Simplified Wellness – Workshop 7 (Mindset Management)
The Appleton Greene Corporate Training Program (CTP) for Simplified Wellness is provided by Mrs Sciortino Certified Learning Provider (CLP). Program Specifications: Monthly cost USD$2,500.00; Monthly Workshops 6 hours; Monthly Support 4 hours; Program Duration 12 months; Program orders subject to ongoing availability.
If you would like to view the Client Information Hub (CIH) for this program, please Click Here
Learning Provider Profile
Mrs Sciortino is a Certified Learning Provider (CLP) with Appleton Greene. An internationally renowned author, Simplicity Expert and Professional Speaker, she spent almost two decades as a high-functioning, award-winning executive before she experienced a life-changing event that forced her to stop and ask the question: ‘What if there’s a better way to live?’.
Embarking on a journey to answer this question, she uncovered a simple system to challenge the status quo and use the power of questions to purposefully direct life.
A highly accomplished businesswoman, she is an official member of the Forbes Coaches Council, has received nominations for the Top Female Author awards, was awarded a prestigious silver Stevie International Business Women Award, named as the recipient of a 2022 CREA Global Award and has also been awarded over 20 international awards for the uniqueness of the tools and resources she offers.
Sought globally for expert comment by media, she’s been featured in podcasts, Facebook Live, YouTube, blog articles, print media and in live TV and Radio.
She works globally with corporate programs, conference platforms, retreats, professional mentoring and in the online environment to teach people how easy it is to live life in a very different way.
When not working, she can be found in nature, on the yoga mat, lost in a great book, meditating, hanging out with her husband and her house panthers or creating magic in her kitchen.
MOST Analysis
Mission Statement
Mindset Management – Mindset management is based on characteristics like our neuro-plasticity, which supports life-long learning, and our intrinsic capacity to change in response to challenges and opportunities. This strategy also plays on our maturity and our capacity to, if required, alter significant facets of our personalities.
The capability of neuronal networks in the brain to alter through development and reorganization occurs when the brain is rewired to function differently from how it did previously. These alterations might be subtle, like new connections made along individual neuronal pathways, or more systematic such as cortical remapping or neural oscillation. For example, changes to circuits and networks within the brain brought on by learning a new skill, acquiring information, environmental impacts, practicing, and going through psychological stress.
This module looks at the different forms and functions of mindset management and the ways that individuals, leaders and organizations can develop mindsets to support the needs of everyone.
Objectives
01. What is mindset management? – look at what it is and why it is important to have it.
02. Mindset agency – understand the hierarchy of competence mindsets and how they impact individual agency.
03. Fixed and growth mindsets – look at their differences and how they help and hinder individuals in different circumstances.
04. Benefit mindset – examine what a benefit mindset is and how can it benefit individuals and organizations.
05. Global mindset – examine what a global mindset is and how can organizations and individuals use it to create momentum.
06. Abundance and scarcity mindsets – a look at what they are and how they impact each other.
07. Productive and defensive mindsets – a look at what they are and when it is best to use them.
08. Deliberate and implemental mindsets – a look at what they are and how they benefit individuals and organizations.
09. Collective mindset – examine what a collective mindset is and how you can develop one.
10. Promotion and prevention mindsets – a look at what they are and how they can be used by organizations.
11. Reflective mindset – examine what a reflective mindset is and how individuals can develop one for their advantage.
12. Wellbeing mindset – examine what a wellbeing mindset is and what happens when individuals don’t have one.
Strategies
01. Engage and elicit expectations for the program.
02. Understand the importance of strategic wellness planning and complete exercises that assist in embedding this knowledge.
03. Set aside time to study the information, tools and resources in the workshop.
04. Set aside time to meet with their team to discuss the elements of the workshop.
05. Identify, and make a list of, the key personnel needed to participate in health & wellness discussions.
06. Participants to complete the exercises as directed in each course manual.
07. Allocate time to consider the current effectiveness of any health & wellness program in place.
08. Without conducting any in-depth research, identify where strategy can play a role in adding depth and breadth to the existing health & wellness programs.
09. Identify elements where strategy can boost areas that are working well from existing health & wellness programs.
10. Identify the convincing rationale for creating a bespoke health & wellness program.
11. Create a clear narrative regarding the need to incorporate strategic elements in creating the framework for a health & wellness program.
12. Set aside time to identify, and write down, any additional commitment required to create a strategic plan for the health & wellness journey.
Tasks
01. Set aside time to read through course manuals and make notes.
02. Allocate time to read the workshop’s preliminary analysis.
03. Identify the key personnel needed to create an effective health & wellness program.
04. Ensure relationships are built with key personnel through regular meetings, discussion and gathering ideas.
05. Schedule a meeting within the next 30 days for participants to meet and discuss workshop.
06. Participate in small groups during the workshop to share observations and reflections.
07. Determine and schedule the time needed to dedicate each workshop.
08. Demonstrate preparedness, commitment and personal presence at each workshop.
09. Prepare questions, seek feedback and create a plan for personal growth.
10. Each exercise in the workshop must be fully completed by the participants, and they must share the process and outcomes with the group.
11. Participants should identify and put into practise the adjustments presented throughout the workshop in order to finish their project.
12. Participants are asked to go over resources for ideas and choose at least one new tool from the list to use.
Introduction
The seventh workshop in the Simplified Wellness Program – Mindset Management – focuses on characteristics like our neuro-plasticity, which supports life-long learning, and our intrinsic capacity to change in response to challenges and opportunities. This strategy also plays on our maturity and our capacity to, if required, alter significant facets of our personalities.
The capability of neuronal networks in the brain to alter through development and reorganization occurs when the brain is rewired to function differently from how it did previously. These alterations might be subtle, like new connections made along individual neuronal pathways, or more systematic such as cortical remapping or neural oscillation. For example, changes to circuits and networks within the brain brought on by learning a new skill, acquiring information, environmental impacts, practicing, and going through psychological stress.
This module looks at the different forms and functions of mindset management and the ways that individuals, leaders and organizations can develop mindsets to support the needs of everyone.
History
The psychologist Carol Dweck is credited with developing the mindset hypothesis. After noticing striking disparities in how children responded to difficulties and failures, she started researching mindset in the 1970s.
Dweck observed that although some kids deliberately avoided obstacles, others actively sought them out.
These findings eventually prompted Dweck and her colleague, Mary Bandura, to question whether one’s response to challenges depended on how they define failure. More specifically whether individuals believe that ability is something that can be developed or something that is static and unchangeable; in other words, whether failure demotivates or inspires people.
This realization inspired Dweck and her colleagues to conduct a wide spectrum of research, probing these implicit ideas in areas ranging from interpersonal relationships to academic and professional performance.
Carol Dweck
American psychologist Carol Dweck, a professor at Stanford University, gained widespread recognition for her work on mentality after the publication of her book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success in 2006.
Over 11 million people have watched her TED lecture on the subject.
Since mindset has had a significant influence on business, government, and education, it has been referred to as a revolution in psychology. In a BuzzFeed post, Tim Chivers emphasized the importance of the growth mindset by citing the hiring practices of Google and NASA, which take this into account, as well as a British government suggestion to hire for growth mindsets.
Additionally, he mentioned a Harvard Business Review piece headlined How Companies Can Profit from a Growth Mindset, in which Bill Gates praised Dweck’s book. It is safe to say that a lot of people are interested in mindset theory.
The mindset craze is largely a result of Carol Dweck’s work developing and disseminating the theory. According to Dweck and her supporters, people with a growth mindset are more likely to adopt learning objectives, pick difficult tasks, and use adaptive tactics to enhance their abilities over time because they believe that their traits and abilities can be modified with effort.
However, those who have a fixed mindset are more inclined to embrace performance goals and give positive evaluation precedence over learning.
These behavioral differences may have significant effects on both an individual and systemic level since they may have an immediate effect on how various stakeholders within an organization make decisions.
According to research cited by Soo Jeoung Han and Vicki Stieha of Boise State University in their review on growth mindset for human resource development, growth mindset can improve workplace engagement, employee productivity, mentoring, leadership, openness to feedback, and creativity within organizations.
Despite the fact that mindsets often do not correlate with cognitive capacity, a large body of study has examined the impact of mindset on outcomes, notably in the context of education.
Individuals with a growth mindset are more likely to have higher grades, as much of Dweck’s research has shown. As a result, mindset training has been implemented in schools all over the world in an effort to increase students’ growth mindsets.
However, interesting research on the connection between implicit ideas of intelligence and academic accomplishment discovered that the connection becomes more complex when taking cultural differences into account.
Eastern populations showed a favorable correlation between growth mindsets and achievement, whilst fixed mindset and achievement showed a positive correlation in Europe. The authors of the research contended that these cultural distinctions may result from Eastern, collectivist cultures’ propensity to promote students’ value of the learning process over academic achievement, as opposed to Western, individualist cultures, which may place a greater emphasis on positive evaluation and individual outcomes.
Controversies relating to Mindset Theory
Perhaps even more vast than the body of research on mentality itself are the critiques of mindset theory.
Many of the well-known studies on mindset have been attributed to a small group of researchers, according to some academics, who also point out that Dweck’s articles make up the majority of the meta-analyses.
Additionally, concerns have been made about Dweck and her associates’ dubious statistical techniques. In the words of Columbia University statistician Andrew Gelman, ‘…their research designs have enough degrees of freedom that they could take their data to support just about any theory at all.’
Some believe that the evidence for the benefits of a growth mindset outside of Dweck’s research is scant. For instance, a 2018 study discovered weak relationships between mindset and academic results, with mindset interventions having just a weak influence on accomplishment.
A 2019 study by Yue Li and Timothy Bate from the University of Edinburgh calls into doubt the efficacy of mindset theory. The authors stated: ‘We found little or no support for the assumption that growth mindsets are advantageous for children’s responses to failure or academic performance. Our results from numerous large research with active controls and real-life outcomes over time indicate that mentality has little bearing on academic performance, how one responds to difficulty, or goal orientation.’
In other studies, a growth mindset intervention’s impact on enhancing academic achievements were found to be insignificant in a randomized control experiment conducted in England with more than 100 schools.
Along with concerns about the mentality theory’s lack of scientific integrity, some have also made moral arguments against the idea.
The head of learning and research at Wellington College, Carl Hendrick, stated in an essay for aeon, ‘An enduring criticism of growth mindset theory is that it undervalues the relevance of natural ability, notably intellect’. Is it appropriate to accuse a student of not trying hard enough if she is playing with a worse hand?
Growth mindset, like its educational psychology cousin ‘grit’, can unintentionally cause students to feel responsible for events outside of their control, as if their lack of success represents a moral failing. This includes the consequences of marginalization, poverty, and other socioeconomic obstacles rather than just problems of intrinsic talent.
In light of Hendrick’s remarks, the meritocratic worldview, which holds that people are rewarded for their aptitude and effort rather than their income or social position, begins to sound alarmingly close to the growth mindset.
A system that encourages a growth mindset, where people feel entitled to their success and believe others are less fortunate because they lack internal value in effort and the learning process, would not seem wholly out of context with beliefs in a meritocracy, which have been shown to promote selfish and discriminatory behavior.
It’s possible that Dweck would disagree with this comparison; in her responses to detractors, she has claimed that her work is frequently misapplied or misunderstood. Nevertheless, given the wide range of organizational and educational settings where mindset applications are used, it should be expected that the finer points of mindset can be lost, giving rise to problematic moral implications wherever it may manifest.
