Two Mindsets
Dr. Carol Dweck’s 2007 book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success gave birth to the terms “fixed mindset” and “growth mindset”, which are diametrically opposed concepts of how the brain operates. An update of the book is available, the 2017 updated edition.
Dr. Dweck is an American psychologist and professor at Stanford University who is a subject matter expert in in motivation, personality, and human development. Based on scientific research and observations, Dr. Dweck explained the importance of beliefs in shaping your behavior. She imparts how your conscious and subconscious thinking can and does affect your successes and failures, work performance, and self-identity.
The argument is compelling for a growth mindset and its impact on an individual, teams, and organizations. A set of principles can be abstracted from the Mindset book that can be the foundation of further exploration.
Fixed Mindset versus Growth Mindset
Dr. Dweck claims that your mindset affects all areas of life, how you do things, relationships, what others say about you, and your reactions to failures.
Her research of both children and adults reveal that fixed and growth mindsets can be detected by their behavior, what they tend to express, their self-perception relative to others, and how they react to the outcome of a situation.
The fixed mindset individual says, “I believe that my intelligence, abilities, and talents are permanent and static no matter what.” This person wants to look smart but avoids challenges and feels threatened by the success of others. They would rather achieve less and justify this choice rather than strive for their full potential. When a situation leads to failure, the fixed mindset person views this event as a sign of personal incompetence or lack of potential.
The growth mindset individual says, “I believe that my intelligence, abilities, and talents can develop and change over time.” This person desires learning, embraces challenges, and finds useful insights from other people. The success of others inspire or motivate those with a growth mindset. They seek feedback and constructive criticism as a means to grow and get better. When a situation leads to failure, the growth mindset person chooses to learn from the experience.
Areas of Impact
Your mindset has impact on four main areas:
Identity: the awareness and understanding of who you are and what defines you.
Personal Habits: your attitude, behaviors, and actions related to your ability to perform tasks, taking on challenges, striving towards goals, what you do when confronted with difficulties.
Team Dynamics: the relationships and interpersonal connections between you and others.
Work Culture: what an organization states and demonstrates as its core values, beliefs, and norms for its members.
You may exhibit a fixed mindset in one area while showing a growth mindset in another.
Introducing Growth Mindset to Your Team
Growth mindset may not come naturally for the average organization or team. It’s a unique approach to how you look at your personal contribution, the way your group works together, and the future potential when breakthroughs are achieved.
From my firsthand experience leading functional departments, it is possible to introduce the growth mindset to your workplace. Not only is it possible but also a revolutionary way to attain higher levels of productivity and team performance. I took a snapshot of how the team operated before the growth mindset plan and measured again one year and two years later. The change exceeded what I set out to do. Once team members embraced key principles of the growth mindset, the department’s operations got better and the interpersonal relationships improved.
If you’re curious how I did it, please contact me and I’ll tell you my story.
Photo Credit: Ben Sweet on Unsplash
