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Growing a growth mindset

Growing a growth mindset

I’ve never much enjoyed the experience of a “360” review…

It’s not because I’m overly sensitive to constructive criticism. Sadly, I’ve been around in business long enough that I feel like I’ve heard it all before. For instance, I know that I need to be more outgoing and I understand the benefits of being more engaging. It turns out that my mindset may have been somewhat limited. A newer and better approach to my leadership growth is known as vertical development. Whilst it is somewhat more challenging, it is much more applicable to my actual needs.

Competencies vs capabilities

Leadership development in organisations has been advancing in its application, particularly in the last fifteen years with the discovery that business and people performance is a result of more than just quantitatively measured skills and competencies.
Organisations are naturally good at measuring the “size of role” by matching the requirements of the job with the skills and competencies an individual brings using one dimensional testing. High-performing organisations now also determine qualitatively measured capability alongside competencies to ensure the size of role fits the “size of person” through the application of two or three-dimensional assessment, not just the simple “360” review any more.
Advances in this work provide organisations a richer and more holistic approach to growing individual and collective performance. Ask the question: “Tell me how you position yourself social-emotionally and how you think, and I will tell you what kind of work you can do and what your potential is for further mental growth.”
In a fixed mindset, people believe their basic qualities, like their intelligence and ability, are fixed. They spend their time documenting their intelligence or talent instead of developing them. They also believe that talent alone creates success—without effort.
However, development does not equal change nor is it learning. Change and learning may have developmental effects, but they may not. There is no shortcut for achieving progression through the stages of development. Mental growth is a multi-dimensional issue as we do not develop in one single dimension alone, but in several intertwined dimensions.

In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed.

 This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for success.

A growth mindset leads to new insights

I love the work of Dr Otto Laske in the Constructive Developmental Framework (CDF) methodology. It’s changed the way I think! When I combine this with Professor Robert Kegan’s work on social-emotional development, I have reached a new insight, best expressed as: “If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” – Wayne Dyer

From skillset to mindset

From skillset to mindset

What if the problem isn’t what the leader knows but who the leader is?

There are some emerging trends in leadership development that we are witnessing currently – many of which I have personally experienced myself. The world is now more complex, volatile and unpredictable with few boundaries. To be effective, leaders must be equal or superior to the complexity of the environment in which they operate.

The problem is that the leader’s head is full: they’ve potentially heard it all before, they already know all about it, but they just can’t be it. So, there’s no point in sending them on courses they don’t want to attend – courses that simply attempt to add more tips, tricks, techniques, frameworks, models, etc., ad nauseum to the leaders “back pack” of experience.
Maybe you recognise this in yourself? Beyond the 9-5 grind, still striving for a work/life balance, not needing to prove yourself to anyone… Maybe you feel that there is something missing, something more that you need? Maybe your organisation has suggested you spend more time investing in yourself?

IBM study reveals leads feel “in over their heads”

A recent IBM study of 1,500 senior executives found that they were feeling “in over their heads”. Their number one concern was the inability of their organisations to cope with complexity.

From skillset to mindset

We now see that leaders trying to navigate their way through life, in fact, need greater capacity to achieve their goals, not just more competencies.
Importantly, we’ve discovered that beyond competencies and skillset is mindset.
Unless you are aware of the contents of your own mind, i.e., your own mindset, the way you think and feel about yourself and others, and how you see the world, you’ll hit the ceiling!
Skillset to mindset – that’s the transformation! It turns out you can grow your mind – and the truth is that the mind has to grow in order to hold new concepts.