Current Position
Mindset theory is currently used in studies of physical topics like sports. For instance, researchers have used mindset theory as the basis of looking into how a person’s thinking may impact how well they play in sports like basketball and golf.
It is also regularly applied as a theoretical framework in educational research investigations that examine the psychological variables that cause certain students to succeed even in the face of difficulties while other students with comparable aptitudes struggle. The idea could be used to forecast how students with either perspective will feel about academic support services.
Researchers have also shown interest in the ways it can be used to consider how social conditioning, rewarding behavior, and other social-psychological elements affect performance and achievement in an organization.
Mindset theory is also used as a worthwhile tool to help researchers examine the possibility of changing mindsets. Investigating teaching methods in the field of mindset management could make use of implicit ideas about the way that individuals learn to adapt to change and implement adaptive behaviors.
Outlook
Investigating the effects of motivation, self-awareness, and self-efficacy in different contexts, such as athletics, can be done using mindset theories.
Although the current body of literature does not provide a definitive answer to the question of whether mindsets can be altered, it is well recognized that altering one’s self-theories and beliefs requires much effort on the part of the person.
Having a fixed mindset or believing in fixed traits makes judgements you make about other people and yourself possibly permanent. In other words, humans may very well remain the same in terms of their fundamental characteristics as they are now.
It goes without saying that this can have a significant impact on people’s worries about the present as well as their hopes and fears for the future.
Contrarily, if you have a growth mentality or subscribe to the benefits of mindset theory, any current assessments you make of yourself, and other people are subject to change in the future. You must be willing to consider that possibility and even work towards it moving forward – toward that more promising future – if individuals have the capacity to grow and evolve.
Executive Summary
The seventh workshop in the Simplified Wellness Program – Mindset Management, focuses on understanding the role that mindset plays within individuals and within the workplace.
Mindset management is based on characteristics like our neuro-plasticity, which supports life-long learning, and our intrinsic capacity to change in response to challenges and opportunities. This strategy also plays on our maturity and our capacity to, if required, alter significant facets of our personalities.
The capability of neuronal networks in the brain to alter through development and reorganization occurs when the brain is rewired to function differently from how it did previously. These alterations might be subtle, like new connections made along individual neuronal pathways, or more systematic such as cortical remapping or neural oscillation. For example, changes to circuits and networks within the brain brought on by learning a new skill, acquiring information, environmental impacts, practicing, and going through psychological stress.
This module looks at the different forms and functions of mindset management and the ways that individuals, leaders and organizations can develop mindsets to support the needs of everyone.
This workshop has 12 focus areas. Here’s what they cover:
Chapter 1: What Is Mindset Management?
Any individual who wants to promote development and affect an event or a project or even an organization’s success on a daily basis needs to understand the task in front of them, comprehend the needs of the individuals (including themselves) and then create an action plan to achieve success.
To achieve all these things, an individual must create a specific mindset that allows them to ride the highs and lows and tackle the challenges that arise along the way. They must adopt a particular attitude that matches the circumstances they are experiencing, comprehend what is needed and then create the way forward.
In this focus area you will look at what mindset management is and why it is important the individuals within your organization understand it.
Chapter 2: Part 2
In a psychological context, agency refers to a set of ideas or thinking. Genuine agency, on a deeper level, involves the plans and deeds that help us get the things we want and need.
It’s good to feel like you can make decisions. However, feeling agentic is very different from actually using your agency, which is acting responsibly and moving forth with your desired objectives.
In this focus area you will look at why mastering mindset agency is critical to your ability influence the outcomes in the many spheres of life, such as employment, school, sports, physical health, and psychological wellbeing.
Chapter 3: Fixed And Growth Mindsets
The belief that one has a certain amount of intelligence, a certain personality, and a certain moral character is shared by those with a fixed mindset. People with this mentality believe they must constantly prove their worth or give up trying because these attributes are fixed.
People who have a growth mindset believe that their current levels of morality, personality, and intelligence are simply the beginning. These characteristics are malleable and subject to alter with hard work and determination. Regardless of their talents, those who have a growth mindset are more capable of accomplishing things, naturally like learning, and have higher levels of resilience and self-esteem.
In this focus area you will look at the differences between these two mindsets and how they help and hinder individuals in different circumstances.
Chapter 4: Benefit Mindset
Modern times are extraordinary times and everyone’s lives are intertwined with intricate challenges they have never experienced before.
It is obvious that no person or organisation can solve these problems on their own, whether the problem is a global pandemic, climate change, structural unfairness, or mental health.
It will take more than everyone’s finest individual efforts for us to respond and ultimately create a world that works for all life. We must develop a feeling of ‘we’ whereby we can align the diversity of our contributions and work together for everyone’s wellbeing, in order to effect significant change. And in order for us to realise this possibility, we must make a significant mental adjustment in favour of what we refer to as a benefit mindset.
This focus area looks at what a benefit mindset is and how fostering one can benefit individuals and organizations.
Chapter 5: Global Mindset
The set of personal characteristics, communication abilities, and practical knowledge known as the ‘global mindset’ enable those in leadership positions to influence heterogeneous people, groups, and organizations.
It is a combination of personality, business knowledge, and know-how and is necessary for success in our globally interconnected and intensely competitive environment.
The world is becoming more interconnected, so workers will experience multiple cultures at practically every company or organization, in any function, whether it is through team members, executives, or clients. Being open and at ease in these situations is a key ability that gives one a competitive edge in the complex and hectic global business climate of today.
In this focus area you’ll learn about what a global mindset is and how can organizations and individuals use it to create momentum.
Chapter 6: Abundance And Scarcity Mindsets
Physical resilience is the ability of the body to respond to new challenges, maintain strength and endurance under pressure, and recover quickly and effectively after acute injury or microbial invasion.
But it is made more difficult by a wide range of cultural and environmental factors, chief among which is how distant we have become from our own bodies.
In this focus area you’ll look at what abundance and scarcity mindsets, how they impact each other and how the ways in which they impact individuals and organizations.
Chapter 7: Productive And Defensive Mindsets
A result-oriented manner of thinking about work is called a productive mindset. Finding effective and efficient ways to do tasks is the goal. People who have a productivity mentality pay attention to both inputs and outputs.
When someone prioritizes avoiding defeat over winning, they are acting defensively. A defensive thinker’s main objective is to avoid failure and humiliation, not to accomplish a goal.
In this area you’ll explore the role of productive and defensive mindsets and when it is best to use each of them.
Chapter 8: Deliberate And Implemental Mindsets
A deliberate mindset stops the loop of negative default thinking and enables us to adopt a growth mindset.
It also allows us to develop and a state of mind in which we believe in possibilities, don’t hold ourselves responsible for our errors or circumstances, but rather see them as chances to develop and learn more about ourselves.
An implemental mindset focuses on the filtering of information that allows an individual to achieve predetermined objectives that direct the way information is processed and how actions are managed.
According to mindset theory, an implemental mindset involves filtering information, but a deliberative mindset implies being receptive to information in one’s environment.
In this focus area you’ll explore what deliberate and implemental mindsets are and the ways they benefit individuals and organizations.
Chapter 9: Collective Mindset
Our daily lives involve drawing from our personal experiences, observing the physical world around us, engaging in social interactions, seeking moral guidance from our ethical context, enjoying our aesthetic experiences, empathizing with close friends, and reflecting on the meaning we create from all of those things.
Each of those means of knowledge is valued by the collective mind for its own sake as well as for its contribution to understanding the total.
Utilizing both the individual and societal collective minds is the goal of collective thinking. The development of a collective consciousness unleashes enormous potential in both people and civilizations.
In this focus area you’ll look explore what a collective mindset is and how you can develop one.
Chapter 10: Promotion And Prevention Mindsets
Anticipating an issue or a challenge and then stepping in to actively hold back the movement of something is what is known as a prevention mindset.
A promotion mindset refers to how much of your ambitions are focused on taking risks, standing up for your principles, and stepping beyond your comfort zone.
A preventative mindset is when your goals are heavily focused on carrying out your obligations while taking the fewest risks feasible.
In this focus area you’ll look at what promotion and preventions mindsets are and how they can be used by organizations.
Chapter 11: Reflective Mindset
When you are contemplative, your attention is on deciphering and evaluating situations, people, and most importantly, yourself. Meaning-making and personal development are directly tied to the reflecting mindset.
Over-rumination and indecision are two drawbacks of a contemplative mentality that are not countered by other strategies.
When someone is in a reflective mindset, they are able to change themselves and take actions that go beyond their experience. However, a person with an excessively reflecting attitude may be unsatisfied with their profession or be plagued by indecision.
In this focus area you will look at what a reflective mindset is and how individuals can develop one for their advantage.
Chapter 12: Wellbeing Mindset
The wellbeing mindset is an awareness that goes beyond physical fitness or health. It is a mindset that enables you to feel yourself as ‘well’ regardless of your physical state, emotions, or environment, rather than a requirement for being healthy or fit.
In other words, the wellbeing mindset is about how you react to yourself while you experience the ups and downs that are a natural part of life. It gives you the ability to accept, love, and care for yourself, no matter where you are in the process of a challenge. The wellbeing mindset is your partner and doesn’t force you to wait for ‘results’ before you may feel like you want to.
In this focus area you’ll deep dive into what a wellbeing mindset is and what happens when individuals don’t have one.
Curriculum
Simplified Wellness – Workshop number – Mindset Management
- What Is Mindset Management?
- Mindset Agency
- Fixed And Growth Mindsets
- Benefit Mindset
- Global Mindset
- Abundance And Scarcity Mindsets
- Productive And Defensive Mindsets
- Deliberate And Implemental Mindsets
- Collective Mindset
- Promotion And Prevention Mindsets
- Reflective Mindset
- Wellbeing Mindset
Distance Learning
Introduction
Welcome to Appleton Greene and thank you for enrolling in the Simplified Wellness corporate training program.
You will be learning using our special distance learning facilitation approach, which will allow you to put everything you learn in school into practice. The techniques and resources used in your program have been created and developed to guarantee that you get the maximum benefits and enjoyment possible.
We hope you enjoy the curriculum and find it both thought provoking and enjoyable. But if you’ve never studied remotely before, you could be feeling apprehensive about the task at hand. In order to get you started, we will provide you with some fundamental knowledge and instructions on how to use the modules effectively, how to handle the materials, and what to do as you go through them. This manual is intended to put you in the correct path and assist you in developing your skills as a successful distance learner. Before you begin studying seriously, spend a few hours reading this guide and your guide to tutorial support for students and taking notes.
Study environment
To study, it’s often best to choose a space that is both private and peaceful. Preferably, this should be a room where you have easy access to isolation from outside distractions. Make sure the space is well-lit and has a relaxed, inviting atmosphere. Doing this will give you the opportunity to create the right frame of mind when you do spend time to studying.
A lovely fire, the option to play calming background music, mild but effective lighting, perhaps a nice view if it’s possible, and a good-sized desk with a comfy chair are a few examples of ways to make your study space more inviting.
Make sure your family is aware of your study schedule and is familiar with your study guidelines. Your learning environment is crucial. If at all feasible, having a separate study area that you can dedicate to yourself is great. If this is not possible, you will need to devote much more time to creating and maintaining your study plan because it will have an impact on both you and other people. The more attuned to learning you space is, the more easily you will be able to study.
Study tools & rules
Make an effort to ensure that your study materials are adequate and in good operating condition. You will require access to a computer, scanner, and printer as well as internet connectivity. You will require a good filing system in addition to a comfortable chair that supports your lower back.
