Are You Sure You Have a Growth Mindset?

“Growth mindset” has become a buzzword in many organizations, but many people have a limited understanding of what that really means. 
 
People who believe their talents can be developed through hard work, strategic thinking, and input from others have a growth mindset.  Those who believe their talents are innate gifts have a fixed mindset and are limited by their worry that the effort and hard work it takes to learn something is a sign of not being inherently smart.  A growth mindset achieves more, by putting much more effort into learning. 

Writing in the Harvard Business Review, Carol Dweck, the Lewis & Virginia Eaton Professor of Psychology at Stanford University, points out three common misconceptions about a growth mindset:

• “I’ve always had a growth mindset”:  Everyone has a mixture of fixed and growth mindsets, and that mixture evolves with experience.  A pure growth mindset doesn’t exist, which we must acknowledge to attain the benefits we seek.
• A growth mindset is mostly about praising and rewarding effort:  Outcomes matter.  It’s critical to reward not just effort but learning and progress, and to emphasize the processes that yield these things, such as seeking help from others, trying new strategies, and capitalizing on setbacks.
• By espousing a growth mindset, good things will happen:  No one can argue with lofty mission statements that tout values like growth, empowerment, and innovation. But they’re meaningless if the organization doesn’t implement policies that make these values real and attainable.

Organizations that embody a growth mindset encourage appropriate risk-taking, while knowing some risks won’t work out.  They reward employees for important lessons learned, even if a project doesn’t meet its original goals.  They support collaboration across organizational boundaries rather than competition among employees or teams.  They are committed to the growth of every member, not just in words, but also in deeds such as making development and advancement broadly available. 

When is the last time you deliberately attempted to learn a new skill?  Did your employer encourage that?  To join the conversation, click "comments" above.  We would love to hear about your experiences!

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