Learning our way forward
As everyone reels from multiple calamities, as we reckon with all the faults in the state of the union, and continue to endure the claustrophobia of Covid, as parents and teachers anxiously navigate the confusion and chaos of back-to-school-in-a-pandemic, it’s easy to get utterly frustrated.
Our ability to predict our lives has never seemed more diminished.
But what if we spent less time fixating on what is wrong — the absence of “normal” — and more time being creative with what we have? Was the old normal really that great, under the surface? Or was it just familiar?
One of the three principles of great leadership teamwork in our work is continuous learning using a growth mindset. Psychologist Carol Dweck coined the term growth mindset — a perspective that says “our abilities can be improved, and everything we encounter is an opportunity to learn and improve.” It’s the opposite of a fixed mindset, where the belief is that you know what you know, and your abilities cannot be improved.
If you were to zoom out and ask, who are the leaders and the teams who are impressing you the most right now, who would they be? Would they be the ones who seem very rigid and unyielding? Or the ones who seem to be learning organisms, experimenting, sharing ideas, making mistakes and sharing what they discover?
I know I am inspired by the latter in the teams we work with, and in the leaders I see publicly who demonstrate learning and creativity — whether that’s Jacinda Ardern leading New Zealand so effectively through the pandemic or handling racism after the killing at Christchurch. Or whether it’s colleges like West Point or the University of Arizona, who are finding ways to adapt to on campus teaching and learning safely.
You can get away with a fixed mindset when things are certain. But when they’re not, you’ll flounder. Any good leadership team can only manage the complexity of modern business, and teamwork under Covid, by adopting a growth mindset as an entire team.
The problem is that leaders often resist a growth mindset. They carry too much inherited thinking about needing to be right, needing to win, needing to deny failure. And they risk limiting all their extraordinary potential.
To get more into a growth mindset, try these strategies:
Use the power word: YET
When you find yourself making a statement that limits someone or something, try recasting it with the word “yet”. For example, “I’m not good at making decisions” becomes “I’m not good at making decisions yet.” Or “He’s not a good manager” becomes “He’s not a good manager yet”. Notice the difference that makes to your attitude and how it reframes what’s possible.
Reframe every mistake as “I can learn and improve”
One leader I work with — loved for her growth mindset — will often say “how interesting!” when she makes a mistake. It destigmatizes failure and turns it from something destructive into something creative: a moment to learn and grow. To do that we have to move from seeing mistakes and failures as shameful. A fixed mindset says, “I failed so I am a failure”. A growth mindset says, “I have not yet succeeded at this — much to learn.”
Learn with love, lead with love.
Tom and the TJA team