Spending valuable study time trying to remedy unreliable or improperly designed study tools can be highly irritating. Make sure your study aids are current. You should also take a few study guidelines into account. You will be subject to some of these guidelines, which are meant to help you be more organised about when and how you study.
After reading this guide to distance learning, spend some time creating your study rules. You will also need to come to an agreement with your family, friends, or anyone living with you over some study guidelines. To be able to help you as you study, they too will need to practice discipline. It’s crucial to include your family and friends as active participants in your study group. Their encouragement and support may prove to be a vital factor in your ability to successfully complete the program.
Successful distance-learning
Since individuals can learn in their own way, at their own pace, and for their own purposes, distance learners are not required to attend regular classes or seminars.
But with a distant learning program, unlike traditional internal training courses, it is the student’s job to make sure they manage their own study contribution.
Strong self-discipline, self-motivation, and a strong will to achieve are required for this. Students who prefer working alone, are adept at managing others, and are accustomed to controlling themselves are more likely to succeed as distance learners.
It’s crucial to understand your primary motivations for studying as well as the primary outcomes you hope to obtain as a result. When you need to encourage yourself, you will need to keep these goals in mind.
Keep both your short-term and long-term objectives in mind at all times.
You will need to find ways to motivate and appreciate yourself while you are studying because no one is here to spoil, take care of, or spoon-feed you information. Make sure to keep track of your academic progress so that you can be confident in your accomplishments and periodically review your goals and objectives.
Self-assessment
All of the Appleton Greene training programs are post-graduate degrees. Consequently, you ought to be a seasoned learner with a degree in a business-related field.
As a result, you ought to be aware of your academic talents and shortcomings. What time of day, for instance, are you most productive? Are you an owl or a lark? Which research techniques do you find most effective? Are you a diligent student? How do you maintain self-control? How can you make sure you have fun while studying?
If you want to apply yourself effectively, it’s crucial to understand who you are as a student. To do this, you’ll need to do some self-evaluation early on.
Make a SWOT analysis of your academic career. Describe your internal and external opportunities and threats, as well as your strengths and shortcomings as a student.
Later on, when you are making a study plan, this will be useful. Then, you can include elements in your study schedule to make sure you are playing to your strengths and making up for your inadequacies. Additionally, you can make sure that you take full use of your possibilities while avoiding any dangers to your success.
Accepting responsibility as a student
Training programs almost always entail a sizable investment, both in terms of money and the amount of time you must devote to studying, and the student bears the entire burden of responsibility for their effective completion.
This is never more obvious than when a student is taking a course remotely.
A crucial step in ensuring that you can successfully complete your training program is accepting responsibility as a student. When anything goes wrong, it is simple to point the finger at other people or situations. However, the reality is that if a failure is your fault, you have the power to correct it; the decision rests totally with you.
You are helpless to change the situation if it is always someone else’s fault. Due to the fact that each student is an individual and that what works for one student may not necessarily work for another, every student studies in a completely different manner.
You must take personal responsibility for figuring out how to create, carry out, and maintain a personalized study plan if you want to succeed. You are the only one to blame if you don’t succeed.
Planning
The sense of not being in control is by far the most important factor contributing to stress. Without planning, we have a tendency to be reactive and can stumble from one obstacle to another, hoping that all will work out in the end. Almost always, they don’t!
We must be certain of the steps we want to take and when we want to take them in order to be in charge. Additionally, we must take into account as many potential outcomes as we can so that we are ready for them when they occur.
Compared to emergent change, prescriptive change is much simpler to govern and control.
This also applies to distance learning. If you believe that you are in charge and that everything is going according to plan, it is much simpler and more fun.
Even if something does go wrong, you are ready for it and can respond to it without being overly stressed. It is crucial that you do take the time to carefully plan your academic schedule.
Management
It is equally crucial to make sure you oversee its implementation once you have created a clear study plan.
The majority of us often enjoy planning, but implementation is usually when things go wrong. We don’t know why goals aren’t being met.
At times, we are unsure even if our goals have been reached. We cannot simply draw the conclusion that the study strategy was unsuccessful. If it isn’t working, you’ll need to know what to do to fix it.
Similarly, even if your study strategy is working, you still need to know why so that you can keep getting results.
Therefore, you need to have self-assessment criteria so that you can consistently increase performance throughout the program. Your performance should continue to advance throughout the program if you handle things properly.
Study objectives & tasks
Creating your program objectives is where you should start first. These should feature your priorities and reasons for enrolling in the training program.
To avoid confusion, keep them brief and to the point. Don’t just jot down the first ideas that occur to mind because they probably overlap too much.
List potential department names like “customer service,” “e-business,” “finance,” “globalization,” “human resources,” “technology,” “legal,” “management,” “marketing,” and “production.” List as many goals under each heading as possible to generate ideas, and then rearrange these goals according to importance.
Finally, identify the most important item under each department heading to serve as your program’s goals.
Try to limit yourself to five, as doing so will help you concentrate. If the main goals are all accomplished, it is likely that the other items you stated will be as well. Simply go through the procedure once more if this is not the case.
Study forecast
Depending on your availability and ongoing obligations, the Appleton Greene Simplified Wellness corporate training program should be finished in 12 to 18 months.
Whilst the program is designed to be completed in a 12 month period, every student is an individual with varying commitments and production levels, which accounts for the wide variation in time estimations.
The fact that this is a distance learning program that integrates the practical integration of academic theory as an as a part of the training program then magnifies these distinctions. Because every project study is based on actual data, crucial choices and trade-offs must be made. To guarantee that everything goes according to plan, you’ll need to be patient with your expectations. We would always advise you to use caution when making your own task and time estimates, but you must still create them and have a good understanding of what are reasonable expectations in your particular situation.
Regarding your time planning, think about how much time you can realistically devote to studying with the program each week. Then, using the guidelines provided here, estimate how long it should take you to complete the program. Finally, divide the program into logical modules and allot an appropriate amount of time to each one; these will be your milestones. You can make a time plan using a computer spreadsheet or a personal organiser like Mimio.
Refer to your list of tasks that must be completed in order to meet your program’s objectives when planning your tasks; Calculate each task’s implementation date in relation to your time plan, keeping in mind that you are not estimating when your objectives will be met but rather when you will need to concentrate on implementing the corresponding tasks.
You also need to make sure that each task is carried out in conjunction with the relevant training modules that are associated with it. the next step is to divide each activity into a list of particular to-dos, say 10 for each task, and add these to your study plan; Once more, you might create your study plan using MS Outlook to include your time and task management.
You could also use a project management tool like MS Project. Now that you know when you can anticipate being able to take action to complete the tasks necessary to fulfil your program objectives, you should have a clear and realistic prediction.
Performance management
Creating a study forecast is one thing, but tracking your progress is quite another.
In the end, it matters less if you meet your initial research forecast than how frequently you revise it to keep it reasonable and in line with your performance.
You will have a better understanding of your own performance and productivity levels as a distance learner as you progress through the program. You should reevaluate your study forecast after finishing your first study module so that it accurately reflects the amount of achievement you really accomplished.
You must first time yourself while practicing by utilizing an alarm clock in order to achieve this. Set the alarm for hourly intervals, and then record your progress throughout the course of each hour. After that, you can record your actual performance on your study plan and compare it to your forecast.
Then, whether they were good or bad, think about the factors that led to your performance level and thoughtfully change your future forecasts as a result. With time, you ought to begin routinely hitting your forecasts.
Time yourself while you are studying and record the actual time taken in your study plan. Think about your time-efficiency successes and the reasons for each success when reviewing future time planning. Think about your time-efficiency failures and the reasons for each failure when reviewing future time planning. Re-evaluate your study strategy.
You must consistently manage your time otherwise you will never finish your academics. This will either happen because you are not dedicating enough time to your studies or because you are using your study time less effectively. Keep in mind that if you let your studies go out of control, they can end up adding to your stress.
Consider your successes with task-efficiency and the reasons for the success in each case; take this into consideration when reviewing future task planning. Consider your failures with task-efficiency and the reasons for the failures in each case; take this into consideration when reviewing future task planning. Time yourself while you are studying and make a note of the actual tasks that you have undertaken in your study plan. If you don’t manage your tasks consistently, you won’t be able to tell if your program objectives are being met or not.
Keeping in touch
You will have access to qualified professors and tutors who are competent and experienced and who are in charge of giving tutorial help for your specific training program. Therefore, don’t be afraid to let them know how you’re doing. We save electronic copies of all emails sent in support of tutorials so that instructors and tutors can examine earlier exchanges before deciding how to react to a specific request.
Additionally, it means that all correspondence between you and your instructors and tutors is documented, preventing any needless repetition, misunderstanding, or misinterpretation. Send them an email if you are experiencing any issues with the program.
Since they are more than likely to have dealt with a situation similar to yours before, they can frequently offer valuable advice and point you in the correct way. Please refer to the Tutorial Support section of this student information guide for more information on when and how to use tutorial support. This will enable you to make the most of the tutorial support that is offered to you and will eventually help you succeed in and enjoy your training program.
Work colleagues and family
It is important to share your program study progress with your family, friends, and coworkers.
The training courses offered by Appleton Greene are highly useful. It’s part of the program to seek out information from others, collaborate with others to plan, develop, and implement processes, and get feedback from them on the processes’ feasibility and productivity. As a result, you’ll have lots of chances to put your theories to the test and get feedback from others.
Don’t keep your feelings within; people are often understanding of distance learners. Get outside and spread the word! Your family, coworkers, and friends are probably going to gain from your efforts with the program, therefore they are probably more interested in getting engaged than you might imagine. Don’t be afraid to assign tasks to others who could gain from them. This is a fantastic method to get buy-in and understanding from those that you may later depend on for process implementation. Talk about your experiences with your loved ones.
Making it relevant
Making information relevant to your own unique situation is the key to learning effectively. You should constantly be attempting to draw connections between the program’s content and your personal situation. Remember that this is the most crucial and satisfying step in turning your studies into genuine self-improvement, whether you accomplish it alone or in conversation with your family, clients, or colleagues.
Be specific about how you hope to benefit from the program. This entails establishing precise study goals related to the course’s material in terms of comprehension, concepts, completing research or review exercises, and connecting the material to your own situation. As you progress through the program, it is understandable for your goals to change. In this situation, you should update your study plan with the new goals, so you always know what you are aiming for, when, and why.
Distance-learning check-list
Prepare your workspace, materials, and norms for studying.
Detailed self-evaluation of your capacity for learning should be done.
Make a structure for your study schedule.
Take into account your study goals and assignments.
Make a forecast for the study.
Analyze your academic performance.
Review the prediction from your study.
When organizing your study schedule, be consistent.
For tutorial assistance, contact an Appleton Greene Certified Learning Provider (CLP).
Be sure to stay in touch with those in your vicinity.
Tutorial Support
Programs
Appleton Greene uses standard and bespoke corporate training programs as vessels to transfer business process improvement knowledge into the heart of our clients’ organizations. Each individual program focuses upon the implementation of a specific business process, which enables clients to easily quantify their return on investment. There are hundreds of established Appleton Greene corporate training products now available to clients within customer services, e-business, finance, globalization, human resources, information technology, legal, management, marketing and production. It does not matter whether a client’s employees are located within one office, or an unlimited number of international offices, we can still bring them together to learn and implement specific business processes collectively. Our approach to global localization enables us to provide clients with a truly international service with that all important personal touch. Appleton Greene corporate training programs can be provided virtually or locally and they are all unique in that they individually focus upon a specific business function. They are implemented over a sustainable period of time and professional support is consistently provided by qualified learning providers and specialist consultants.
