Exhibiting an "Outward Mindset" During a Pandemic
Next week Brandi Davenport, one of my colleagues at Triad Strategies, and I will be facilitating with Team Triad a course of study from the Arbinger Institute – Developing and Implementing and Outward Mindset. An Outward Mindset is one where we see people as people, meaning that we truly care about their needs, wants, desires and objectives. It is a mindset where I think “we” over “me.” Conversely an Inward Mindset is one where I am completely focused on myself, and I only see others as vehicles to help me get what I want, obstacles preventing me from getting what I want, or are simply irrelevant to me because they can not do anything for me.
We are facilitating this content because we believe that our mindset drives our behaviors, our behaviors drive outcomes, and we want those outcomes to be successful. The Triad Way, our 30 fundamental behaviors that we practice and ritualize can only be practiced if your mindset leans toward being outward rather than inward (the Arbinger philosophy teaches us that we all will go inward from time to time, but recognizing when we go inward so we can get “out of the box” is what is important). Being inward or outward is not a way of characterizing people as good or bad.
I have been told that when I wear a mask or face covering, I am protecting you from the possibility of catching the virus from me, and that when you wear a mask you are protecting me from possibly catching the virus from you. Our collective ability to maintain social distancing enhances our protection of each other. I will admit that my implicit bias here is that I trust science and scientists (my daughter Kaitlyn is a scientist and when it comes to science, I trust her), and they are strongly recommending that I wear a mask.
Today, when I put a mask on when I walk out the door, I do it because in that moment, my mindset is outward, because I see everyone around me as a person who wants to be safe and not contract COVID-19. I am honoring a commitment I made to myself to keep them safe. I have to say it bothers me when I pass someone without a mask, but I don’t know what their mindset is, and I don’t know why they are not wearing one (philosophical, political, forgetful, physical, etc.). It is not my place to judge them, and it is my hope that they will respect my decision to wear one.
As a leader, my number one priority is to maintain a safe working environment for all my employees. When you come to visit my company and enter our offices it is our hope you will be wearing your mask, and if you do not have one, we will provide one for you. We will be requiring everyone in our offices to wear a mask in any public area of our office. We have adapted this policy when we reopen because at Team Triad we care about the health and safety of each other, and the health and safety of everyone who visits us.