The reason why this article is titled, “Do You Really Have a Growth Mindset?” Is because almost everyone I ask believes that they have a growth mindset.
But, Carol Dweck (the pioneer and primary researcher of growth mindsets) has indicated that approximately 50% of people have more of a growth mindset, while the other half of the population has more of a fixed mindset.
And, in my work with organizational executives and leaders, I find that over 60% of organizational executives and leaders have a fixed mindset. Yet, almost all of them believe that they have a growth mindset.
What is a Growth Mindset?
When people have a growth mindset, they carry a belief that they and others can change their talents, abilities, and intelligence. (People with a fixed mindset carry a belief that they and others cannot change their talents, abilities, and intelligence.)
This belief actually influences how people think and operate, even at a non-conscious level. For example, when something doesn’t come naturally to someone with a growth mindset, or they fail at something, they respond positively to that situation by seeing and interpreting that situation as an opportunity to learn and grow. And, they use it as such. I call this being wired for value creation.
For people with a fixed mindset, when something doesn’t come naturally to them, or they fail at something, they respond negatively to that situation by interpreting their struggle and failure as though they are a failure and unable to ever succeed in that space. They disengage and/or walk away from such contexts instead of harnessing them for an opportunity to learn and grow. I call this being wired for self-protection.
Stated differently, people with a growth mindset are willing to step into learning zone challenges. They know that they may not be successful on their first attempt, but they know that the more times they try, they will eventually master that learning zone challenge. Can you see how they are trying to put themselves in a position to greater value in the long-term?
People with a fixed mindset, on the other hand, tend to avoid learning zone challenges. This is because, they believe that if they attempt a learning zone challenge and aren’t immediately successful, others will see them as a failure and incompetent. So, they would rather not try, as a way to save face. Can you see how they are trying to self-protect themselves, their image, and their feelings in the moment of the challenge?
Why Do People Tend to Believe that They Have Growth Mindset (Even if They have a Fixed Mindset)?
From my experience, most people believe that they have a growth mindset because everyone can point to how they have taken on challenges and learned and grown in their life.
Let me give you an example using my son’s basketball team (I am their coach) to demonstrate this. All eight players are taking on the challenge of trying to get better at basketball. They are also learning and growing through their schooling.
But, when I encourage them to take on learning zone challenges, I get different responses.
One learning zone challenge that I give them is to, in practice and games, is to shoot layups when they are on the left side of the hoop with their left/off hand (they are all right-handed). Whenever I extend this challenge, I get three types of responses:
- About half of the players never try to shoot a layup with their off hand. Why? At a subconscious level, they have a fixed mindset. They are wired for self-protection. Shooting a layup with their off hand feels awkward and uncomfortable, generally makes them look awkward and goofy, and generally leads to a miss. Thus, they are trying to avoid feeling awkward, looking awkward, and missing a shot. That makes sense and is justifiable in that moment. But, it holds them back from developing a necessary basketball skill that will benefit them and make them a more dynamic and valuable basketball player.
- A couple of the players are willing to try shooting with their off hand during practice, but they are reluctant to during the game, when the pressure to look good and make baskets is much higher. These players are somewhere in the middle of the fixed-to-growth mindset continuum.
- Then there are a couple of players who are willing to try shooting with their off hand during practice AND in the games. They are willing to feel awkward, look awkward, and miss their objectives in the short-term, to become better and more dynamic moving forward. These players have a strong growth mindset.
How Can I Tell if I Have More of a Growth Mindset or a Fixed Mindset?
Thus, the gauge of whether we have a growth mindset or not is not whether we have learned and grown. Instead, the best gauge of whether we have a growth mindset or not is whether we are willing to step into the discomfort of potentially feeling awkward, looking awkward, and missing an objective in order to learn and grow.
What I have learned working with leaders is that most are unwilling to try something new, feel awkward, look awkward, and risk missing an objective. They are internally wired to avoid these things because they feel pressure to always look good and hit objectives. While their unwillingness to step into learning zone challenges helps them to feel more safe and secure in the short-term, their unwillingness to step into learning zone challenges ultimately puts a cap on their learning and development and prevents them from improving their ability to greater value in the long term.
Stated differently, our growth mindset is not revealed when we are operating in a place of safety and comfort. Instead, our growth mindset is revealed in performance situations where we have the option to lean toward playing it safe and secure or taking on a challenge in an effort to learn and grow.
Does that help you better sense if you have more of a fixed or a growth mindset?
If you have any doubts, take this quick five-minute FREE Personal Mindset Assessment.
If you want to assess the quality of your leaders’ or employees’ mindsets, let me know. I commonly work with organizations and groups to produce a collective mindset report of their leaders’ and employees’ mindsets, which often leads to transformational discussions and workshops designed to elevate their mindsets and their impact.
