Has it ever crossed your mind how some people get frustrated so easily and give up when faced with a challenging task at work? And why do some others given the same task – become persistent, and keep on trying until they manage to complete it? These scenarios are typical examples that portray your beliefs. In other words, your mindset.
Sounds simple, right? And it saves a lot of your time too! Let’s go through this together to understand better how it works.
Fixed mindset individuals believe talent and abilities are fixed traits that cannot be changed. It’s an all-or-none thinking pattern – you either have it or don’t. In contrast, people with a growth mindset believe talent and abilities can be developed – through effort and hard work.
Adopting a growth mindset at your workplace goes a long way. Let’s understand how it can boost a positive work culture for you and your team members/organisation.
This is a Japanese proverb that resembles resilience. No matter how often you get knocked down, you keep going and try again.
People with a growth mindset perceive failures and mistakes as opportunities to grow, learn, and improve at work. Rather than seeing failure as a threat – you embrace them, accepting it as part of the learning process and finding new strategies to improve. Evidence from neuroscience also shows that when growth mindset individuals make mistakes and errors, it stimulates more brain regions than those of a fixed mindset.
Who doesn’t get demotivated when they fail to find a solution or the idea they proposed doesn’t seem to work? We’ve all been there at some point in our careers.
But here’s the thing: people with a growth mindset embrace challenges. They may be more willing to take on difficult tasks knowing they will be able to enhance their skills. For them, it’s not about immediate perfection – learning something, confronting a challenge and making progress. Individuals with this mindset thrive in challenging situations, despite enduring setbacks. Rather than taking a shortcut and giving up – you work hard and double up your effort to reach your desired goals.
When you have a growth mindset – you are open to learning and trying out new things, which promotes innovation and risk-taking in the workplace.
Research has shown that employees in a growth mindset organisation were more innovative and willing to take risks – despite the odds. Supervisors also held more positive views of their employees and saw potential in them – seeing future leaders in the making compared to those of a fixed mindset. This is a very powerful message of how mindset can largely impact a work environment, either creating a culture that values innovation and drives the organisation towards success or that merely stick with the status quo and encourages groupthink.
A growth mindset organisation allows you to experience failure and setbacks and be willing to take risks – all within a safe compound that supports and provides constructive feedback. You become mentally resilient when things don’t go as planned and create employees who are lifelong learners.
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