In many businesses, there are leaders who often ask the question, “Why do employees have everything to complete the job but they are not successful?”
In some researches, there are two mindsets that people can have about their talents and abilities.
- Those with a fixed mindset believe that their talents and abilities are simply fixed. They have a certain amount and that’s that. In this mindset, they may become so concerned with being and looking talented that they never fulfill their potential.
- People with a growth mindset, on the other hand, think of talents and abilities as things they can develop—as potentials that come to fruition through effort, practice, and instruction. They don’t believe that everyone has the same potential
Almost every truly great athlete– Michael Jordan, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Tiger Woods, Mia Hamm, Pete Sampras – has had a growth mindset. Not one of these athletes rested on their talent; they constantly stretched themselves, analyzed their performance, and overcome weaknesses.
Carol S. Dweck’s Research has repeatedly shown that a growth mindset fosters a healthier attitude toward practice and learning, a hunger for feedback, a greater ability to deal setbacks, and significantly better performance over time.
Mindsets can be fairly stable, but they are beliefs, and beliefs can be changed. Therefore, a fixed mindset is changeable
The Mindset Rules
The two mindsets work by creating entire psychological worlds, and each world operates by different rules.
Rule #1. In a fixed mindset the cardinal rule is: Look talented at all costs. In a growth mindset, the cardinal rule is: Learn, learn, learn!
- Following Carol’ survey, our studies show that it is precisely because of their focus on learning that growth mindset students end up with higher performance. They take charge of the learning process. For example, they study more deeply, manage their time better, and keep up their motivation. If they do poorly at first, they find out why and fix it.
Rule #2. In a fixed mindset, the second rule is: Don’t work too hard or practice too much. In a growth mindset, the rule is: Work with passion and dedication—effort is the key.
- Those with a fixed mindset believe that if you have natural talent, you shouldn’t need much effort. In fact, having to work hard casts doubt on your ability.
- Those with a growth mindset know they have to work hard, and they enjoy it. They understand that effort is what ignites their ability and causes it to grow over time.
Rule #3. In a fixed mindset, the third rule is: When faced with setbacks, run away or conceal your deficiencies. In a growth mindset, the rule is: Embrace your mistakes and confront your deficiencies.
- Carol have found over and over that a fixed mindset does not give people a good way to recover from setbacks. After a failure, fixed-mindset students say things like “I’d spend less time on this job from now on”. They make excuses, they blame others, and they make themselves feel better by looking down on those who have done worse. Everything but face the setback and learn from it.
At the level of the individual, a growth mindset allows each individual to embrace learning, to welcome challenges, mistakes, and feedback, and to understand the role of effort in creating talent At the organizational level, a growth mindset is fostered when coaching staffs present physical skills as acquirable, value passion, effort, improvement (and teamwork), not simply natural talent, and present themselves as mentors and not just talent judges. When coaching staffs have a fixed mindset, their job is simply to find the talent. When they have a growth mindset, their job is to inspire and promote the development of talent .
