Leadership Skills: Mindset or Mindflex?
I joined a webinar this week and someone suggested that perhaps leaders need to have mindflex rather than a mindset! It got me thinking...
With the complexities of being a leader today what mindset does a leader need?
It's perhaps useful to start with some definitions. Some dictionaries define mindset as a person's way of thinking and their opinions, and others as how you will interpret and respond to situations. We talk a lot about having the right mindset in order to get ahead, learn, adapt, make decisions and deal with change; but what is the right mindset?
If you google mindset you’re given a variety of lists detailing different mindsets and why they are helpful; along with countless reports putting forward what they consider to be the key mindsets for leaders. What’s clear from all of these is that a mindset has the power to impact success and play a role in how you cope and overcome challenges.
We know there is a growing list of megatrends impacting the world of work that are changing the landscape for business - technology with the advances of digital and AI, climate change and the drive for net zero, multigenerational workforces that are looking for different working styles and conditions, as well as economic and political forces both locally and globally. Everyday leaders are faced with these, plus many more, all the while balancing short term results and keeping an eye on the longer-term longevity of their business.
These varying and sometimes contradictory challenges call for a variety and flexibility of mindset. Some moments might call for leaders to be confident, perhaps making decisions without as much underlying data as they’d like, other situations might call for compassion and empathy to manage the human engagement of their team. With so many different mindsets being beneficial at different times, is there one that stands out from the rest?
One that seems to crop up time and again and helps across a myriad of situations is the growth mindset. Back in 2006 psychologist Carol Dweck coined the concept of growth and fixed mindsets. Someone with a growth mindset views intelligence, abilities and talents as learnable and capable of improvement through effort. Someone with a fixed mindset, instead view those same traits as stable and unchangeable over time. This means that those with a fixed mindset can find challenging situations extremely detrimental if they don’t have the skills or knowledge as they believe there’s no chance of improvement.
Just as there are numerous challenges impacting the landscape of business, so too are there numerous mindsets that will aid the success of a leader depending on the situation. In this vain it seems fair to say successful leaders do need to have a flexibility in their mindset, perhaps well suggested to be referred to as a mindflex. However, there does appear to be an overarching mindset that enable leaders to embrace with resilience the ebb and flow of their role, and that is having a growth mindset.