How we think about our abilities and respond to situations plays an important role in shaping our personal and professional lives. It overall affects how we feel about something and affects what we do to achieve our goals. This is called mindset. If one accepts change easily, believes that taking risk and failing is a step toward learning and growing – they posses a growth mindset.
On the contrary, if one believes that they are born with certain skills only and cannot further develop themselves – they are coming from a fixed mindset. A person with a growth mindset strongly believes that IQ can be developed, whereas one with a fixed mindset believes that IQ is innate. They resist change or new developments.
In a nutshell, mindset is everything – whether you are a seasoned professional in the industry or an entry-level professional, an entrepreneur or homemaker, student or parent, the right mindset can define your growth and success. Mindset or way of thinking manifests at early stages of our lives, hence it is vital that we lay emphasis on it right from the beginning.
To stay competitive and evolve continuously, one must follow the path of growth mindset. It has never been more important to adopt and embrace a growth mindset than now in the new normal, during and post-pandemic. You are defined by how you approach and view a challenging situation using positive lens and focusing only opportunities emerging out of it. People who possessed growth mindset readily accepted the change brought by the pandemic and did not let that prove to be a detriment to achieving their goals. They were more resilient and patient in times of crisis.
In the new normal, it is important that we adopt a growth mindset while working or studying virtually – remote or hybrid. In academics, educators and students who easily adapted to the new way of teaching and the challenges that came with it succeeded, whereas others faced a pushback. Similarly, organizations where leaders demonstrated a growth mindset tasted more success in comparison to the ones where they still operated with a fixed mindset leadership.
In a virtual environment, leaders with a growth mindset will recognize and understand the nuances of working with remote and diverse teams and will successfully enable them to achieve their goals. Such a leader or an individual will understand the importance of learning and how it can define your career progression. They will create a more inclusive environment and support a learning culture. In such a culture, people with hidden talents will be recognized and appreciated and feel more empowered and motivated. With a growth mindset culture, an organization can motivate the employees to expand their skill set, take risks, try new tools and processes.
Strategies to adopt a growth mindset and accelerate your career:
- Embrace failure and always encourage your team or students to do so as well.
- Celebrate failures and understand the learning behind it.
- Be open to learning as one of the tools for growth lifelong.
- Seek out challenges and do not confine yourself to a comfort zone or a silo.
- Push yourself and test your limit. Be patient.
- Ask for regular feedback and act on that.
- Do not be risk averse.
- Do not be afraid to experiment.
- Practice.
- Use positive connotations while framing your conversation or thoughts.
- Use power word such as “yet”.
- Build a network where you encourage people to share their progress and success stories.
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