Grit – growth mindset – and own responsibility
Grit is a character trait and involves drive, perseverance and fighting spirit. It stands for passion, sticking to long-term goals, perseverance and not giving up on adversity. My belief is that goal-focused training provides the opportunity to achieve the real results. An important component in building Grit is a so-called "growth mindset". This means that you see that intelligence is something that develops, that hard work pays off, that you can develop and learn new things, you look positively at challenges, take advantage of criticism and do not give up.
I often have an organizational perspective in what I do – and yes, my belief is that we need more of a "growth mindset" in our organizations and that it in turn helps to create a Grit culture. But it is not always the case that we all end up in organisations where this is self-evident. How does my own responsibility come into play and what do I need to know? I was going to dedicate a few lines to that.
What we do know is that people with a growth mindset are grittier. With a growth mindset you see that intelligence can be developed, the learning process is important, feedback is seen as a learning and one takes advantage of criticism. My view is that we are predominantly trained in a fixed mindset where you see that intelligence is static. As a result, we avoid challenges because only the results count. Feedback is ignored because you can see that we are who we are simply. We are characterized differently by these mindsets. My view is that a fixed mindset is what we most naturally get caught up in. So how do you expand a growth mindset?
It has been shown that only the knowledge of the two mindsets and the realization that our brain can actually be affected and developed through exertion has yielded great results. Starting to get the hang of what triggers a fixed mindset is a good start and the realization that you actually have a choice.
Feedback is central to a growth mindset and there is a lot we can learn from feedback. For decades, we management consultants have been training managers to get better at providing feedback, which is good, but not enough. A little too little concentration has been put on the receiver. How do you do that? What can stand in our way when we get feedback? In the book "Thanks for the feedback", Sheila Heen and Douglas Stone highlight three triggers,Truth, Relationship and Identity. Truth is about the fact that if the content of the feedback is not perceived as true, it can make you feel both violated, upset and unfairly treated. Relationship is about who gives the feedback and what relationship you have with that person. If the relationship is frosty or if the person does not feel credible. Finally, Identity which is about who you are and your values. If one of your most important values is to be loyal, and someone criticizes you for disloyalty, it can be sensitive because it's a valuation that describes who you see you are. However, if you get feedback that you have been less accurate and that accuracy is not as important to you, it is much less sensitive. All three triggers can make it difficult to keep listening and take in what is being said. There's a chance we'll shut down.
As mentioned above, this criticism is not entirely straightforward. We need to be aware of this both in the organization but also in ourselves. In theory, we understand that feedback is good for our own development, but then there are a bunch of obstacles that can stand in the way of it reaching all the way through. But the fact is that regardless of whether the feedback person delivers it lousy and your triggers kick in, you are still the single most important factor for your own development. If you've decided to seize the opportunities given and learn from the feedback you get, no matter how it's delivered – then, in my view, it's guaranteed profit. If you are not training and are open to learning from your mistakes, you still do not succeed fully even if you have all the prerequisites!
In addition to seating these opportunities, I see great potential for learning in my own reflection. That you think about what has worked well, what I could have done differently and to find learning points for continuous learning. In short, systematic reflection. Studies (Giada Di Stefano) show that as little as 15 minutes of reflection at the end of the working day increases performance by 23{deb3bc3c0e033fb64dd786f1c4f3245ff1f60ef40d6ae9feef146e933d526af7} compared to those who continue to work on without reflecting!
My goal is for more organizations to want to build and develop Grit cultures. Where we get better at rewarding effort and learning instead of just the result and success. Grit Consultancy is based on the belief in stated and clear goals, focus and effort, continuous and clear feedback/feedforward, as well as repetition with reflection and then develop and refine even more. My ambition is to guide, spar and encourage customers to be able to seize opportunities, solve problems and achieve their desired goal.
Want to learn more about Grit? Visit Paulin's website here and welcome to a lecture on the topic "Leading with a growth mindset" on December 6, 2018. To the registration to read more