Support available
You will have a designated Certified Learning Provider (CLP) and an Accredited Consultant and we encourage you to communicate with them as much as possible. In all cases tutorial support is provided online because we can then keep a record of all communications to ensure that tutorial support remains consistent. You would also be forwarding your work to the tutorial support unit for evaluation and assessment. You will receive individual feedback on all of the work that you undertake on a one-to-one basis, together with specific recommendations for anything that may need to be changed in order to achieve a pass with merit or a pass with distinction and you then have as many opportunities as you may need to re-submit project studies until they meet with the required standard. Consequently the only reason that you should really fail (CLP) is if you do not do the work. It makes no difference to us whether a student takes 12 months or 18 months to complete the program, what matters is that in all cases the same quality standard will have been achieved.
Support Process
Please forward all of your future emails to the designated (CLP) Tutorial Support Unit email address that has been provided and please do not duplicate or copy your emails to other AGC email accounts as this will just cause unnecessary administration. Please note that emails are always answered as quickly as possible but you will need to allow a period of up to 20 business days for responses to general tutorial support emails during busy periods, because emails are answered strictly within the order in which they are received. You will also need to allow a period of up to 30 business days for the evaluation and assessment of project studies. This does not include weekends or public holidays. Please therefore kindly allow for this within your time planning. All communications are managed online via email because it enables tutorial service support managers to review other communications which have been received before responding and it ensures that there is a copy of all communications retained on file for future reference. All communications will be stored within your personal (CLP) study file here at Appleton Greene throughout your designated study period. If you need any assistance or clarification at any time, please do not hesitate to contact us by forwarding an email and remember that we are here to help. If you have any questions, please list and number your questions succinctly and you can then be sure of receiving specific answers to each and every query.
Time Management
It takes approximately 1 Year to complete the Simplified Wellness corporate training program, incorporating 12 x 6-hour monthly workshops. Each student will also need to contribute approximately 4 hours per week over 1 Year of their personal time. Students can study from home or work at their own pace and are responsible for managing their own study plan. There are no formal examinations and students are evaluated and assessed based upon their project study submissions, together with the quality of their internal analysis and supporting documents. They can contribute more time towards study when they have the time to do so and can contribute less time when they are busy. All students tend to be in full time employment while studying and the Simplified Wellness program is purposely designed to accommodate this, so there is plenty of flexibility in terms of time management. It makes no difference to us at Appleton Greene, whether individuals take 12-18 months to complete this program. What matters is that in all cases the same standard of quality will have been achieved with the standard and bespoke programs that have been developed.
Distance Learning Guide
The distance learning guide should be your first port of call when starting your training program. It will help you when you are planning how and when to study, how to create the right environment and how to establish the right frame of mind. If you can lay the foundations properly during the planning stage, then it will contribute to your enjoyment and productivity while training later. The guide helps to change your lifestyle in order to accommodate time for study and to cultivate good study habits. It helps you to chart your progress so that you can measure your performance and achieve your goals. It explains the tools that you will need for study and how to make them work. It also explains how to translate academic theory into practical reality. Spend some time now working through your distance learning guide and make sure that you have firm foundations in place so that you can make the most of your distance learning program. There is no requirement for you to attend training workshops or classes at Appleton Greene offices. The entire program is undertaken online, program course manuals and project studies are administered via the Appleton Greene web site and via email, so you are able to study at your own pace and in the comfort of your own home or office as long as you have a computer and access to the internet.
How To Study
The how to study guide provides students with a clear understanding of the Appleton Greene facilitation via distance learning training methods and enables students to obtain a clear overview of the training program content. It enables students to understand the step-by-step training methods used by Appleton Greene and how course manuals are integrated with project studies. It explains the research and development that is required and the need to provide evidence and references to support your statements. It also enables students to understand precisely what will be required of them in order to achieve a pass with merit and a pass with distinction for individual project studies and provides useful guidance on how to be innovative and creative when developing your Unique Program Proposition (UPP).
Tutorial Support
Tutorial support for the Appleton Greene Simplified Wellness corporate training program is provided online either through the Appleton Greene Client Support Portal (CSP), or via email. All tutorial support requests are facilitated by a designated Program Administration Manager (PAM). They are responsible for deciding which professor or tutor is the most appropriate option relating to the support required and then the tutorial support request is forwarded onto them. Once the professor or tutor has completed the tutorial support request and answered any questions that have been asked, this communication is then returned to the student via email by the designated Program Administration Manager (PAM). This enables all tutorial support, between students, professors and tutors, to be facilitated by the designated Program Administration Manager (PAM) efficiently and securely through the email account. You will therefore need to allow a period of up to 20 business days for responses to general support queries and up to 30 business days for the evaluation and assessment of project studies, because all tutorial support requests are answered strictly within the order in which they are received. This does not include weekends or public holidays. Consequently you need to put some thought into the management of your tutorial support procedure in order to ensure that your study plan is feasible and to obtain the maximum possible benefit from tutorial support during your period of study. Please retain copies of your tutorial support emails for future reference. Please ensure that ALL of your tutorial support emails are set out using the format as suggested within your guide to tutorial support. Your tutorial support emails need to be referenced clearly to the specific part of the course manual or project study which you are working on at any given time. You also need to list and number any questions that you would like to ask, up to a maximum of five questions within each tutorial support email. Remember the more specific you can be with your questions the more specific your answers will be too and this will help you to avoid any unnecessary misunderstanding, misinterpretation, or duplication. The guide to tutorial support is intended to help you to understand how and when to use support in order to ensure that you get the most out of your training program. Appleton Greene training programs are designed to enable you to do things for yourself. They provide you with a structure or a framework and we use tutorial support to facilitate students while they practically implement what they learn. In other words, we are enabling students to do things for themselves. The benefits of distance learning via facilitation are considerable and are much more sustainable in the long-term than traditional short-term knowledge sharing programs. Consequently you should learn how and when to use tutorial support so that you can maximize the benefits from your learning experience with Appleton Greene. This guide describes the purpose of each training function and how to use them and how to use tutorial support in relation to each aspect of the training program. It also provides useful tips and guidance with regard to best practice.
Tutorial Support Tips
Students are often unsure about how and when to use tutorial support with Appleton Greene. This Tip List will help you to understand more about how to achieve the most from using tutorial support. Refer to it regularly to ensure that you are continuing to use the service properly. Tutorial support is critical to the success of your training experience, but it is important to understand when and how to use it in order to maximize the benefit that you receive. It is no coincidence that those students who succeed are those that learn how to be positive, proactive and productive when using tutorial support.
Be positive and friendly with your tutorial support emails
Remember that if you forward an email to the tutorial support unit, you are dealing with real people. “Do unto others as you would expect others to do unto you”. If you are positive, complimentary and generally friendly in your emails, you will generate a similar response in return. This will be more enjoyable, productive and rewarding for you in the long-term.
Think about the impression that you want to create
Every time that you communicate, you create an impression, which can be either positive or negative, so put some thought into the impression that you want to create. Remember that copies of all tutorial support emails are stored electronically and tutors will always refer to prior correspondence before responding to any current emails. Over a period of time, a general opinion will be arrived at in relation to your character, attitude and ability. Try to manage your own frustrations, mood swings and temperament professionally, without involving the tutorial support team. Demonstrating frustration or a lack of patience is a weakness and will be interpreted as such. The good thing about communicating in writing, is that you will have the time to consider your content carefully, you can review it and proof-read it before sending your email to Appleton Greene and this should help you to communicate more professionally, consistently and to avoid any unnecessary knee-jerk reactions to individual situations as and when they may arise. Please also remember that the CLP Tutorial Support Unit will not just be responsible for evaluating and assessing the quality of your work, they will also be responsible for providing recommendations to other learning providers and to client contacts within the Appleton Greene global client network, so do be in control of your own emotions and try to create a good impression.
Remember that quality is preferred to quantity
Please remember that when you send an email to the tutorial support team, you are not using Twitter or Text Messaging. Try not to forward an email every time that you have a thought. This will not prove to be productive either for you or for the tutorial support team. Take time to prepare your communications properly, as if you were writing a professional letter to a business colleague and make a list of queries that you are likely to have and then incorporate them within one email, say once every month, so that the tutorial support team can understand more about context, application and your methodology for study. Get yourself into a consistent routine with your tutorial support requests and use the tutorial support template provided with ALL of your emails. The (CLP) Tutorial Support Unit will not spoon-feed you with information. They need to be able to evaluate and assess your tutorial support requests carefully and professionally.
Be specific about your questions in order to receive specific answers
Try not to write essays by thinking as you are writing tutorial support emails. The tutorial support unit can be unclear about what in fact you are asking, or what you are looking to achieve. Be specific about asking questions that you want answers to. Number your questions. You will then receive specific answers to each and every question. This is the main purpose of tutorial support via email.
Keep a record of your tutorial support emails
It is important that you keep a record of all tutorial support emails that are forwarded to you. You can then refer to them when necessary and it avoids any unnecessary duplication, misunderstanding, or misinterpretation.
Individual training workshops or telephone support
Please be advised that Appleton Greene does not provide separate or individual tutorial support meetings, workshops, or provide telephone support for individual students. Appleton Greene is an equal opportunities learning and service provider and we are therefore understandably bound to treat all students equally. We cannot therefore broker special financial or study arrangements with individual students regardless of the circumstances. All tutorial support is provided online and this enables Appleton Greene to keep a record of all communications between students, professors and tutors on file for future reference, in accordance with our quality management procedure and your terms and conditions of enrolment. All tutorial support is provided online via email because it enables us to have time to consider support content carefully, it ensures that you receive a considered and detailed response to your queries. You can number questions that you would like to ask, which relate to things that you do not understand or where clarification may be required. You can then be sure of receiving specific answers to each individual query. You will also then have a record of these communications and of all tutorial support, which has been provided to you. This makes tutorial support administration more productive by avoiding any unnecessary duplication, misunderstanding, or misinterpretation.
Tutorial Support Email Format
You should use this tutorial support format if you need to request clarification or assistance while studying with your training program. Please note that ALL of your tutorial support request emails should use the same format. You should therefore set up a standard email template, which you can then use as and when you need to. Emails that are forwarded to Appleton Greene, which do not use the following format, may be rejected and returned to you by the (CLP) Program Administration Manager. A detailed response will then be forwarded to you via email usually within 20 business days of receipt for general support queries and 30 business days for the evaluation and assessment of project studies. This does not include weekends or public holidays. Your tutorial support request, together with the corresponding TSU reply, will then be saved and stored within your electronic TSU file at Appleton Greene for future reference.
Subject line of your email
Please insert: Appleton Greene (CLP) Tutorial Support Request: (Your Full Name) (Date), within the subject line of your email.
Main body of your email
Please insert:
1. Appleton Greene Certified Learning Provider (CLP) Tutorial Support Request
2. Your Full Name
3. Date of TS request
4. Preferred email address
5. Backup email address
6. Course manual page name or number (reference)
7. Project study page name or number (reference)
Subject of enquiry
Please insert a maximum of 50 words (please be succinct)
Briefly outline the subject matter of your inquiry, or what your questions relate to.
Question 1
Maximum of 50 words (please be succinct)
Maximum of 50 words (please be succinct)
Question 3
Maximum of 50 words (please be succinct)
Question 4
Maximum of 50 words (please be succinct)
Question 5
Maximum of 50 words (please be succinct)
Please note that a maximum of 5 questions is permitted with each individual tutorial support request email.
