The Growth Mindset

Not everyone will become a leader. Most supervisors will be promoted to managers and even Chief Executive Officers who will become bosses, but not leaders. They wield sceptre of power with a mindset of authoritative control instead of inspiring their workers and transforming their organization. How does one become an effective leader? Can anyone become leader?

Some people think leaders naturally possess the charisma and emotional intelligence to influence and inspire others to buy-in and deliver. Alternatively, the other side of the debate thinks people can be taught to be leaders if they develop the required skillset through training, experience, coaching and mentoring.

It seems that both arguments are correct. Researchers have discovered that leadership skills are partially through genetics but mostly acquired through consistent experience. In The Leadership Quarterly-February 2013 a study on leadership, heritability-the innate skills- and human development assessed that leadership is 24 percent genetic and 76 percent learned. The University of Illinois also conducted a study that estimates the value of genetics is 30 percent and learned behaviour is 70 percent. Researchers therefore confirmed that some people are born with innate qualities that predispose them to being leaders. However, those of us who aren’t so gifted can improve our leadership skills through intentional professional development.

The Role of Mindset in Leadership

The fact that leadership is mostly “made” heralds good news- leaders can indeed be developed. The quest to develop leadership skills must explore the role that your mindset plays in how you approach your leadership. Developing your mindset is a prelude for any professional development programme to enhance technical skills. All behavioural change begins with mindset. According to Princeton Wordnet mindset is a habitual or characteristic mental attitude that determines how you will interpret and respond to situations. Mindset is a critical element in the quality of our relationships and leadership.

Fixed and Growth Mindset

After studying the behaviour of thousands of children, Dr Carol Dweck, the Lewis and Virginia Eaton professor of psychology at Stanford University coined the terms fixed mindset and growth mindset to describe the underlying beliefs people have about learning and intelligence.

In a fixed mindset, people believe their qualities are fixed traits and therefore cannot change. They believe their basic qualities like character, intelligence and creative ability are fixed traits, and these innate talents are the reasons for their success, not effort. These people document their intelligence and talents rather than working to develop and improve them.

People with a fixed mindset always want to appear intelligent, because they believe that they were born with a fixed level of intelligence that cannot be modified. These people have a fear of looking dumb to people because they do not believe that they can redeem themselves once other people look at them as being unintelligent, creating an urgency to prove themselves. This is a trait of an insecure leader.

In a growth mindset, however people believe their talent and intelligence can be developed with effort, learning, and persistence. Their basic abilities are simply a starting point for their potential, supplemented by continual learning.

Those who embrace this mindset see challenges as opportunities to grow and learn, and they are resilient, even when faced with failure. They view failure only as feedback about their performance, and not as a judgement of their personality, potential or value.

Growth Mindset and Leadership Skills

Our mindset provides a frame for filtering information and making decisions. Leaders with a growth mindset make better negotiators according to researchers Laura Kray and Michael Haselhuhn. They also found that when business school students were taught a growth mindset they learned more skills and got better grades in their negotiation course. Negotiators with a growth mindset were much more able to push past obstacles and reach an agreement that benefited both sides.

Leaders with a growth mindset are sensitive to the improvement efforts of the team members. Peter Heslin and Gary Latham found that managers with a growth mindset noticed improvement in their employees, whereas those with a fixed mindset do not, because they are fixated with their first impression of the employee.

Studies by Peter Heslin, Don Vandewalle, and Gary Latham revealed that when managers were taught a growth mindset, because they appreciate effort they showed a willingness to coach employees and therefore the quality of their developmental coaching improved. Also, managers, with a growth mindset in their quest to learn how to improve their performance sought more negative feedback from their subordinates. This reverse feedback technique clearly shows the manager wanted to learn how to improve their management techniques and did not feel threatened by the negative comments.

Fixed vs Growth Mindset

Mindset is not an “either/or” element. According to Dr. Dweck, our mindset is neither a totally fixed or growth one, nor does it always remain constant. It’s very common for us to have different mindsets for different roles and life circumstances. We operate on a continuum of fixed/growth mindset, moving between extremes as the situation dictates, depending on how we formed our belief about our particular abilities. Someone may have predominantly growth mindset but in a situation such as a being retrenched by their employer, being forced out of one’s comfort zone may trigger a fixed mindset. In order to develop a growth mindset, we must first identify and acknowledge our triggers and recognise our fixed-mindset in action.

Developing a Growth Mindset

Advances in neuroscience have revealed that we can train the brain, in that it is far more malleable than they previously thought. These neuroscientific discoveries have shown us that we can change how we think by the actions we take, such as using good strategies and practicing.

How you respond to difficulties is a tell-tale sign of your mindset. To develop a growth mindset you should train yourself to view challenges and risks as opportunities for self-improvement. Force yourself to take on new projects in the office; embrace activities that have an element of risk.

Our mindset is also reflected in our day-to-day communication. Self-defeating language such as , “I am not good at this”, should be replaced with “what am I missing?” and “I made a mistake” should be swapped for “what can I learn from this mistake?”. Developing a growth mindset means you see failure as an event not as a person-you. Failures are opportunities to learn since it gives you feedback on your abilities which you can use to improve.

 To be an effective leader you first need the motivation and the mindset to lead. We are all born with predispositions and our socialization at home and school have also shaped our mindset. In most part, our mindset is ultimately the greatest determinant of success. Your belief in your abilities to improve and develop a growth mindset is the biggest mental shift you can make in your life.

This article was previously published in the Business Guardian on 17 February, 2019. It has generated a lot of interest and deep discussions which have led me to offer a complimentary online session. Details to be announced soon. Just indicate in the comments if you are interested. Thank you!