For many leaders, propelling forward these days can be challenging. It’s not that we aren’t eager to perform at a high level and offer the best deliverables to our clients, it’s more about feeling in limbo. Many of us are asking ourselves:

“When will this pandemic end?”

“What will my organization or team look like when this is over?”

“What will my job be? Will I have the same responsibilities?”

“Will remote work be a forever model?”

Although it may not be so simple to project what the world of work will look like in six months or one year from now, we still need to lead in a purposeful way. Psychologically that means thinking differently about our jobs and daily work. Continuing on the same path as we were before the pandemic may not serve us well and even cause us to lose some ground. Leaders need to shake things up and develop a growth mindset.

A growth mindset was introduced by Carol Dweck, a social psychologist from Stanford University. She is a researcher and studied how children and adults find success. In her work she discovered that people who stayed with the same routines and strategies, day in and out faced difficulty when challenges arose. This is called having a fixed mindset. Alternatively, when people focused more on the process and effort that brought them success, they were more likely to overcome obstacles. This is having a growth mindset which in the long run will bring leaders more success.

Here are six growth mindset techniques for leaders:

1. Understand Your Motivations

Leaders need to take a deep dive into what gets them energized. In order for us to do well and be successful when faced with a difficult challenge in our jobs, we must understand what motivates us. Our intrinsic motivations are the things that spur us on to success. Are you a collaborator? Do you work more successfully by yourself? What kind of projects fascinate you?

2. Evaluate The Processes You Use

Keying into the way we approach our work most successfully, can help leaders face roadblocks. From time to time we all are given an assignment that seems beyond our abilities or just uncomfortable. To develop a growth mindset we need to:

• Identify the methods that work well for us on routine assignments and tweak those when faced with a new challenge.
• Stay open to trying new steps and experiments.
• Have clarity on best colleagues to include in collaborating.

3. Take Risks Even If You Falter

A big component of a growth mindset is being open to taking risks. It is not critical that the risk a leader takes is successful but rather the fact that they stepped out and tried. In her research, Carol Dweck recognized that what really contributed to an individual’s success with unfamiliar situations was the effort. Knowing we can lead, make a mistake and reposition for a better outcome is paramount.

4. Identify Your Skills Gap

To create successful outcomes, leaders must be honest with themselves about the skills or knowledge they are missing. Having clarity that we need a stronger background in a technical area and are willing to educate ourselves to gain that knowledge is a sign of a growth mindset. To identify our skills gap:

• Ask a trusted colleague or boss what skills would be helpful to be more successful.
• Take a course to expand your leadership toolbox.
• Shadow someone at work even remotely to learn new processes or techniques in approaching an assignment.

5. Look For What Triggers Your Fixed Mindset

Equally as important as developing a growth mindset, is being aware of what triggers us to fall back into a fixed mindset. Often when leaders are confronted with difficult tasks that they are unsure how to solve, they panic or just give up. If we lead with a growth mindset we recognize the uncomfortable feelings that we are sensing and remind ourselves to stay openminded. We may be upset or worried that we can’t tackle the challenge but know we have been in this place before and were triumphant. Make it a game.

6. Empower Others To Possess A Growth Mindset

Finally, it is so helpful to our colleagues and team members to cultivate a growth mindset by modeling the way. Some strategies leaders can use are:

• Sharing our mistakes and missteps.
• Speaking about the importance of the effort and process rather than the outcome.
• Expressing belief in people not being overly critical.
• Rewarding people that lead with a growth mindset.

How do you lead with a growth mindset?

(Image Credit: Pixabay)