mindset?

When you become aware that you have adopted a fixed mindset, how do you nudge yourself towards a growth mindset?

References

Dweck, C. (2009). MINDSETS: Developing Talent Through a Growth Mindset. Olympic Coach, 21(1), 4–7.

Dweck, C. (2014). TALENT: HOW COMPANIES CAN PROFIT FROM A “GROWTH MINDSET”. Harvard Business Review, 92(11), 28–29.

Dweck, C. S. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. New York, NY, US: RandomHouse.