Procedure
* List the questions that you want to ask first, then re-arrange them in order of priority. Make sure that you reference them, where necessary, to the course manuals or project studies.
* Make sure that you are specific about your questions and number them. Try to plan the content within your emails to make sure that it is relevant.
* Make sure that your tutorial support emails are set out correctly, using the Tutorial Support Email Format provided here.
* Save a copy of your email and incorporate the date sent after the subject title. Keep your tutorial support emails within the same file and in date order for easy reference.
* Allow up to 20 business days for a response to general tutorial support emails and up to 30 business days for the evaluation and assessment of project studies, because detailed individual responses will be made in all cases and tutorial support emails are answered strictly within the order in which they are received.
* Emails can and do get lost. So if you have not received a reply within the appropriate time, forward another copy or a reminder to the tutorial support unit to be sure that it has been received but do not forward reminders unless the appropriate time has elapsed.
* When you receive a reply, save it immediately featuring the date of receipt after the subject heading for easy reference. In most cases the tutorial support unit replies to your questions individually, so you will have a record of the questions that you asked as well as the answers offered. With project studies however, separate emails are usually forwarded by the tutorial support unit, so do keep a record of your own original emails as well.
* Remember to be positive and friendly in your emails. You are dealing with real people who will respond to the same things that you respond to.
* Try not to repeat questions that have already been asked in previous emails. If this happens the tutorial support unit will probably just refer you to the appropriate answers that have already been provided within previous emails.
* If you lose your tutorial support email records you can write to Appleton Greene to receive a copy of your tutorial support file, but a separate administration charge may be levied for this service.
How To Study
Your Certified Learning Provider (CLP) and Accredited Consultant can help you to plan a task list for getting started so that you can be clear about your direction and your priorities in relation to your training program. It is also a good way to introduce yourself to the tutorial support team.
Planning your study environment
Your study conditions are of great importance and will have a direct effect on how much you enjoy your training program. Consider how much space you will have, whether it is comfortable and private and whether you are likely to be disturbed. The study tools and facilities at your disposal are also important to the success of your distance-learning experience. Your tutorial support unit can help with useful tips and guidance, regardless of your starting position. It is important to get this right before you start working on your training program.
Planning your program objectives
It is important that you have a clear list of study objectives, in order of priority, before you start working on your training program. Your tutorial support unit can offer assistance here to ensure that your study objectives have been afforded due consideration and priority.
Planning how and when to study
Distance-learners are freed from the necessity of attending regular classes, since they can study in their own way, at their own pace and for their own purposes. This approach is designed to let you study efficiently away from the traditional classroom environment. It is important however, that you plan how and when to study, so that you are making the most of your natural attributes, strengths and opportunities. Your tutorial support unit can offer assistance and useful tips to ensure that you are playing to your strengths.
Planning your study tasks
You should have a clear understanding of the study tasks that you should be undertaking and the priority associated with each task. These tasks should also be integrated with your program objectives. The distance learning guide and the guide to tutorial support for students should help you here, but if you need any clarification or assistance, please contact your tutorial support unit.
Planning your time
You will need to allocate specific times during your calendar when you intend to study if you are to have a realistic chance of completing your program on time. You are responsible for planning and managing your own study time, so it is important that you are successful with this. Your tutorial support unit can help you with this if your time plan is not working.
Keeping in touch
Consistency is the key here. If you communicate too frequently in short bursts, or too infrequently with no pattern, then your management ability with your studies will be questioned, both by you and by your tutorial support unit. It is obvious when a student is in control and when one is not and this will depend how able you are at sticking with your study plan. Inconsistency invariably leads to in-completion.
Charting your progress
Your tutorial support team can help you to chart your own study progress. Refer to your distance learning guide for further details.
Making it work
To succeed, all that you will need to do is apply yourself to undertaking your training program and interpreting it correctly. Success or failure lies in your hands and your hands alone, so be sure that you have a strategy for making it work. Your Certified Learning Provider (CLP) and Accredited Consultant can guide you through the process of program planning, development and implementation.
Reading methods
Interpretation is often unique to the individual but it can be improved and even quantified by implementing consistent interpretation methods. Interpretation can be affected by outside interference such as family members, TV, or the Internet, or simply by other thoughts which are demanding priority in our minds. One thing that can improve our productivity is using recognized reading methods. This helps us to focus and to be more structured when reading information for reasons of importance, rather than relaxation.
Speed reading
When reading through course manuals for the first time, subconsciously set your reading speed to be just fast enough that you cannot dwell on individual words or tables. With practice, you should be able to read an A4 sheet of paper in one minute. You will not achieve much in the way of a detailed understanding, but your brain will retain a useful overview. This overview will be important later on and will enable you to keep individual issues in perspective with a more generic picture because speed reading appeals to the memory part of the brain. Do not worry about what you do or do not remember at this stage.
Content reading
Once you have speed read everything, you can then start work in earnest. You now need to read a particular section of your course manual thoroughly, by making detailed notes while you read. This process is called Content Reading and it will help to consolidate your understanding and interpretation of the information that has been provided.
Making structured notes on the course manuals
When you are content reading, you should be making detailed notes, which are both structured and informative. Make these notes in a MS Word document on your computer, because you can then amend and update these as and when you deem it to be necessary. List your notes under three headings: 1. Interpretation – 2. Questions – 3. Tasks. The purpose of the 1st section is to clarify your interpretation by writing it down. The purpose of the 2nd section is to list any questions that the issue raises for you. The purpose of the 3rd section is to list any tasks that you should undertake as a result. Anyone who has graduated with a business-related degree should already be familiar with this process.
Organizing structured notes separately
You should then transfer your notes to a separate study notebook, preferably one that enables easy referencing, such as a MS Word Document, a MS Excel Spreadsheet, a MS Access Database, or a personal organizer on your cell phone. Transferring your notes allows you to have the opportunity of cross-checking and verifying them, which assists considerably with understanding and interpretation. You will also find that the better you are at doing this, the more chance you will have of ensuring that you achieve your study objectives.
Question your understanding
Do challenge your understanding. Explain things to yourself in your own words by writing things down.
Clarifying your understanding
If you are at all unsure, forward an email to your tutorial support unit and they will help to clarify your understanding.
Question your interpretation
Do challenge your interpretation. Qualify your interpretation by writing it down.
Clarifying your interpretation
If you are at all unsure, forward an email to your tutorial support unit and they will help to clarify your interpretation.
Qualification Requirements
The student will need to successfully complete the project study and all of the exercises relating to the Simplified Wellness corporate training program, achieving a pass with merit or distinction in each case, in order to qualify as an Accredited Simplified Wellness Specialist (APTS). All monthly workshops need to be tried and tested within your company. These project studies can be completed in your own time and at your own pace and in the comfort of your own home or office. There are no formal examinations, assessment is based upon the successful completion of the project studies. They are called project studies because, unlike case studies, these projects are not theoretical, they incorporate real program processes that need to be properly researched and developed. The project studies assist us in measuring your understanding and interpretation of the training program and enable us to assess qualification merits. All of the project studies are based entirely upon the content within the training program and they enable you to integrate what you have learnt into your corporate training practice.
Simplified Wellness – Grading Contribution
Project Study – Grading Contribution
Customer Service – 10%
E-business – 05%
Finance – 10%
Globalization – 10%
Human Resources – 10%
Information Technology – 10%
Legal – 05%
Management – 10%
Marketing – 10%
Production – 10%
Education – 05%
Logistics – 05%
TOTAL GRADING – 100%
Qualification grades
A mark of 90% = Pass with Distinction.
A mark of 75% = Pass with Merit.
A mark of less than 75% = Fail.
If you fail to achieve a mark of 75% with a project study, you will receive detailed feedback from the Certified Learning Provider (CLP) and/or Accredited Consultant, together with a list of tasks which you will need to complete, in order to ensure that your project study meets with the minimum quality standard that is required by Appleton Greene. You can then re-submit your project study for further evaluation and assessment. Indeed you can re-submit as many drafts of your project studies as you need to, until such a time as they eventually meet with the required standard by Appleton Greene, so you need not worry about this, it is all part of the learning process.
When marking project studies, Appleton Greene is looking for sufficient evidence of the following:
Pass with merit
A satisfactory level of program understanding
A satisfactory level of program interpretation
A satisfactory level of project study content presentation
A satisfactory level of Unique Program Proposition (UPP) quality
A satisfactory level of the practical integration of academic theory
Pass with distinction
An exceptional level of program understanding
An exceptional level of program interpretation
An exceptional level of project study content presentation
An exceptional level of Unique Program Proposition (UPP) quality
An exceptional level of the practical integration of academic theory
Preliminary Analysis
Ryan Gottfredson – a cutting edge mindset author – wrote a great article on how to unlock greater success by developing a promotion mindset. You can read the article here.
This video from Mike Dooley provides information on ways to move forward from where you are now:
The Harvard Business Review published a piece on the way that using growth mindset can assist companies in building profit. You can read more about this here.
Maryland is one of the most well-known states of the US that has included additional implications that directions and officers must take into account for their business to be deemed to be a ‘benefit corporation’. You can read about these implications here.
Course Manuals 1-12
Course Manual 1: What Is Mindset Management?
An established collection of attitudes about culture, values, philosophy, frame of mind, outlook, and temperament that apply to an individual or community is known as a mentality. It might also result from one’s worldview or ideas regarding the purpose of life. While the development and fixed mindsets are frequently mentioned as the two most prevalent, a person can also have a money mindset, which is also known as a poverty mindset or a wealth mindset. A person’s overall mindset is made up of various values, beliefs, experiences, and opinions that make up the thinking on both a conscious and unconscious level about these things. These include abundance mindset, positive mindset, negative mindset, victim mindset, protector mindset, poverty mindset, rich mindset, wealth mindset, losing mindset, and winning mindset, among others.
Sometimes referred to as cognitive inertia or groupthink, a mentality can provide an incentive to continue using (or accept) past behaviors, decisions, or tools. It may be challenging to overcome the influence of mentality on analysis and decision-making when it is constricting or inappropriate.
A mentality is the cognitive process that is engaged in a task in cognitive psychology.
What is a mindset?
“Your beliefs become your thoughts, your thoughts become your words, your words become your actions, your actions become your habits, your habits become your values, your values become your destiny.” — Mahatma Gandhi
Mindsets can be summed up using eight principles:
1. Mindsets are mental routines.
In the 1930s, the phrase ‘mindset’ first denoted ‘habits of mind formed by previous experience’. Simply said, mindsets are the deeply held attitudes, ideas, and presumptions we form about ourselves and the way the world operates.
2. Experiences shape one’s mindset.
The differences we are able to draw about our experiences are what shape our mindsets. We’ve had encounters, so our experiences help us draw new conclusions. We construct new mindsets based on these distinctions.
3. Mindsets lead to blind spots.
When it comes to our perspectives on the world, mindsets only ever provide us partial truths about what actually is. Our mindset always leaves something out when we look at the world; thus, they are never whole.
4. Mindsets can be deceiving.
There will be strong forces opposing any attempt to alter our thoughts. Our propensity for confirmation bias—the seeking out and remembering of information that confirms our preexisting beliefs—is an illustration of these influences.
5. Our mindset influences how we live each day.
After we create our mindsets, then those mindsets create us. Like waves on a lake, our ideas cause our thoughts, words, and actions to spread outward. We must be willing to modify our mindsets if there is something we would like to change about our lives, such as being more creative or increasing our wellbeing.
