How to Keep an Open Mind Throughout Your Career

By Timothy Mably

Success in any industry depends partly on being an open-minded professional. Compromising your way of doing things for the sake of your employer, coworkers, and clients can demonstrate a strong work ethic and willingness to accomplish tasks. The danger is leaning into your preferences and becoming closed off to alternative solutions.

Open-mindedness often begins for professionals during their job search. People have around 12 jobs throughout their lifetime, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Although their field may stay the same, some roles can be very different from others. Professional growth and other circumstances can enable someone to become more open-minded regarding their career.

What is an Open Mindset?

Even though professionals are encouraged to have an open mindset while looking for new opportunities, it can be a forgotten attitude within a workplace. Bosses and managers tend to look for workers who are open in their way of operating. Companies aren’t interested in hiring employees who are stubborn and unwilling to compromise.

Career coach Niki Woodall describes an open mindset as being composed of various skills and qualities such as listening, eagerness, and proactiveness. “You can listen in meetings for new ways to bring value," she says. "Find new projects to take on or strategies to create more efficiencies in your day-to-day [work]. Learn new skills. Identify new ways to delegate, empower your team and be a better leader.”?

By incorporating open-mindedness in your work, you might not feel as personally attached to your role. There will be a healthy distance between your preferences and your workplace.

An open mindset begins with the realization that you always have more to learn. Professionals can fall into the danger of thinking they don’t need to grow their skillset. There might be a particular set of skills you feel efficient in, but you never truly know everything.

Growth Mindset vs Fixed Mindset

Julia Howard is an account executive at TraceLink and a member of Chief, a network intended for women in executive roles. She believes that being open-minded and flexible in and out of the workplace is key to sustainable growth. Howard says, “This growth applies to thought processes, not just itemized activities like meetings or processes.”

She explains that a growth mindset is led by the idea that you can do anything you want, or that your effort and attitude determine your success. In contrast, the fixed mindset operates out of the idea that you’re either good at something or you aren’t. You assume your potential is predetermined.

“If you see yourself with a fixed mindset, it lends itself more to negative thought patterns," says Howard. "Challenge yourself in small ways.”?

If it’s your natural disposition to think "we've always done it this way, why change?” consider asking a boss or coworker questions to understand why they perform tasks in a different style. “Staying curious breeds thought diversity and a healthier mindset that only adds to positive culture and team building," adds Howard.

Imagine You’re Starting Over

If you’ve been employed at your workplace for a long time, it’s especially easy to fall into habits and routine ways of doing things. Woodall recommends a thought exercise by imagining you’re starting over in your role. Similar to Howard’s suggestion, find opportunities to challenge yourself.

“Network internally with people at your company you rarely interact with,” says Woodall. “Treat your current job like you are starting over again with the new employee mindset.”

Give yourself a clean slate, rethinking how you might function on a regular day if it was your first day at your company. It might provide additional perspective to imagine if you had just recently entered your field.

“Professionals can remain open-minded throughout their careers by continuing to learn new skills, having mentors that are also growth-minded, and trying new things even outside of work,” says Woodall.

Be Open-Minded In Your Job Search

For job seekers, Howard says that open-mindedness can be about allowing space for a variety of roles while focusing on a strategy to find new opportunities. She also brings up the other side of the dynamic, saying that employers can practice an open mindset by thinking beyond resumes. “Relevant experience breeds thought diversity," she says. "If we gave more people a chance who also had the key pieces of relevant experience that translates to success and breeds a healthy and thriving team.”

You might already be in an environment that functions out of open-mindedness. This atmosphere can enable you to experiment and consider the best way to do something.

Howard also demonstrates how an open mindset can be advantageous while networking.

"My network brought me many diverse roles that makes me a very competitive and well-rounded candidate," she shares. "I have both a successful sales career, and a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt. Without being open-minded to the roles that my mentors and network teed me up for, I wouldn’t have had the chance to expand my education and impact.”

As you adopt an open mindset in your workplace, it will make looking for work with an open mind come more naturally. Employers will recognize your commitment to fulfilling your responsibilities in the best way you can — even if it means breaking habits that you had always been comfortable with.

(A version of this article first appeared on January 19, 2023, on the Get Ahead by LinkedIn News page. You can read the full article written and reported by Timothy Mably by clicking here).

• Don't underestimate the power of 'joy' at work. (By Todd Dybas) Think of "joy" as a business proposition. Humans naturally want it, companies try to create it and interconnection benefits from it, suggests Kearney managing partner Alex Liu in Harvard Business Review. Liu says joy encompasses harmony, impact and acknowledgment, which empowers leaders to tap its "practical power." Though, this is a challenge. A survey showed almost 90% of people expect a substantial degree of joy at work, but only 37% experience it. "Joy can pack as much practical punch as technology if we allow it to," Liu writes. Click here to find out what people are saying about it.
• Do middle managers serve a purpose? (By Todd Dybas) The ambition to "flatten" corporate structures for cost savings and work efficiency has prompted a reduction in middle management. Meta is going this route. Founder Mark Zuckerberg thinks reducing organizational layers will create a more "fun place to work." But this may be a bad idea. Insider cites studies that show a good middle manager leads to a more productive team, and direct supervisors had an outsized influence on team engagement compared with senior leadership. "Leaders' jobs are a lot easier if they've got effective managers," Gallup Chief Scientist Jim Harter told Insider. Learn more by clicking here.
• Does money buy happiness? (By Theunis Bates) A new study has found that money can buy you happiness — and that your level of joy rises along with your income. Previous research had suggested that happiness plateaus when a person's income hits $75,000 a year. But the new study, based on a survey of 33,391 adults in the U.S., shows that “emotional well-being” keeps rising beyond that threshold and even accelerates as pay climbs above $100,000 a year. This correlation continues until annual salaries hit $500,000; it might go beyond, but the researchers say they lack sufficient data on higher earners. Click here to learn more.

You've likely heard the term "emotional intelligence" thrown around at work or online. What is it? Why do so many business leaders talk about it? Also, can you use it to advance your career? This LinkedIn Learning course dives into the answers to all of those questions. You can watch it below or by clicking here.