5 Things You Can Do to Embrace a Growth Mindset

Most of the readings and insights you will find about “Growth Mindset,” including my own blog on Developing a Growth Mindset in a VUCE Business Environment, are basically “telling” organizations and people what to do.

Which is so counterintuitive because the very essence of the Growth Mindset is built on the principle of taking ownership and self-accountability to find solutions in a positive and constructive way without being told what to do or how to do it.

Based on some of the great feedback I received from my most recent blog on Growth Mindset, I am pleased to share some additional insights and guidance on what individual contributors and leaders can do to actually embrace it and do something about it.

In writing this, I sought out the insights and guidance of leaders I work with whom I consider having strong Growth Mindset skills.

5 Things You Can Do to Embrace a Growth Mindset

Embracing a Growth Mindset is about cultivating the belief that your abilities and capabilities can be developed through effort, learning, and persistence. Here are a few ideas you can actively embrace to develop your own Growth Mindset:

The first step is to view challenges as opportunities to grow, not as threats to fail. You want to take on tasks and projects that push you beyond your comfort zone and then reflect on what you have learned from the difficult situations to get better and better and to bring others into the Growth Mindset culture.

In the Growth Mindset, you just haven’t found the solution… yet. That elusive solution is there, all you have to do is think logically about all the potential solutions, and their costs (in terms of money time, and impact on others), and then take action to execute and adjust along the way.

One important caveat to this is that you are operating in a safe environment that supports you in making mistakes and learning from them. If you don’t have that culture, then it can’t be an excuse. You must do everything possible to turn it into a safe environment.

You must treat failure as a minor inconvenience on the road to success and not a roadblock. One of the best ways to move forward is to focus on the process, not just the outcome. Try to use setbacks as feedback for improvement and identify specific adjustments to try next time.

This is the heart of the Growth Mindset. As we all know, language shapes thinking, and your thinking must be positive and constructive. When adding “yet” to statements of limitation it can shift your entire perception. And when you do that, you start to notice that the shift emphasizes potential rather than fixed capability (limits).

One of the leaders I spoke with about Growth Mindset reminded me how our Business Simulations help build a recognition of the long-term and that having a long-term perspective is critical for embracing the Growth Mindset. “I still remember one of the biggest lessons of the simulation is to recognize that meaningful growth takes time and sustained effort and that you can’t get caught up in all of the negativity that happens along the way to long-term success.

You can take those insights to stay motivated by visualizing where consistent learning and practice could lead you over months or years into the future.

In summary, these are five really interesting and helpful tips. Do any of them resonate with you? If so, what actions are you going to take? Feel comfortable leaving a message and your own insights and experiences!

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