6. Mindsets shape our shared reality.
Mindsets can be a significant force for systemic and cultural change. We also need to be willing to change our mindsets if we want to more intentionally shape the society we live in. For example, if we wish to support the work that is being done by the United Nations’ (UN) global goals, we may need to change our mindset about global goals, so that we are more aligned with what needs to be done to address inequality, climate change, and mental health.
7. Mindsets can grow more complicated over time.
We progress towards greater depths of insight and effectiveness in the world as our mindsets mature. Our mental models change throughout time from simple to sophisticated, static to dynamic, and egocentric to sociocentric to global. Our capability to accept ambiguity and hold paradox increases along with our capacity for perspective-taking.
8. Mindsets are transcendable.
We may analyze how our mental habits shape our lives and the world we live in by using the power of mindfulness to overcome our blind spots and self-defeating forces. By doing this, we can unleash our collective potential for significant individual and societal change.
It may be argued that it is impossible to escape the profound consequences of our attitudes. Their covert network of influence is always there and pervades everything. Our internal values, attitudes, and presumptions influence how the outside world perceives us, influencing both our individual and communal future prospects.
Why mindsets matter
Examining mindsets can cause tiny yet profound mental ‘clicks’, where new ways of thinking, being, and ultimately acting open up to us. These liberating changes have the potential to significantly change our lives in delightful and unexpected ways.
When engaging in creative endeavors or participating in cutting-edge processes like human-centered design, it is crucial to have this capacity.
This alone might prompt some of you to consider the nature of your mindset. But there’s more of a need to consider your thought patterns.
The modern way of living can bring with it tumultuous times that sees everyone is dealing with new, urgent concerns that can be intricately related.
Globally, people are dealing with an expanding range of social and ecological challenges that are only becoming more demanding.
It’s not a stretch to see that, as individuals, if we cannot master our mental patterns then our thoughts can become the ultimate cause of today’s major problems, and the main factor that initially causes all of our crises.
It could be said that all of today’s major global issues are a result of humanity’s continuing unchecked mental patterns.
To turn this on its head, each individual must learn to analyze their mindset as an essential component of how we live our lives so that collectively we can respond to personal and societal issues in a meaningful way.
Mindset types
There are 15 well-known mindset types:
image too blurred
image too blurred
image too blurred
image too blurred
image too blurred
The Five Dimensions of a Mindset
Self-efficacy, locus of control, capability beliefs, motivation, and level of resilience are the five components of any mindset. These five characteristics are shaped in the following ways when we use entrepreneurial thinking to work towards a compelling objective.
1. Strong self-efficacy convictions
Self-efficacy has to do with how we feel, think, act, and inspire ourselves. When we have strong self-efficacy, we are confident in our capacity to manage our lives and accomplish our objectives. We are more likely to think of difficulties as chances to seize than as potential hazards to avoid. Furthermore, our sense of self-efficacy grows stronger the more mastery experiences we have.
2. A locus of control inside oneself
People who have an external locus of control harbor strong, often unconscious beliefs that fate, luck, circumstance, or influential people have some sort of influence over their lives. People who have an internal locus of control, on the other hand, think that “If it is to be, it’s up to me.”
Whether or not we think we can influence how things turn out, we rarely go around advertising. However, individuals’ locus of control frequently manifests in their language and actions through complaints about other people or external events.
High self-efficacy individuals frequently have an internal locus of control. When faced with failure, those who have both a high level of self-efficacy and an internal locus of control concentrate on what they can control about the circumstance and change their strategies to perform better in the future.
3. A growth perspective
If you have a fixed mindset, you think that you can’t change who you are or what you’re capable of. When you have a growth mindset, on the other hand, you believe that your learning and intelligence are not fixed at a given level but can be modified with more time and effort.
Recent findings in neurology support this. Our brain networks develop new connections, reinforce existing connections, and create insulation as a result of practice and perseverance. boosting the speed at which information travels through such links as a result. Additionally, researchers have discovered that people behave differently if they think their brains can develop. It demonstrates that we are capable of developing a growth attitude.
4. Internal inspiration
The most effective form of motivation is when something is done for its own sake rather than for rewards from others. Our innate motivation is really damaged by extrinsic rewards. Children, for instance, are inherently motivated to draw, but as soon as an incentive is offered, they become disinterested.
People who are intrinsically motivated frequently exhibit better levels of engagement and psychological wellness. Additionally, they frequently perform better than people who are motivated by money, grades, or other benefits.
5. High degrees of adaptability
Whether we see things in a positive or negative light can have a significant impact on our ability to persevere.
More resilient people are more inclined to explain things in an upbeat and positive way. Contrarily, cliches like ‘This will never work’ or ‘This always happens to me’ suggest a pessimistic explanatory approach and can suggest lower levels of resilience too.
We can learn to change our explaining style to be more hopeful if we realize that cognitive distortions about unfavorable conditions are simply that—distortions.
Some chores that once seemed overwhelming may become as ordinary as putting on your clothes as your brain grows more competent at understanding the world around you through an entrepreneurial mindset.
Strategies for Effective Mindset Management
Learning to dominate your mind through good mindset management techniques can help you control your emotions, build resilience, and welcome new challenges, giving you a more positive outlook on life’s difficulties.
There are a number of strategies you can deploy to assist in creating more effective mindset management for yourself on a daily basis.
Thoughts are not automatically representative of facts
While everyone occasionally experiences depressing thoughts and emotional setbacks, life experiences or traumatic events may cause a person to battle with unpleasant and overpowering emotions.
At their core, humans are built to avoid suffering. Therefore, it makes sense that individuals will do everything they can to steer clear of upsetting ideas and emotions.
However, when there are challenging or traumatic events, it can become difficult to shut off invasive and intrusive thoughts about matters that are significant. This is especially true if an individual has a tendency to sit within defensive, preventative and scarcity mindsets.
No matter how unreasonable or rational they may be, sometimes thoughts won’t go away no matter how hard you try. Because of this, it’s critical to be aware of your behavior and make an effort to acknowledge others.
By becoming conscious of your thoughts, you can work on accepting or reshaping them, keeping in mind that they are just that—thoughts—and encouraging yourself to reason your viewpoints. You can control your worries and subsequently your mentality by resisting the influence of your disturbing ideas and maintaining perspective regarding the situation.
Be your own biggest supporter
Another aspect we may control to govern our thinking is the way we communicate to ourselves. When we make a mistake or encounter a challenge, it can be all too simple to be critical of ourselves or place responsibility on ourselves.
But, if we can become conscious of the internal dialogue that occurs within ourselves, we can gradually build our confidence by speaking to ourselves like we would a friend.
When we learn to become our own biggest supporter, we can significantly increase our self-esteem and confidence, indicating that we should be kind to ourselves more than ever.
To have a better understanding of how your thoughts might trigger emotional responses, try to recall instances where unfavorable thoughts and self-reflection predominate. Next time you catch yourself engaging in critical self-talk, try to stop yourself by taking a step back, paying attention to your thoughts, and telling yourself you are doing your best.
This provides options for thought. As our self-confidence increases, we start to think more about what is possible than what can go wrong, which results in a happier and more ambitious you both within and outside of the job.
Find a therapeutic coping strategy that works for you
There are many different types of therapy, and a trained expert is not always required.
Finding a self-help resource that works for a specific person is important because there are many of them available.
There are several approaches you may take to assist control your mentality, ranging from guided meditation where you can envision calming, positive scenarios to encourage a calmer state of mind to practicing breathing techniques to help slow your thoughts and bodily reactions down.
Even though it is a simple act, writing down our thoughts and feelings is a great method to make sense of what we are experiencing and can open up new ideas for coping or moving forwards. Writing things down has also always been a terrific technique to help focus our minds.
Case Study: Transparency and Candor
Brian, a vice president of sales and marketing for a telecommunications company in the Mountain West region of the US is today described as an extraordinary leader – but seven years ago, that wasn’t the case.
In fact, in previous years his senior management line was seriously concerned about what they described as a possible ‘fatal flaw’ in his personality. He was results driven (which the company loved) but he was also perceived to be a bully in his pursuit of results.
No one likes hearing that they are a bully.
Following a formal talent assessment process meeting, Brian received the challenging criticism from the regional senior vice president and his immediate supervisor at the time.
His manager said to him: ‘If you don’t change, you won’t be able to grow into more significant leadership roles at this company’.
Brian admits that he went through a protracted grieving process that included denial, rage, bargaining, melancholy (non-clinical depression), and ultimately acceptance. He had a significant professional turning point. He had two options: accept the criticism and advance professionally, or completely reject it and risk being coached out of the company.
Many people simply lack the ability to accept criticism and turn it to their benefit. Because Brian can learn from his mistakes thanks to his growth mindset, he made the fundamental decisions to enlarge his feedback loop to include his critics and to solicit assistance from them.
He had always had a small group of close friends and confidants, but he made the bold decision to also turn to his opponents for feedback so he could better understand where they were coming from, grow new skills and ultimately turn them into allies.
While he knew his essential personality wouldn’t alter, he acknowledged that he felt strong enough to be vulnerable. Open communication provided him the chance to resolve disagreements, identify common ground, and go forwards as a team if someone didn’t understand a decision he made.
Following some initial skepticism, coworkers praised him for his humility and friendliness. He exhibited greater transparency and continued to work on his communication skills. In the following 3 years Brian saw a 29 percent rise on his employee satisfaction surveys in relation to his management style and communication efforts.
Brian had always been a leader who prioritized outcomes, and his management recognized this in his actions. He was able to accept the unfavorable criticism of his management approach and convince important stakeholders that he could do more for the company.
Because he was prepared to make changes in his management style he moved from being seen as a problem to being seen as a change agent who could offer the required expertise to develop a region in need of fresh perspectives.
The change in the way he was viewed by senior management meant that he was given a promotion to a position that needed a strong manager to turn around weak sales and results.
The position required more people, was more visible, and presented greater challenges. Brian had widened his circle of influence by the time he agreed to take on his new position.
In his new role, Brian experienced an abrupt influx of everything. The region had consumer churn and a three times higher-than-average employee turnover rate of 60%. When Brian took over as the manager, his team had the weakest performance amongst a group of big hitters.
At this point, Brian had the opportunity to go back to his old poor behaviors, which would have provided temporary relief but not long-term success. Because rewiring requires a lot of time and effort when our brains undergo change, new behaviors are challenging to keep up.
There’s no mistaking that Brian’s region has materially changed from the day he started the job.
He’d be the first to say that facing the criticism of being a bully was one of the hardest and most rewarding challenges of his career. Brian’s story shows how a growth mindset, which continues to grow and develop over time, is the foundation for success when dealing with tough change.
Exercise 7.1: Reframing Goals
1. Make a list of 3-4 goals that your organization is currently pursuing.
– These goals can be small or big, short-term or long-term.
– They are anything your organization is currently wanting to accomplish.
2. Create a table for each of these goals to sit within:
– List each goal in the table.
– Note whether it is short-term or long-term in the Duration column.
– Note whether the goal is specific or vague in the Specificity column.
– Note whether the purpose of the goal is to improve the skills or the performance of the organization in the Purpose column.
3. Evaluate the current status of each goal:
– What are the pro’s of the goal?
o What benefits does the organization gain by achieving this goal?
– What are the con’s of the goal?
o How does achieving this goal detract from the progress, success and the like of the organization?
– How can each of the goals be improved to better serve the needs of the organization?
o Does the goal need to be reframed?
o Does the goal need to be combined with another goal?
o Does the goal need to be abandoned and replaced with another goal?
o Other improvements?
