Growth Mindset at Work (G)

A-Z Series at Psychology@Work

What is a Mindset? The word "mindset" denotes many things – it is a word used to refer to a person's mental framework, assumptions, set of beliefs and/or attitude towards self, other, the world and the things/idea within that world.

How does it influence us? Mindsets are essentially a perspective from which you view the world. As a collection of your ideas, assumptions and beliefs, your mindset…

• Shapes the meaning you assign to something in your environment.

• Indicates to you the boundaries of what is possible and what is beyond reach.

• Is the lens through which you evaluate whether specific actions are worth taking or not.

But, the word mindset on its own does not tell us what it is about. So we need to talk about Mindset for "something".

Nature of Human Attributes - Fixed vs Growth Mindset: The phrase "Growth Mindset", proposed initially by Carol Dweck, is a term used to discuss one's assumptions/beliefs about the fixed versus malleable nature of human attributes.

·         A person with a "fixed mindset" believes it to be true that human abilities are stable and somewhat innate. In the sense that, as an adult, you come to either have or not have specific capabilities, and there is minimal scope to change.

·         A person with a "growth mindset" believes that human abilities can be nurtured, developed, cultivated at any age, time and for anybody. The assumption is that the ability and skills are malleable and can be improved and changed.

Let’s not confuse Growth Mindset with other things!

It is critical to not confuse "growth mindset" with other ideas like Grit, Resilience and Effort. Grit is having the passion and perseverance for a single goal. Effort is the continued acts and process of working on your goals. While Resilience is your ability to recover and bounce back from difficulties and failure. A person who has Grit (passion, determination & perseverance) may not show resilience. Just how a resilient person may not actually hold a growth mindset about their own skills and ability. It is best to treat these four broad concepts as being different both within and between people.

Can I have both fixed and growth mindsets? And, are these mindsets stable?

·         Mindset is a spectrum: Fixed mindset and growth mindset are two ends of the mindset spectrum. Most people do not wholly sit on the extreme ends. Instead, most of us fall somewhere on the continuum, between the two extremes.

·         Mindset can be domain-specific: You can also have a fixed mindset about a particular ability of yours and a growth mindset for another ability. For example, you can have a growth mindset for communication skills and believe that you can learn and cultivate this ability to be persuasive and compelling. But, you may have a fixed mindset about emotional styles, where you come to accept that there is little you can do to change the way you manage your temper or react emotionally to stress.

·         Mindsets can become stable: Like many other attitudes, your fixed or growth mindset can become a stable part of how you think and believe the world works. Suppose you have a fixed mindset about particular abilities and do nothing to actively question them by proactively collecting evidence to prove or disprove it. In that case, the mindset can become stable and ingrained. Mindsets have power over us because they can transform into long-lasting attitudes. Mindsets also have a way of becoming unconscious scripts in our minds- voices that speak to us about what is and is not possible. Thereby colouring how we look at the world around us without us noticing that those voices/scripts/beliefs are merely one lens through which we are looking.

Is the hype around growth mindset justified?

Why should I care to have a growth mindset? Since the 1980s, when this phrase was first discussed, many studies have explored the effects of a growth mindset on individuals. In fact, there have been over 72 studies across 17,000 individuals studying the impact of mindsets on outcomes. Here is what we know.

When you have a "Growth Mindset" about your skills and intellectual abilities, you are more likely to:

1) Use Adaptive Coping Strategies in the Face of Adversity: The way you cope with your thoughts and feelings when you face stressful and adverse situation can determine your well-being. Those with a “growth mindset” have been found to engage in active problem-focused coping after setbacks and failures. A growth mindset makes you interpret and reframe a stressor or a problem differently than someone with a fixed mindset. For example, when you are confronted with failure or obstacles in your path, you can either question your own confidence/ability or frame the problem as a learning opportunity. Those with a growth mindset see failure as feedback on what they need to work on rather than an indicator of their overall deficiencies.

While those with fixed mindsets, see and frame failures differently. They tend to blame their lack of innate skills for failures rather than evaluating whether a different strategy or more effort could have helped. Those with a “fixed mindset” also tend to see the idea of putting in more effort as indicating that you do not have the skill. Thus they take most failures to demonstrate their weakness in abilities and not the result of lower effort.

2) Have Learning/Mastery Goal Orientation rather than Performance/Status Orientation: Your mindset can guide how you approach goals and which goals you believe are worth pursuing. Those with a “growth mindset” have been found to prefer the goal of learning and mastering skills, as they believe that with effort, practice, feedback and training, you can get better at most skills. The ones with a growth mindset are driven by the long-term need to become an expert or master in skill and in the process are willing to fail in the short-term as long as it helps them learn - they also continue to put in the effort even when there is a failure rather than withdrawing it at the first sign of feedback that they lack something.

