Growth Mindset: From “Know It All’s” to “Learn It All’s”

Growth mindset developed by Carol Dweck in the early 2000s and supported by subsequent research is a simple yet profound concept that can be immediately applied to one’s professional and personal life. It changed the way I praised and interacted with my colleagues. It changed my conversations with family members. It changed the way I thought about my accomplishments and the way I thought about my failures.

Yet, many things need to be clarified about the concept. Many novel ideas have been appropriated by individuals and organizations who fail to do the work required to understand and apply a growth mindset.

This concept evolved from the explosion of neuroscience research within the past 20-30 years, which supports the idea of neuroplasticity or the idea that the brain can (and is) changing with every experience. Although we knew learning was possible, we were unaware of how much we could grow and learn.

A growth mindset reflects this optimistic attitude. We can master new skills and develop our abilities throughout our lives. While there may be optimum periods for learning particular skills (such as language), this doesn’t preclude us from learning a new language in our “Golden Years.”

A growth mindset also emphasizes the idea of praising effort rather than intelligence. Rather than saying, “You succeeded because you are so smart,” the feedback we should give is, “You succeeded because you worked so hard.” According to Carol’s research (and the research of others). These two phrases can prime someone for a Fixed or Growth mindset resulting in frustration and failure to accomplish goals (“smart” – Fixed Mindset) or discretionary effort (“worked so hard” – Growth Mindset).

Two more aspects of the growth mindset should be more frequently addressed. The first is learning from failure or the importance of using failures as growth opportunities. The second reflects the reality of human experience, that life can be a struggle. A growth mindset suggests we must acknowledge and appreciate struggles as opportunities to “get better.”

Students in our classes experience thoughtful insights after learning about this concept and can reflect on past experiences differently: “My manager had a growth mindset, and we accomplished great things. When she was replaced by a person with a fixed mindset, the morale dropped significantly, and turnover increased.”

We believe mindset (fixed or growth) can spread throughout an organization. Consequently, it’s essential to be thoughtful about which mindset we share.

Suzette Plaisance Bryan, PhD, SPHR, GPHR, SHRM-SCP
Director OBCC Leadership Center