Having a growth mindset involves:
- maintaining a curious mind;
- a focus on the opportunity for learning and growth;
- embracing effort; and
- it being okay for others to see us effortfully striving because the focus is on learning, evolving, and getting better.
Within reason, effort can trump natural ability and get you further. And with your language and focus, you have the power not only to impact your own mindset and in turn your performance and productivity, but those of your colleagues, too. For culture, productivity, performance, and innovation - actioning a growth mindset matters.
Within reason, effort can trump natural ability and get you further. And with your language and focus, you have the power not only to impact your own mindset and in turn your performance and productivity, but those of your colleagues, too. For culture, productivity, performance, and innovation - actioning a growth mindset matters.
To unlock potential in people — especially women and members of diverse communities — this mindset is crucial. More here from clinical and coaching psychologist and Co-Founder of The Mind Room, Dr. Jo Mitchell, about the what and why of a growth mindset.
Jo Mitchell: “You can think of a mindset as a filter for the mind. We use this filter to help simplify and make sense of our often complex lives. It is made up of core beliefs or assumptions about ourselves and how to navigate our world. According to research by Carol Dweck and colleagues when it comes to mindsets for [certain areas of] learning and performance, people tend toward either a fixed or a growth mindset.”
An example of a growth mindset in action
Greta Bradman: For instance, in school traditionally it was (and arguably remains) quite common for students to have a fixed mindset around math. Through their peers, parents, and teachers, generations of students learned to approach the field of math as though learning achievement was contingent on innate ability, either which you ‘have’ or you ‘don’t have’. This theory has been well debunked.
“Over the long term, having a growth mindset creates potential and opens the door for value creation, learning, and growth.”
Dr. Jo Mitchell, Clinical & Coaching Psychology and Co-Founder, The Mind Room
Dweck’s research has demonstrated time and again that students with a growth mindset outperform their fixed-mindset peers in math later in high school, even if earlier in high school some fixed-mindset kids outperformed them. Over the long term, having a growth mindset creates potential and opens the door for value creation, learning, and growth.
Even over a relatively short period of time, gains can be made from having a growth mindset.
One growth mindset intervention again around math consisted of all Grade 7 students meeting in person with mentors at the beginning and end of a school semester for 90 minutes. Half of the students were in a control group, which experienced the same math mentoring but without applying growth mindset language. The other half received mentoring plus the use of mindset language (praising effort over outcome, in a nutshell).
The intervention group, which received the mindset intervention, experienced an average gain of 4.5 percentage points on their math achievement test scores at the end of the semester. Students in the control group did not improve. The importance of a growth mindset has been demonstrated in research in the workplace for instance with onboarding inexperienced Gen Z workers, amongst STEM universities and post-school training programs, and in human resource development and training programs.
Growth and fixed mindsets often co-exist
Perhaps one of the most vital insights around mindset is that growth versus fixed mindset is not globally the same — you can have a growth mindset around one area, and a fixed mindset about another area. Dr Jo Mitchell again;
Jo Mitchell: “For example, I have a growth mindset for public speaking — I like the challenge of it, I believe I can get better at it, and want to grow and learn. When it comes to singing, even in the comfort of my own home, I have a fixed mindset — I believe I have no talent, I can’t do it, and don’t think any amount of practice or effort will change that. Each of these mindsets has different behavioral outcomes; I accept opportunities to speak in public, I practice, I make mistakes, I listen to feedback, and I learn and improve. Whereas I avoid singing at all costs, I put no effort into it, I avoid feedback and if anything my confidence in singing has gotten worse.
“Having a growth mindset is associated with enhanced learning and optimal performance, while a fixed mindset often leads to stagnation and poor or average performance outcomes. This is true whether we apply it to our personal or work life — it shapes our performance as partners, parents, colleagues, and leaders.
“Our mindset is often formed unconsciously through our upbringing, culture, and media, and influences others in our lives. The good news is that we can also shape it through conscious choice. We can change our filter. We can shift from a fixed to growth mindset through intentional effort and reap the learning and performance benefits.”
"Having a growth mindset is associated with enhanced learning and optimal performance, while a fixed mindset often leads to stagnation and poor or average performance outcomes. This is true whether we apply it to our personal or work life — it shapes our performance as partners, parents, colleagues, and leaders."
Dr. Jo Mitchell, Clinical & Coaching Psychology and Co-Founder, The Mind Room
Summary insights
- Whether we have a fixed versus growth mindset around an area is thanks to a mix of how others talk to us today, how we talk to ourselves, and the assumptions, expectations, and language others have used with us in the past.
- We tend to have a growth mindset around things we feel ‘good’ at, and a fixed mindset around things we feel ‘bad’ at.
- Performance and productivity at individual and team levels are optimized when people assume a growth mindset towards themselves and others.
- Enabling a growth mindset in leaders and all employees is key for unlocking potential in people and creating value for the person, the business, and society.
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