Leadership Mindset and Performance Fred Amador MC Counseling Faculty Phoenix College What is mindset? Dictionary.com defines mindset as: the ideas and attitudes with which a person approaches a situation, especially when these are seen as difficult to alter. (dictionary.reference.com/browse/mind set). This paper will address Carol Dweck s theory of the differences between fixed and growth mindset. Look at how mindset may impact performance. Offer suggestions about how to change your mindset. Carol Dweck Ph.D. is a researcher in the field of motivation and a professor of psychology at Stanford University. Carol has been obsessed with understanding how people cope with failure. She started studying students who were attempting to solve challenging puzzles. She noticed that some students gave up soon after they were faced with a challenging puzzle while others kept working and enjoyed the challenges (Dweck 2006). She came up with a theory based on her observations she titled mindset. She determined there are two types of mindset; fixed vs. growth. What is the difference between fixed and growth mindset? Someone who had a fixed mindset believes their intelligence or talent is permanent. They think that things
should come easy and not take a lot of effort. The goal is to look good or avoid looking bad (Dweck 2006). A person with a fixed mindset does not see a course for action but rather provides reasons for why they are not producing results. Someone with a growth mindset believe that intelligence and talent can be developed through hard work and persistence. The goal is to learn and produce results. Failure is part of learning and challenges are an essential part of the learning process. Carol Dweck discovered that most successful people have a growth mindset (Dweck 2006). How does mindset impact performance? Mindset impacts what actions we will take when we come up against a challenge or obstacle. A person that has a fixed mindset may give up on a project or a task when it becomes challenging and come up with reasons why it can t be done. Their focus will be on looking good or to avoid looking bad. A person with a growth mindset will continue to work through challenges and do what it takes to complete the project or task. Their focus will be on learning and working through challenges to complete the work. An example of this is when you are required to implement a new initiative at work. People with a fixed mindset may be the biggest critics that provide many reasons why the new initiative cannot be implemented. These people may be the ones who are the last to adopt the new measures and be the first ones to say I told you so if a new initiative fails. People with a growth mindset may lead the charge and troubleshoot the
challenges along the way. They look at setbacks and problems as part of the process. They will keep working until the initiative is successful. How do you become aware of your mindset? When a challenge or something new comes up in your life notice how you experience it. What thoughts, feelings, and sensations do you have in the moment? If you notice you are coming up with reasons and are having thoughts about why something will not work then you may be in a fixed mindset. If you notice you start thinking of ways to overcome the challenge and start taking action, you may be in a growth mindset. You are not born with a fixed or growth mindset. It is not like you can turn on growth mindset with a switch. That is why awareness of your mindset is so important. A question to ask yourself in a moment you suspect you may have a fixed mindset about something is: What mindset do I have right now? If you have a fixed mindset about something you are dealing with then there is a process you can use to change it. How can you change your mindset? Janeth Franklin (2012) has created a 4 step process in shifting mindset from fixed to growth. First, hear the mindset voice. Simple awareness of your mindset is the first step. When you are stuck in a fixed mindset notice and acknowledge you are in a fixed mindset. Second, recognize that you have a choice. You have a choice about how you will respond to what is happening. If you do not see that you have a choice then you may be in a fixed mindset. Sometimes our choice is to accept the way the situation or a person is instead of how we want it to be.
Third, speak the growth mindset voice. After you realize you have a choice, what do you see is possible? What options do you have? What can you experiment with? Shifting your mindset from fixed to growth is necessary but not sufficient to be successful. In order to be successful you must do the forth step, take the growth mindset action. (Franklin 2012). Ask yourself: what is the smallest action you can take? If you are operating from a growth mindset you will be willing to take the action necessary. What is an example of using the four steps? Several years ago I created a scholarship. I wanted to honor a friend of mine who has passed away. I had a very fixed mindset about raising money. I had never been good at it. I was afraid to sell candy bars for my school fundraisers. How was I going to ask people I knew for thousands of dollars? I realized I had a fixed mindset. I understood that I had a choice about how I was going to ask people to support the scholarship and what could be possible if they did give financial support. I then got some coaching from several friends who helped me brainstorm and create a fundraising event. I started taking actions and not everything I did was successful. I learned a lot about putting on an event. The event went well and I raised 20,000 dollars for the scholarship. How can you help employees shift their mindset? The first step is to be aware of your own mindset. Second it is important that you have a growth mindset toward your employees. Third, offer feedback to your employees encouraging their effort toward the goal. The more specific the positive feedback you can give an employee the better (Adams 2012). Marilee Adams (2012) suggests that you ask questions that focus
on solutions rather than problems, judgments and assessments. Mindset is a powerful tool that may help create an access for a person to create and take actions that will help them to succeed. Be aware of your mindset and use it to help you and your team succeed.
Adams, M. (2012). Shifting Mindsets: Questions that Lead to Results. Wharton at Work, August 2012 Newsletter, pgs. 1 3. Dweck, C. (2008). Brainology Transforming Students Motivation to Learn. Independent School, Volume 67, Issue 2, pgs. 110 119. Dweck, C. (2006). Mindset: The New Psychology of Success: New York, Ballantine Books. Dweck, C. (2006). Mindset. In http://mindsetonline.com/whatisit/about/index.html. In undefined. Retrieved 2/20/2013,