Growth Mindset: Does it drive OUR success story?

In a learning & development intervention, participants often share that they seem to have plateaued in their careers and are stagnating.

Leaders too share similar concerns. While it is believed that stagnation is more rampant in women, in reality, that is not the case. We see similar patterns across genders & generations.

Researcher Carol Dweck introduced the term ‘growth mindset’ in her book, Mindset: A New Psychology for Success, she explains that a person with a growth mindset is one who believes that one’s character, intelligence and creative abilities have potential to grow and change.

Typically, many of us think that we have a growth mindset, but in reality, external & internal structures more often than not, sows’ seeds of beliefs which limit our growth trajectory.

Organisational structures are designed to give us periodic salary increases & designation changes. But does it give you the happiness & excitement to go to work every single day? Or, do you go to office dreading boredom –mundaneness – repetitions – sameness.

The big question to ask is “am I doing the same work or has the role seen an uptick which spells growth”.

It’s easy to fall into the stagnation trap in life, unless we develop a powerful growth mindset. A growth mindset brings newness & supports higher work satisfaction. This would mean moving away from tactical micro thinking to visionary macro thinking.

First step to move to a mindset which harness growth is -deep introspection to understand own internal portrayal & maps. Try answering the following questions as honestly as you can: