Week 27, 2020
Outward Mindset: Seeing Needs, Adjusting Effort, and Measuring Impact
Each week, I share three ideas on and about the future of work. And this week, the topic is mindset and behavioral change.
Why am I writing about this? I attended a workshop at SEAC earlier this year on Arbinger Institute’s The Outward Mindset. It was a great experience. And it’s been lingering in the back of my mind ever since.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Seeing Needs
How we behave is a direct result of how we think. And how we think may be plotted along an axis with the words “inward” and “outward” on either end. And when we have an “inward” state of mind, we are only concerned with our own needs. When we have an “outward” state of mind, we are only concerned with the needs of others. No one person is on either extreme and in truth, we all go back and forth depending on the situation. But what The Outward Mindset suggests is that success awaits those who spend most of their time on the outward side of the spectrum; those that more readily see and appreciate the needs of others.
2. Adjusting Effort
I suspect the inward mindset might be our default. It would make evolutionary sense. We are, to borrow a term from Richard Dawkins, “survival machines” designed to perpetuate our genes. For most of human existence, we only really had to look out for ourselves and our next of kin. But the situation is different now. More often than not, we must now collaborate with a vast number of people, some of which we’ve never met. That’s the world we live in. And it follows that we need to put effort into thinking differently. And so in addition to making sure we understand and appreciate the needs of others, we also need to adapt our behavior in such a way that it benefits them rather than just ourselves.
3. Measuring Impact
I know what you’re thinking: “What if I heed the needs of others but they don’t reciprocate? What if I’m taken advantage of?” It’s true. That could happen. But beware: this is the inward mindset at work. You are focusing on yourself instead of others. Inward doesn’t necessarily mean “selfish”. It just means unaware. (Selfishness is much more sinister: it means focusing on the self despite knowing what others need). So take a cue from Marcus Aurelius who wrote that “It’s quite possible to be a good [person] without anyone realizing it.” The outward mindset is conscientious. But it’s not omnipotent. So do what’s right, but don’t forget to measure outcomes. “Outward” means holding ourselves accountable for the impact we have on others.
Here’s the reason this has stayed with me for so long: at the end of the workshop, the facilitator asked me and the other participants what type of organization we’d prefer to work at: an organization populated with inward minded people or an organization populated with outward minded people?
No surprise, we all chose the latter. Which of course the facilitator knew we would. And so he went straight for the kill, asking “OK, so how many of you work for outward minded organizations today?”
Silence.
Only a few hands went up.
Why?
Presumably, most people would answer the way my compatriot and I did. And so why is it that most people are stuck in environments that they profess not to like? Conventional supply-and-demand mechanics would suggest that inward minded organizations should be going extinct.
But they’re not.
Inward-minded command-and-control organizations remain the norm worldwide. A fact that, at least at first blush, seems to fly in the face of reason.
But as I hinted to up above, I think there’s a very simple answer: the outward mindset requires more effort than most people are willing to put in.
With an inward mindset, I only have to worry about my own workload. That’s easy. But with an outward mindset, I need to pay close attention to the people around me as well. And that’s hard. Really hard. Not only does it require me to work against my nature. It also requires that I do a lot more work.
One person, one workload, versus many people, many workloads.
It’s simple math.
Boogiemen abound in the discourse about the future of work. Simon Sinek for example writes in the introduction to The Infinite Game that he didn’t want “to convert those who defend the status quo” but to “rally those who are ready to challenge” it. I really liked the book, but I don’t think that sentiment is helpful. Sure, there might be a few bad and power-hungry apples out there. But it’s not like there’s a Hydra-like organization determined to prevent people from finding fulfillment at work!
There’s no them.
There’s only us.
We are the problem.
And until we are able and willing to put in the work, the inward mindset will prevail.
That’s all for this week.
Until next time.
/Andreas
