Managing with a Growth Mindset

I joined LinkedIn few months back and had the opportunity to attend one of the growth mindset trainings. It was a very good training especially from the point of view of a manager.

I generally believe that smart people find ways to be good at a job given to them. This is also true when smart people are asked to be managers. Not all the individuals are same and the same goes for teams, products, etc. I always encourage my team to follow their gut feeling and not be scared of trying and implementing new processes, meetings, etc which help solve the unique problem for their teams/products, etc.

However being a manager is a bit different from being an individual contributor. Sometimes choice of words or a bad attitude could quickly demotivate the entire team and could lead multiple man hours being wasted. On the contrary, a positive attitude is contagious and can motivate the team to face the challenges of a difficult task. This is the reason why the growth mindset training resonated with me a lot and can possibly be a very good template for a manager.

Let me give a few examples of a growth mindset vs fixed mindset.

Skills: “I’m just not good at x” vs “I haven’t learnt how to do x yet”

Fixed Mindset	Growth Mindset
I’m not good at origami.	I haven’t learned how to do origami yet.
I’d really like to learn to juggle, but I just can’t.	I’d really like to learn to juggle, though I haven’t started yet.

I am not going to talk more in the details on the growth mindset but more from the point of view of managing from a growth mindset point of view.

The employee cycle below starts with the “Attract Me” and ends with “Wish me farewell”. More explanation on each below.

Attract me – recruiting

• Utilize growth mindset language.
• Consider required and preferred qualifications:
  • Very important to focus on this. A lot of times the right people will not apply if they see that the required qualifications do not meet with their current profile.
• Source candidates with potential.
• Be open to various industries and backgrounds.
• Use behavioral questions to gauge potential and growth mindset
  • Ask behavioral questions on how they dealt with failure in past and how they recovered from that.
  • Another good question to ask if about a project where they failed and could not bounce back from that situation.
• Consider candidates who add value to team and culture.
  

Get me started – onboarding

• Regular 1-1s
  • There is a good concept of giving intro with a 7 minute story. Give your intro first in 7 min, then ask them to do the same.
  • With 1-1s, I generally like to understand how comfortable they are with the job and even if anything is bothering them in their personal life. But it’s important to know your boundaries.
  • Ensure that you promote a learning culture.
• Introduce growth mindset culture.
• Establish vulnerability and trust.
  • It’s okay to share a position where you are vulnerable.
  • If you want someone to trust you, you have to learn to trust as well.
• Discuss strengths and challenges.
• Assign a project to own immediately.

Development

• Seek feedback
  • Ensure you get feedback, this would help you improve. Also helps in understanding the point of view of the other person.
• Deliver honest feedback.
• Look out for their happiness: very very important.

Manage performance

• Discuss progress throughout and offer support.
• Be supportive when results are not achieved.
• Help reframe fixed mindset to growth mindset.

Engage and motivate

• Raise awareness
• Praise efforts
• Dig deep into failures and wins.
• Discuss long term career goals.

Recognition

• No better way to recognize than promotion, help them get there.
  • position
  • performer
  • potential
• Honest discussions about employee about readiness, their gaps, areas of growth.
• Managing failure in new role.

Wish farewell

• Express gratitude
• Show accomplishments
• Discuss possibilities with team – opportunities for growth, new projects and roles, show vulnerability.

References

https://peopleperform.co.uk/blog/f/your-employee-lifecycle-from-attraction-to-farewell
https://malcolmocean.com/2014/07/growth-mindset-reframing/