Transitioning from fixed to growth mindset
Posted on August 28, 2021 by Adriana Radu, One of Thousands of Leadership Coaches on Noomii.
How do you react when you receive disappointing feedback? Does it feel like a personal attack or an opportunity to grow?
Carol Dweck has spent decades researching fixed mindset vs growth mindset. In a fixed mindset, we view our abilities as innate, (aka, “just the way I am,”). Transforming failure and constructive feedback into an opportunity feels personal and insurmountable. When we are in a growth mindset, we are comfortable with improving over time, not fearing being wrong, and making failure or difficult feedback an opportunity to be curious about how to do better next time.
The good news is, we can learn to choose a growth mindset. Neuroscience has shown us we can rewire our brain so it can retrain the way it works.
So, what can we do to move from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset?
1. Next time you make a mistake or you are not satisfied with your standards, take it as an opportunity to grow.
2. Ask yourself what made you take the decision which led to the mistake.
3. Reflect on what can you do different next time.
4. Ask people for feedback on the way you work.
5. Use the conclusions of an assessment such as DISC or 16 types to better understand your reactions preferences.
6. Identify your own filters such as values, motivation, education which make you perceive and act in a certain way upon reality.
What about your Team?
Just as we can have a growth or fixed mindset about ourselves, we can view others the same way.
What is your reaction towards your team? When a teammate makes a mistake or doesn’t meet your expectations, do you start to question their abilities, or even their character? Or do you feel the freedom to have an open conversation, knowing that your teammate is innately valuable, and can grow from this experience?
The next time a teammate is not performing the way you expect, notice your internal reaction. If you find yourself questioning their abilities understand their work style their own way of understanding tasks.
1. Start an open conversation
2. Create a safe environment for discussion
3. Gather facts
4. Do not judge
5. Create potential avenues with your team member
6. Choose the best option
7. Recap the lessons
Growth mindset is the path to take on challenges courageously, generate new ideas, develop people and feel good about what we are doing!
