Growth is often seen as an external factor, but as with anything truth growth begins with the seeds which we plant.
A growth mindset is a pattern of thoughts which allows us to contribute largely to our improvement in many areas of life. The first step of growth is learning, and learning happens in the mind. The mind works best when we have enabling cultures which help the people to feel very comfortable and therefore contribute in the best possible ways.There are three C’s that will help you in building a growth mindset. They are as follows.
Courage: People need to talk about new things, try and test them. People should have the courage to experiment and be creative. We often speak about agile goals where we work on dynamic goals that are relevant both for us and for the people we share this journey with. Remember that every moment is a learning moment. Learning is not what happens in the classrooms, it happens in our actions and thoughts each day. We need to have the courage to live out our decisions and share and vocalize our journey (to others or ourself), and that provides a lot of opportunities for people embrace their own fears, journeys and to make the changes needed to manifest them.
Curiosity: Curiosity is a brick of learning. When people are curious, they are at their best because they have a child-like beginner’s mind. When people try new things and work in cross-functional meths and mindsets, curiosity is at its peak. It’s just that intellectual restlessness helps moving people from the sense of ‘I know it all’ to ‘I want to learn it all’. We can be curious when we can see and appreciate what is available, what can be and what we haven’t done. Curiosity gives us the moments to reflect and also the space to take what we discover back to our place of wonder and strength.
Collaboration: Collaboration is critical when it comes to building a growth mindset in people because it is learning with and learning from others. How did we create synergies in the past? Team-work is the answer. The best growth happens when people work together, and we realize the power of that when learning is applied in situations that require each person to step up to the proverbial plate. We are living in just such a moment and each day we have an opportunity to not mourn what was but embrace what can be.
We have to find newer solutions to both our old problems and the new ones. The key to growth is to define our competencies in terms of what our lives need right now for confidence and safe steps forward. Categorize your energy and efforts in three buckets – think, act and engage. This approach to growth and forward movement is very holistic. It is also essential to develop a growth mindset because then we seek purpose in what we are doing, the passion gets engaged, and that’s when we start looking at growth not as something we do, but the very light in which we flourish.
Peace and Love, Jim
