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How do I Adopt a Growth Mindset?

How do you easily, simply and repeatedly adopt a growth mindset? Or a change in your work?

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In this article, I will share the simple technique I use to adopt a growth mindset and cope with high volumes of change at work. Why should you read this? As the author of the Agile Change Handbook, and the Chief Examiner for the Agile Change qualifications, I have been coaching people in the techniques for planning change in a flexible way for over a decade.

How to Adopt a Growth Mindset

There are several ways you can adopt a growth mindset. This could look different for everyone. Essentially, you need to make sure you are being open minded and constantly considering your current processes and thinking about how these can be improved or modernised.

Here are some of the most important steps that can help you on your journey.

1. Be flexible

Being flexible is a great first step in adopting a growth mind set. In change we are always talking about the importance of being flexible, being open to new information and being willing to change. We prize the growth mindset over the fixed mindset, which means we view change as an opportunity to learn and grow, not as a threat that we need to run away from! In order to embrace change, you need to be flexible.

2. Challenge and Evaluate your Processes

Constantly evaluating the way you work and challenging yourself is the only way to successfully adopt a growth mindset. This can be tricky when your current processes are still working for you, but it’s important to stay ahead of the curve. With so much change happening, the one question I ask myself every day is, “Is this still the best way of doing things?” Over the holidays, my company implemented lots of changes as we completed a shift to O365 and adopted a new CRM while launching new products and winning new clients.

I know these changes have impacts I cannot always see at first, so I ask myself every day if my current habits, shortcuts and routines are still working for me. This can be a tricky mindset to get into, but once you start thinking this way, it begins to come naturally. I continually find something I need to do in a different way, sometimes because digitisation has streamlined what I need to do, other times because how I was doing something just feels stupid now that other ways of doing it are available.

3. Learn from Your Self-criticism

Taking a step back and learning from your self-criticism is another way you can identify areas where there is an opportunity to adopt a growth mindset. This realisation that we are no longer ‘working smart’ can come at any time, and not just in the workplace. For example, getting ready for the gym last night created a criticism of my current ways of doing things. I like listening to business podcasts at the gym, but as I packed my old plug-in earphones yesterday, my husband said, don’t you have buds? He joked about my old-fashioned approach and during my gym visit I noticed how annoying it was to keep tying up my earphones every time I moved machine. I also looked around and realised no one else had any cables running from their phone to their ears!

When we have these revelations, we need to act on them, so I have just bought my first earbuds. Now I must build a new routine for charging my earbuds. It is a small change, but another one my brain has to remember, and repeat until it becomes the new norm. I have to remind myself it is worth it for the greater mobility of not being tied to cables.

4. Continue to Learn

In adopting a growth mindset, it’s important to seek ways to continue to learn. There is so much changing in technology in the world at the moment. At work, a bigger change comes from the impact of AI and the need to provide information for natural language processing tools like ChatGPT and automated assistance tools like Alexa and Genesis. I am continuing to learn about how AI is being used and how it affects how information is processed. It means I have to write differently, ensuring my content is the answer to a question. This means that before I create any training materials, I have to check if what I am creating meets these new criteria. For an example, see the opening sentences of this blog!

By asking myself if my current approach is still the best way triggers more than just a new process. Sometimes I have to adopt a new value, attitude or priority, which is harder than just remembering a few new steps in a process. I enjoy the continuous learning. It gives me a new focus and ensures I am constantly thriving.

5. Persistence is Key

The final thing you should consider when embarking on your journey to adopting a growth mindset is ensuring you are persistent with the ideas and changes you are making. For example, I am making a more fundamental change to my working hours to enable me to take on some new responsibilities. As well as training, which blocks out time in my schedule months in advance, I’m also blocking out time for all the one-to-one meetings I have with new users of ChangeabilityPro®. I am using a new app to schedule these sessions, so I have had to identify regular times I can set aside for this. This has challenged me to be more structured with my time. It feels stressful because I fear losing my spontaneity and being in charge of how I spend my time. So, I have to be persistent –  I have to remind myself of the benefits for me, my colleagues, my customers and my family of set times for known tasks. I also comfort myself that this approach is not fixing how I spend every hour of my day; there are still plenty of other choices about how I work, which means I am still ‘being me’. If I continue to be persistent with this way of working, it will very quickly become second nature and form part of my routine.

Adopting a Growth Mindset with Agile Change

To constantly move forward and adopt a growth mindset, adding new ways of doing things to existing activities is hard but I believe it is a skill we need to develop. Everything is changing all the time so to keep doing things I have always done in the way I have always done them is crazy.

I hope my single, simple question “Is this still the best way of doing things?” helps you to build this skill. If you want more support on changing the way you work or adopting a growth mindset, join me at my free online coaching sessions so we can navigate change together.