While those with fixed mindsets see and frame goals differently. If you believe that most skills are givens and you cannot do much to change, you are driven to seek out goals that hide your weaknesses and make your look good. Those with fixed mindsets fear that others will see their deficiencies, and then they will not be able to do anything about those weaknesses - so it is best to focus on goals which are your strengths where you can outperform and excel compared to others. In research, we also call this orientation prevention goal focus or avoidant coping - where the goal is to avoid failure and loss of status in the eyes of others.

3) Value Training and Practice and Stay Committed:

Research shows that those with a growth mindset view the value of targeted training, practice and learning goals more positively. They also stay the training course - committed to putting in the time and effort to change even when there are setbacks. While, those with fixed mindsets, with their fear of looking like a failure and their focus on avoiding displays of weaknesses, tend to quit training and reduce their efforts during the practice of new skills.

4) Seek More Help and Feedback from Others: Research shows that those with a growth mindset tend to seek help from experts and do not view the act of seeking help as a reflection of their weakness in capabilities. In fact, those with growth mindsets are eager to receive feedback as they are driven by the need to learn and master - so they see other experts as a valuable resource in the pursuit of these goals. While those with fixed mindsets have a more fragile self-confidence which is threatened by the idea that they might need help or assistance from others. There is more anxiety and distress for those with fixed mindsets when they realise that they need help as that indicates to them that others have more of certain skills and thus they are not good enough.

How can we develop a Growth Mindset?

Like any mindset change, there are some steps you will need to take and work on changing your mindsets by regularly engaging in these steps:

1.      Becoming aware of your current mindset: One cannot change assumptions or beliefs if we do not first identify, recognise and accept that they exist. Do not be hard on yourself if you hold a particular idea about growth. Likely, your childhood experiences with your parents, carers, teachers, societal norms and culture have shaped these beliefs without you even knowing it. The first step is to diagnose the influential forces in your life who may have defined what is and is not possible about the growth of skills and abilities. Reflect on how societal influences, parental socialisation, norms in your industry, or how your boss speaks about things at work - could have led you to form fixed beliefs about skills. Once you have done that, write down what you believe about the fixed versus growth ’ fixed versus growth nature and then ask yourself: what would happen if you start to hold different beliefs? What will I feel? Why do I fear it? What will I lose if I do not change my mindset today?

2. Collect evidence to counter your fixed mindset: When you have chosen a few capabilities that you want to focus on, spend some time reading and gathering evidence to counter your long-held fixed mindset. For example, when I first started to read neuroscience research on language and learning, I realised that even as an adult, our brains are continuously forming new connections, memories, and there is high plasticity to change habits and tendencies. I would encourage you to also review the work on genetics and socialisation to really think deeply about whether nature/genes/biological given determine our skills or it is a consequence of nurture/learning/practice. Merely questioning your assumptions based on collecting counter-evidence will make your mindset more malleable to change.

3.    Learn more about your role models and be a supportive parent to yourself: To evaluate your goals, pay attention to who you consider as your role model at work and in life. Write down the names of those you aspire to be like. Once you have done that, write down what you think they have achieved and why you value those achievements. Now, ask yourself whether you really understand “HOW” they got to be where they are? In my own life, I have made the mistake of attributing the success of my role models to their innate abilities, smartness, intelligence and under-estimating the amount of practice, training, effort, perseverance, luck, and sacrifices and trade-offs they made to get where they are. The best way to develop a growth mindset is to really focus on the process of gaining success rather than looking at your role-models educational background, the prestige of academic training, and other stable and innate factors in the environment. For me, listening to the lifetime achievement speeches of some super famous academics made me realise just how many setbacks and failures and weaknesses these scholars had- it makes you believe that you can also overcome some of those obstacles and learn from them.

Finally, be a supportive parent to yourself. If you are a parent or have had a supportive parent, you know how much their words of encouragement make a difference to your motivation and beliefs about learning. It is time; you speak to yourself how you speak to your close friends or your toddler at home. Which is to say, advocate against the fixed mindset and remind yourself that you have come to be where you are as a result of your effort to learn and that more effort will not be wasted if only you can stay committed to the path.

You are here reading this article because somewhere you believe that reading insights from research, may have the potential to change your mindset. And, the answer is yes they do!