Course Manual 2: Mindset Agency
Mindset agency has been stated as being the ‘highest level of personal competence’.
Your mindset is a set of ideas that influence how you see the world and who you are. It affects your thoughts, emotions, and actions in any given circumstance. It implies that your success or failure is influenced by the way you view yourself.
Agency is the feeling of control over your life, the power to shape your own ideas and actions, and the confidence in your abilities to face a variety of challenges and circumstances. Your sense of agency enables you to maintain psychological stability while being adaptable in the face of change or conflict.
Therefore, mindset agency is the ability to have control over the way that you think, act and feel about the world, the things in it and their impact on you.
Think about the challenges that you currently have in your life whether they are with your family, friends, profession, employment, climate change and the list goes on.
What traits do they share psychologically? High-functioning human agency is required for success in each scenario.
In a psychological context, agency refers to a set of ideas or thinking. Genuine agency, on a deeper level, involves the plans and deeds that help us get the things we want and need.
It’s good to feel like you can make decisions. However, feeling agentic is very different from actually using your agency, which is acting responsibly and moving forth with your desired objectives.
Gaining considerable control over your outcomes in the many spheres of life, such as employment, school, sports, physical health, and psychological wellbeing, is known as exercising agency.
The Four Pillars of Mindset Agency
In order to function with fully-fledged agency, you must have confidence in your ability to succeed and take the following actions:
1. Forethought: making a decision to accept a challenge, planning ahead, establishing objectives, and making decisions.
2. Execution: initiating actions, carrying out strategies, and persevering in the face of failure.
3. Self-management: taking care of oneself, managing stress and emotions, and keeping one’s health in tip-top shape to support one’s activities.
4. Learning and adapting: keeping track of results, reevaluating plans of action, and making sensible changes.
All four agency pillars should be carefully implemented if you want to progress both personally and professionally and improve your performance over time. Thus, agency is a crucial source of strength, ability, and competence that can enhance your general wellbeing.
Capability Mindsets
Entrepreneurial, capitalist, global, or environmental mindsets are a collection of presumptions or beliefs that shape your views, thoughts, and behavior. Fortunately, you aren’t born with a mindset that you then have to live with forever. It is possible to learn and build a mindset that provides you with flexibility, ability and agency (the ultimate type of competence).
In particular, competence and agency are relevant to two extensively researched mindsets. A fixed mindset is the conviction that intelligence and other character traits and skills are unchangeable. A growth mentality, on the other hand, inspires and enables you to improve your skills through learning.
It is widely understood that it is important to adopt a growth mentality if you want to improve your agency in any situation or field.
The most fruitful of the many competence-related mindsets is an agentic mindset, which is the conviction that you can successfully apply the four pillars of agency and that you have a genuine chance of success.
For better or worse, these mindsets have an impact on how well people perform at work, develop their careers, and even try to adapt to and lessen the rate and severity of climate change.
The hierarchy of competency mindsets can be influenced by fixed and development mindsets.
Competence Mindset Hierarchy
The five mindsets, which are sorted from weakest competence at the bottom to most robust competence (agency) at the top, reflect distinct levels of competence.
Despite feeling empowered at work, you can be unsure of your long-term future and unable to stop climate change.
Thoughts and feelings can alter, varying and shifting over time and in response to different challenges. A person can move up or down the hierarchy by changing their thinking, whether as a result of new circumstances or personal decisions.
If you don’t care about increasing your proficiency in a certain field, a fixed mindset can be exactly what you need, however if you have goals you want to achieve then adopting a growth mentality makes it possible for you to get to where you want to go.
The five degrees of competence-related mindsets are as follows, starting with strong agency at the top of the pyramid:
Agentic:
‘I am acting in ways that will achieve what is required. I have the skills and resources I need (or can obtain them), feel motivated to put them to use’.
To achieve your objectives, you must put all four agency pillars into practice.
Empowered:
‘I have the abilities and freedom to deliver well and improve even further’.
Being properly ‘empowered involves sufficient autonomy, support, resources, and opportunity; it is not just a feeling.
Being able to use these empowerment tools effectively is what drives complete agency; having them at your disposal is not the same as doing so.
Capable:
‘If I put my mind to it, I can perform satisfactorily and get better’.
This way of thinking might or might not be based in reality. This suggests moderate confidence, though occasionally overconfidence.
A capable mindset probably makes you feel good, but if the situation changes, it might not transfer into strong drive and efficient action.
If you are performing poorly or insufficiently in the eyes of others but are unaware of or don’t think that your performance isn’t up to par, it may be an impediment.
Passive:
‘I don’t give my expertise in this field much thought, and I probably won’t make any efforts to improve’.
This may be the result of having a fixed perspective, thinking that your chances of improving are slim, or not seeing the need for improvement in that particular area.
It’s possible that you never checked in or that you checked out of a previous activity. Higher-level mindsets and practice are necessary to overcome passivity, yet this mindset is typically characterized by minimal effort.
Declining:
‘My ability to perform is or soon will be slipping away’.
Examples of declining (technically, decremental) mindsets include thinking a certain set of physical or mental abilities are deteriorating and not anticipating a change, having the same perspective on the technical abilities or energy levels that are beneficial to your work, or thinking that climate change will only get worse no matter what you do, so you don’t even need to try to help.
It’s possible that a declining mindset is accurate. Sometimes it’s impossible to stop a deterioration.
However, often by applying some focus and practice, facts and circumstances can improve and get better.
Changing your thinking won’t make the required changes appear out of nowhere.
However, a change in perspective can spur action—agency’s driving force—improving your physical or mental health, work output, and career. Even the worst consequences of climate change may be prevented or lessened with its aid.
How to Improve Mindset Agency
Large scale events that present significant challenges (such as the global pandemic that occurred in 2020), create circumstances that force immediate and significant change to happen almost overnight.
Things we think are too complicated and that require too much change too rapidly to implement suddenly become the norm. Organizations, and the people within them, have to find a way to evolve quickly and make everything work in the ‘new’ world.
Very little returns to ‘normal’ after these large-scale events and often they cause the pace and adoption of change to speed up for some time afterwards.
One of the greatest ways to improve mindset agency is to always remember that anything can happen and change is the only constant state of being that we can rely on.
For example, the 2020 global pandemic compelled change to occur in a matter of months instead of that change taking years and in some cases decades to occur. This pandemic changed the way organizations operate – such as major media companies, manufacturers of consumer goods, and brands of all kinds turning to directly marketing to their consumer to a doctor being consulted by phone or video.
It became possible to order practically anything to your door using your phone, including meals, consumer products, and more.
Not only did organizations rapidly shift the way that they did things, but consumers changed the way that they interacted with organizations as well.
Anything is possible.
But since anything is possible, that means that options become endless.
That means that endless options become available in all spaces in life. Can’t make it to a live concert? No problem – there’s now access to online, pre-recorded and/or live virtual events.
Can’t attend that personal development course in person? Here’s the self-paced, online option that might better suit where you’re life is at right now.
Can’t make it to the shops to get your weekly grocery shop done? Here’s how you order online and then have it delivered to you at a time that’s convenient for you.
This means that we no longer have to put off investing in a goal because you think you won’t achieve it right away. While it is possible to enter a new environment too soon, the basis for thinking infinitely is accepting change and actively going towards it.
Your ego doesn’t run the show.
Leave your ego at the entrance.
One of the best ways to be on the wrong side of change is to fail to grasp that your way isn’t always the best way.
If your executive team is properly stacked, you are surrounded by intelligent individuals who are prepared to transform your most difficult problems into game-changing solutions. If you’ve employed your entire team well, everyone is there for a reason, and brilliant ideas will emerge from places or individuals you least expect them to.
If you’ve genuinely checked your ego, you’ve also let go of your fear of failing in addition to your concern with failing on your terms.
To embrace your entire experience and learn from the portion of it that ultimately has more to teach is to no longer be afraid of failing.
If you do fail, learn from it and apply the lessons to keep trying. To think infinitely is to comprehend that when you collaborate with others to keep the game continuing, this will assist you advance into what comes next.
An organization that has put its ego in check exhibits curiosity, adaptability, and a need for empathy in order to comprehend the world around them. This mindset is endless.
Doing what you love is the ultimate motivator.
Life is finite.
We should all work at what we enjoy. Better benefits, a better work-life balance, professional growth, and a corporate culture that supports personal values are all things that employees actively seek when they’re looking at what they want in their lives.
Organizations can’t always get every one of these aspects spot on, but the most important thing is to ensure that everyone at the organization enjoys their work. Do they appreciate the workplace culture? Are they working in the correct field? Do they take their work seriously and do they see room for improvement?
If not, it’s alright. The ultimate goal is to support each member of our team in finding their passion.
If that means that they need to be working somewhere else then let’s assist them in locating alternative employment opportunities. Why would we do this? Because it means that we have the opportunity to then source someone who does fit with the way our organization works.
When everyone is passionate about what they are doing, this results in a team that wants to give it their all at work in order to succeed and make a difference. It’s all about having fun and working as a team, which will ultimately lead to infinite potential for development and creativity.
This is a fascinating time to be living. The world is evolving so swiftly from consumer behavior like media consumption to a life more concerned with wellness.
Most of us don’t have a crystal ball or the ability to forecast the future. However, we can accept the realities of change, the truth that anything is conceivable, and the fact that life is too brief. Let’s follow our passions and embrace change.
Case Study: An Approach for Shifting Mindset and Perspectives for Sustainable Change
A Fortune 100 Financial Banking Services Company needed to improve the predictability, output and quality of the work that was being produced by several of its teams.
One of the major blockers the organization was facing was coming from the struggle they were experiencing between the product alignment and miscommunication around prioritization that was being received by their team members.
To achieve this, the organization used a 4-pillar approach to achieve sustainable, long-term change.
1. Meet the team where they’re at.
Instead of deciding what the issues were and then creating a solution for those issues, it was imperative for the organization to observe the team for a period of time to understand their current way of doing things.
Doing so, meant that the organization could gain an understanding of what was working for the team and what wasn’t working so well and this gave them very clear information about what could be improved upon.
Before you can hope for any meaningful adjustments in any team process, you need to create an atmosphere of trust, respect, and open communication.
By asking questions, the organization opened up the possibility for team members to provide their thoughts on the current situation and share their ideas about ways that processes could be improved moving forward.
It also enabled the team to work with the organization to create a priority matrix that would allow the team to focus on tasks in small, focused sprints rather than getting overwhelmed by the larger, long-term goals.
2. Define key ingredients for success.
In order to foster a culture of open communication, respect, and trust, vulnerability is essential. Here are some strategies the organization used to encourage vulnerability within their teams.
Openly acknowledging mistakes.
To demonstrate that mistakes are chances for learning, I demonstrated to the team that they were encouraged to acknowledge when we had made a mistake.
Adopting a curiosity about errors that have been made.
By becoming curious about mistakes, the organization were able to encourage their employees to talk about mistakes and learn from them by acknowledging that everyone makes mistakes (instead of berating, criticizing, or humiliating the mistake maker).
By encouraging team members to ask questions, and by using affirmative language like ‘that’s a great question’ or ‘glad you asked’ in place of patronizing expressions like ‘Oh, you didn’t know that?’ or ‘I’m surprised you didn’t know’.
Provoking the team’s curiosity.
It’s well documented that oftentimes, a question one person has is likely to be shared by another team member who might be too shy to ask it out loud.
