How is success measured in your team? Is it assessed in terms of the results achieved? Or is the effort exerted also important? In teams with growth mindsets, learning from mistakes and focusing on results is a measure of success. Here’s how to foster growth mindsets in YOUR team.
Reassess your assumptions about the people you lead
Are your employees’ individual talents and skill sets being properly utilised? Which of their talents can be further developed by advanced training? When you look at your team as individuals with unique talents and skills, magic happens. Productivity skyrockets because people are doing what they’re good at. Morale soars because individulals’ talents are being recognised.
Help your people learn from mistakes
One of the best ways to reframe a ‘mistake’ is to see it as a learning opportunity. Leaders need to demonstrate this. These are good questions to use when coaching your team: what happened, what does it mean, what next? When used in the right context, these questions can help your people learn and grow from their experiences even negative ones.
Understand neuroplasticity
Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to change throughout life, or to re-wire itself in response to stimuli and experience. Your brain is like a muscle; it gets stronger the more it is used. When you encourage your team to take on new challenges and ideas, you promote neuroplasticity. This results in improved problem-solving skills, new patterns of behaviours and paradigm shifts.
Give feedback on behaviours and thinking habits, not personality
Behaviour is what people ‘do’. Personality is how people think in a way that is broadly consistent over time – cheerful, kind, friendly. It’s a daunting task to change your personality, but you can change your behaviour, or at the very least, gently steer it in the right direction. This is why it’s crucial to give people feedback on specific behaviours and thought patterns. Never generalise. Instead, focus your feedback on actions and words.
Team members who enjoy learning outperform those who do not. This growth mindset enables them to make meaningful contributions towards your organisation’s growth. So get your people learning.
About the author of this article
Eleanor Shakiba is passionate about helping talented professionals to break through barriers to success. She coaches and trains high performers who want to excel in business. Her core expertise is in the area of positive psychology – she can show YOU how to use positive psychology to become the best you possible. Find out how Eleanor can help you or your team here.