If I could gift one thing to my Coaching clients (and my children, family, friends, everyone!) it would be this – a Growth Mindset: a fundamental belief that you can grow, learn and improve with intention and application. Nothing is more useful for making the most of opportunities and riding out challenges in work (and in life).  Let’s look at key elements of a Growth Mindset , what ‘good’ looks like, and how to intentionally nurture this in yourself.

Get comfortable with being uncomfortable

It is comfortable and familiar staying as you are.  If you want to improve and grow – in skills, confidence, work, a passion – you need to step out of this comfort zone.  Changing and growing means that you face uncertainty and you likely fail at first, doing things poorly because you are not yet practiced or knowledgeable; but as you learn and improve your levels of comfort will grow again.  Until you’re ready for that next step of growth and that (now familiar and less scary) feeling of discomfort.  Developing the skill of being comfortable with a level of discomfort will stand you in great stead for life with a Growth Mindset.

Your relationship with change

Closely linked to the above theme of ‘discomfort’ is your relationship with change.  Change is inevitable throughout our lives.  When you have a Growth Mindset you embrace change, understanding that change is an opportunity for growth and development rather than a threat of loss – even when the change is not expected or initially welcome.  With a Growth Mindset you remain present and optimistic in the process and open for what is to come.

Understand that skills and confidence can be developed

With a fixed mindset you believe that people are good at some things and not good at others, and that won’t change.  Whereas with a Growth Mindset you believe that you can continue to learn new and improve existing skills throughout your life, both in work and outside.  You are willing to put in effort and try to develop without being overly self-critical or fearful of others’ criticism as you go through that learning process.  Likewise you know that you have the power to change your level of confidence – see my LI piece from October 2021 “How to grow in confidence”.

Handling challenges and failures

In work and in your personal life you will make mistakes and face setbacks, challenges and failures.  If you have a Growth Mindset you will recognise that these are all part of life and that having a healthy relationship with them will bolster your resilience.  Rather than chewing over mistakes and failures, seeing them as opportunities to learn is so powerful; approaching challenges and setbacks with a positive attitude makes such a difference to the outcome.  As Nelson Mandela famously said: “I never lose: I either win or learn”.

See feedback as a gift

Feedback is vital to development: it highlights our strengths and weaknesses and helps us gauge progress and success.  I’d argue that without feedback you will not fulfil your full potential as you will have blindspots which only feedback can draw to your attention.  With a Growth Mindset you treat feedback as a gift and an opportunity to improve, rather than seeing it as a criticism or a threat because it highlights a weakness.  It’s not only about welcoming feedback and being receptive to it; it’s taking it further and actively seeking out feedback as fuel for future growth.

Vulnerability

When you have a Growth Mindset you are willing to be vulnerable.  You readily admit when you got something wrong or when you don’t know something; you commit to correcting and to learning.  There is no place for ‘saving face’ in a Growth Mindset!  You understand that showing vulnerability is not a weakness; the courage which it takes to be vulnerable in front of others is a sign of strength and confidence.  Being vulnerable makes relationships stronger because it creates honesty in those relationships and allows others to be authentic and imperfect too.  This is extremely valuable as a leader and part of a team.  If this idea intrigues you, please read or listen to Brene Brown – here’s a taster of her fabulous work on the topic of vulnerability https://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_the_power_of_vulnerability?language=en

All my coaching clients will have heard me regularly talk about the power of choosing your mindset, attitude or response, recognising that the agency lies in you.  I cannot recommend highly enough choosing to adopt a Growth Mindset!

P.S. As most of my LI connections know, I love to travel.  Part of its appeal to me is the growth which comes from experiencing diverse cultures and appreciating different landscapes and cityscapes.  The photo is from our April visit to beautiful Sorrento, where most of the ‘growth’ appeared to be in my waistline – Italy has such great food and wine 🙂

Posted in Four common themes from my coaching work