Why Building a Growth Mindset is Easier with a Buddy
One of the key attributes to the Fusion team is having a growth mindset. But what does a growth mindset entail?
As defined by Stanford University Psychology Professor Carol Dweck, individuals have a growth mindset when they believe their talents can be developed through hard work, good strategies, and input from others.
Embarking on this type of growth journey alone can be daunting. But with teammates, it not only becomes manageable, but also fun.
At the start of the year, my colleague, Julie posted an opportunity to join her in taking a free Systems Thinking course through Acumen Academy®. Systems thinking is crucial to solving the complex problems that exist in the American healthcare industry. Therefore, I jumped at the opportunity to hone this skill with a colleague I haven’t had a chance to work with yet.
We focused on setting good learning strategies from the start by meeting before the course began to understand our individual learning goals and how much time we could commit to this non-required work course. Establishing early expectations was key to our success working together. We were there to learn as much as we could without compromising our core responsibilities.
The course released materials each week that consisted of videos, readings, and an assignment due at the end of the week. Throughout the course duration, Julie and I would review the materials asynchronously. We pre-emptively scheduled weekly meetings on Fridays to discuss what we learned and how to apply it to the assignment.
Here are five notable benefits of the collaborative learning approach that expanded our growth mindsets:
1. Accountability — When a task isn’t required, it is easy for it to drop off your to-do list. However, since we were dedicated to learn this new systems thinking framework together, it motivated us to keep up with the material and come prepared to discuss when we met.
2. Concept Review — During our Friday sessions, Julie and I would share what we learned, which brought diversity of thinking and established a deeper understanding of content. This ensured we were aligned on the week’s concepts. This was also a low-stakes space where we could struggle with the content and allow us to be vulnerable while learning new concepts.
3. Effective work — By blocking off time on Fridays to work on this course, it made us work faster, together. This time had a dedicated purpose: to review concepts and execute assignments. Since this was the only time reserved for this work, it propelled us to use the time efficiently.
4. Reduce in cognitive workload — Working on this Systems Thinking course while also balancing our day-to-day priorities was challenging but having a teammate who also was learning the material reduced the pressure of the extra workload. There were times when one of us was having a busy week, and that meant the other would pick up the slack and take the lead on reviewing material and guiding assignment completion.
5. Have fun — The most important benefit of collaborative learning was that it made the material fun and engaging. We hadn’t had the opportunity to work on a project together, so we enjoyed getting to know one another better during the course. Even though we were focused on completing our work during our meeting, we inevitably had time to catch up on a personal level.
If you see a learning opportunity, and have bandwidth and curiosity, reach out to your team — you’ll be surprised who else has the same interest and where your learning can take you.
A Fusion publication. We are employees of UHG and these views are our own and not those of the company nor its affiliates.
