Growth that Matters
Fixed mindset or growth mindset makes a difference for leaders
It is a given that good leaders need wisdom. After all, who wants to follow an unwise leader who doesn’t listen, makes bad decisions or has no grasp of reality? There is a mindset leaders can use which is more likely to increase their store of wisdom.
Carol Dweck’s work on mindset began in classrooms. She wanted to understand why some young people were avid learners with strong resilience to failure yet others gave up when faced with difficulties and poor results. Dweck found that some showed what she called a ‘Fixed mindset’ whilst others approached their learning with a ‘Growth mindset’.
These mindsets were the result of key beliefs about learning. Dweck wrote:
‘In a fixed mindset students believe their basic abilities, their intelligence, their talents, are just fixed traits. They have a certain amount and that’s that, and then their goal becomes to look smart all the time and never look dumb.
In a growth mindset students understand that their talents and abilities can be developed through effort, good teaching and persistence. They don’t necessarily think everyone’s the same or anyone can be Einstein, but they believe everyone can get smarter if they work at it’
People adopting a Fixed mindset believe intelligence is static. These folk want to look smart and have a tendency to avoid challenges, become defensive, give up easily, see effort as fruitless and ignore useful feedback. They feel threatened by the success of others.
A Fixed mindset leads people to reach a performance plateau early in life and achieve less than their full potential. They want success without having to make much effort — to look intelligent at all times. They feel success should come naturally so they hide mistakes, conceal deficiencies, retreat to their comfort zone, blame others or try to feel superior.
Fixed mindset says:
“When I do my work, I want to show how good I am at it”
“When I work hard…..it makes me feel I am not very smart”
“I would try not to take this subject ever again”
On the contrary, people adopting a Growth mindset believe intelligence can be developed — smarts are not static or fixed. They show a strong desire to learn and a tendency to embrace challenge, persist despite setbacks, see effort as the path to mastery, learn from feedback and find inspiration in the stories and success of others. They feel that talent is a starting point not the end of a journey.
Growth mindset says learn, learn, learn. This mindset believes working hard and putting in effort are keys to success. They capitalise on mistakes and confront deficiencies.
Growth mindset says:
“It’s much more important for me to learn things than it is for me to get the best grades”
“The harder you work at something, the better you get at it”
“I will work harder on this”
Dweck showed that these two mindsets come from the values of care-givers and authority figures. Praising intelligence will encourage a Fixed mindset, e.g. ‘That’s an outstanding result. You must be good at this’.
However, praising effort tied to outcome encourages a Growth mindset, e.g. ‘That’s an outstanding result. You must have tried really hard to develop your learning strategy’.
https://metrifit.com/blog/a-growth-mindset-can-help-you-be-the-best/
As a leader we can use words to encourage a growth mindset in team members. We should praise effort, struggle, strategies, choosing of difficult tasks, learning, improving and persistence.
You may want to complete a free mindset diagnostic to gain some insights into your own preferences.
Dweck explains mindset can be changed because it is a learned and habitual response to stimuli. We all dip in and out of both mindsets. We need to understand what triggers us to use these mindsets so we can increase use of the Growth mindset and decrease use of the Fixed mindset.
The brain gets stronger the more it is used, just like a muscle, and we can literally change our mind. This has implications for the leader in their choice of language, what to focus on, and the long term culture they seek to create in a team.
‘Members of Growth mindset groups are more likely to state their honest opinion and openly express disagreements… only people with a Growth mindset pay close attention to information that could stretch their knowledge’
It is the leader’s role to create conditions in which people can grow and develop to achieve their full potential. In leadership, example is the main thing and if you choose growth for yourself you will see team members make the same choice. That’s what Harvey Firestone was talking about when he said ‘the growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership’.
Tony Nelson, author of the book ‘Wisdom for Leadership’, writes about leadership, coaching, high performance.