By encouraging team members to ask questions, the team became more solution-oriented by concentrating on going forwards when errors, delays, or problems occurred rather than on what went wrong.
3. Emphasize value.
The organization took the unusual step of emphasizing the value the team created, instead of only focusing on metrics on a page. To do this, they created a list of items that clearly set out why the team was as successful as it was:
– Relationships that were report-driven vs. cooperative
– Tolerant of trial and error
– Mutual respect between all parties
– Passion-driven behavior encouraged a growth mindset within the team
– Servant leadership plus ownership
– Innovative approaches to protect engineer time or free up capacity
– Vision + long-term improvement objectives
– Meetings maintained the focus of improving importance, effect, and output
– Value and focus was placed on finding a work-life balance and on improving oneself
– Putting a priority on knowledge transfers and encouraging team members to take on more challenging tasks
– Team freedom to look for additional methods to improve
4. Self-improvement
The organization opened up new opportunities for team members to access growth and development for themselves in key areas:
– Values and goals
– Product and impact
– Leadership and culture
– Markets and environments
By opening up opportunities for self-development within these categories the organization allowed individuals to access opportunities that met their physiological needs, provided them with a greater sense of being valued, increased their self-esteem and allowed them to progress towards self-actualization.
A team will treat other teams with the same degree of kindness, respect, and communication that they themselves show to the members on their own team if they feel secure, trusted, supported, and empowered.
If more organizations provided access to an environment similar to the one that this team was allowed to operate within, consider how much the lives of employees and workplaces could differ.
Humans beings bring their feelings about work home to their family and friends, and their feelings about their family and friends to their workplace. Imagine creating an environment where you are positively influencing the whole life of an employee.
Exercise 7.2: Long-lasting Change
1. Write down something that you want to change for good.
– A goal for the organization that would involve a long-lasting change.
2. Write down an action, which if carried out repeatedly would help the organization reach this goal.
– Think of things that you can do, rather than things you ‘should’ do.
3. Choose whether this change needs to occur:
– As a gradual change (that is that it will occur with you introducing a small dose of the desired behavior and then gradually increasing the frequency or duration of the behavior) or whether
OR
– As a ‘chunked’ change (that is you move closer to your goal by carrying out the desired behavior in smaller chunks for a longer period of time).
4. Create a plan for the option you chose from question 3.
– What step needs to be taken first?
– Who will the step be taken by?
– When will the step be taken?
Take your chosen change back to the main group and present the process you’ve chosen to implement it and provide your reasoning for why you believe it will be sustainable in the long-term.
Course Manual 3: Fixed And Growth Mindsets
Someone with a growth mindset views intelligence, abilities, and talents as learnable and capable of improvement through effort.
On the other hand, someone with a fixed mindset views those same traits as inherently stable and unchangeable over time.
For example, as an aspiring entrepreneur, you need basic finance skills to create your business’s budget and prepare its financial statements.
If you have a fixed mindset, you may think, ‘I’ve never been good with math, let alone financial statements. I’m not cut out to run my own business’.
Now imagine you approach the situation with a growth mindset. You might think, ‘I don’t have a background in finance, but I can learn and practice those skills until I feel capable’.
The concept of growth and fixed mindsets was coined by psychologist Carol Dweck in her 2006 book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. According to Dweck, challenging situations can be catastrophic for those with fixed mindsets because of the implication that if they don’t already have the skills or intelligence to complete a task, there’s no chance of improvement.
When you have a growth mindset, you believe you can gain the knowledge and skills necessary to succeed, which makes every challenge a learning opportunity.
Given the numerous challenges every individual faces every day, a growth mindset can be a powerful tool as you work toward achieving your goals.
Growth Mindsets
A growth mindset can be a powerful ally to just about every individual on the planet.
People who have a growth mindset believe that their current levels of morality, personality, and intelligence are simply the beginning. These characteristics are malleable and subject to alter with hard work and determination.
Regardless of their talents, people who have a growth mindset are more capable of accomplishing things, love learning naturally, are more resilient, and have higher self-esteem.
The most widely recognized characteristic of a growth mindset is that of a love for pushing yourself to grow and staying with it, even (or especially) when things aren’t going well.
‘This is challenging, but with more effort, I can progress’, are among the thoughts or statements that people with a development mindset are more likely to make. Following are some additional thoughts that people with a growth mindset tend to carry:
– I’m not yet as skilled at this as some others.
– I take on challenges because I get knowledge from them.
– Receiving feedback from others enables me to develop.
– Although I find this assignment to be simple, I believe there are still areas in which I may excel.
– Since other people are excellent at this task, I could be as well.
– The amount of work I put into reaching the objective determines my level of achievement.
– I want to learn so much because there is so much I don’t know.
As children, we’re often conditioned to develop a fixed mindset state, however as adults there are ways to move past this and make a growth mindset the normal way of thinking.
Some examples of changing one’s outlook from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset include teaching ourselves to:
Make light of small mistakes:
Little things like dropping a glass, spilling some water, forgetting to check the mail box can be completely minimized when we consciously choose to make them small.
They’re little things that don’t have any real bearing on the progress or outcome of the day and when we apply a growth mindset to these situations they remain in the small state that is due to them.
Openly sharing stories about mistakes:
When we share stories about the mistakes we’ve made in the past and the lessons we’ve learned from the experience we normalize the everyday experience of being human.
Not only does doing this enable us to feel like we don’t have to hide from the human experience of life, but it also allows us to defeat any perfectionist tendencies that may arise and create havoc in our lives.
Deliberately learn new things that require making mistakes:
Learning new skills not only opens up new brain waves and keeps our mind young, it also gives us the opportunity to practice making mistakes and applying what we learn from them.
Things like learning to use new tools (think woodworking, leather making, ceramics and the like) opens us up to learning new techniques that require us to grow as we upskill. When we’re first learning, we often understand one part of the technique but not another and that means we get part of the process right but it impacts the overall result.
Working our way through this, learning, growing and developing allows us to embrace the totality of the process that allows us to produce a great end result over time.
Apologizing when mistakes are made:
Owning up to our mistakes allows others around us to feel like the process of being human is accepted.
Whenever there is a human element to a process, there is an opening for mistakes to be made. Whether it’s a misunderstanding of instructions, a small distraction in concentration, a lower skill level than is required it doesn’t matter. By showing people that mistakes are human and that they’re a part of growth and development you encourage people to step up and give new things a go.
It’s important to understand that no one has a growth mindset all of the time.
We all have areas that we have greater strengths in and other areas where our strengths are lesser. There’s a modern tendency to feel like we have to be growing and developing all the time for us to be successful, but sometimes allowing ourselves to rest is the greatest growth we can experience.
Despite what the marketing campaigns might want us to believe, we’re not broken and we don’t need fixing. It’s so important to remember that growth happens in spurts.
As children we didn’t go from being half our parents’ height to towering over them in one day. Growth happens in stages and we need to allow ourselves a period of time between growth spurts for the changes to settle and become the norm.
Without rest, we put the changes we’ve made at risk because we force ourselves into a situation or overload and when overwhelm takes over it is much more likely that we will revert to a known status that we previously held than it is that we will stay sitting in unfamiliar territory. That means that all the work we’ve put in to enact change in our lives can be undone simply because we don’t allow ourselves a brief period of time to integrate the changes we’ve made.
This TED talk from Carol Dweck on Growth Mindset provides great information about how growth mindsets work:
Fixed Mindsets
Someone has a fixed mindset when they think their traits are unchangeable or that they are written in stone.
This way of thinking assumes that one has ‘a certain degree of intelligence, a certain personality, and a certain moral character’. People with this mentality believe they must constantly prove their worth or give up trying because these attributes are fixed.
If you have a fixed mindset, you could think or say things like:
– This is too hard, I might as well give up.
– Why even attempt when I’m not as good at this as other people?
– In order to avoid appearing foolish, I will avoid problems at all costs.
– I take criticism personally when I receive it.
– Since I can complete this activity easily, I’ll quit trying to get better so I don’t fail.
– There are far too many people who are better at this than I am, so why even try?
– I base my success on the final result, and I am an expert in every field.
People who have a fixed mindset think that traits like talent and intelligence are fixed; they think that they are born with the degree of intelligence and natural skills they will have when they are adults.
A person with a fixed mindset typically shies away from obstacles in life, quits easily, and feels frightened or intimidated by other people’s success. This is due in part to a fixed attitude, which believes that intelligence and talent are things that you ‘are’ rather than something you can grow.
Negative thinking can result from fixed attitudes. For instance, a person with a fixed mindset can struggle with a task and think that their lack of intelligence is to blame. While a person with a growth mindset can struggle with the same task and think they need to practice more.
People who have a fixed mindset think that individual characteristics cannot change, regardless of how hard you work, and are more prone to:
– Avoiding problems will help you succeed
– Ignoring criticism will help you succeed
– Hiding defects will help you avoid being assessed by others
– Believing that your efforts are in vain
– Viewing comments as personal criticism
– Giving up quickly.
Common myths about fixed mindsets
It is common to misunderstand fixed mindsets.
Myth 1: Either you have skill or you don’t.
One of the most widespread illusions is the idea that talent is something you either have or don’t, and that no amount of effort can change it. Simply said, this is untrue. While some people might naturally be good at something, everyone can get better with practice and effort. Regardless of starting talent levels, deliberate practice can result in noticeable performance increases.
Myth 2: A person’s intelligence or skill level is reflected in their failure.
The idea that failure is a reflection of one’s intelligence or skill is another prevalent misconception. Failure, however, is merely a normal and inevitable component of the learning process. Long-term success is more likely for those who view failure as a chance to develop and learn. When we fail, we are compelled to analyze our errors and come up with fresh strategies for solving the issue. This aids in the development of fresh abilities and methods that we can use going forwards.
It might be difficult for many people since having a fixed mindset can result in a paralyzing fear of failing.
We are more prone to avoid taking chances or doing new things because we are terrified of failing if we think our abilities are fixed. This restricts our ability to advance and evolve. Those who have a development attitude, however, are more likely to try new things and take risks, even if they may fail. As a result, they are able to grow and learn from their errors.
Myth 3: People with fixed mindsets simply lack the desire to learn or grow.
People who have a fixed mindset could be eager to learn and grow, but they might also think that their potential is constrained. Paradoxically, as a result, they might not exert the effort necessary to accomplish their objectives. They may be more driven to exert the necessary effort to achieve their goals if they have a growth mindset and think that their abilities can be developed.
Can someone’s mindset change?
A person’s brain functioning and thought patterns can change, just as they can grow and progress intellectually.
Neuroscience demonstrates that the brain is always changing and evolving, even in adults. The ability of the brain to change shape as new neural pathways develop throughout time makes it comparable to plastic. As a result, neuroplasticity—the field of study that measures the propensity for the brain to change through growth and reorganization—has been developed by scientists.
According to numerous studies, the brain can strengthen existing connections, form new ones, and increase the pace at which pulses are transmitted. These imply that someone with a fixed mindset can gradually transition to a growth mindset.
You may switch from having a fixed perspective to having a growth mindset with studies in neuroscience showing the malleability of self-attributes like IQ also corroborate this.
Ways to cultivate a growth mindset
By undertaking studies and utilizing the neuroscience evidence demonstrating the brain’s malleability and the capacity for improvement via effort, researchers have discovered it is possible to encourage a growth mindset.
A growth mindset can be developed in a number of ways:
1. Recognize that you can advance scientifically
Understanding that our brains are wired for learning and growth is one of the simplest ways to promote a growth mindset. You can ‘rewire’ your brain by putting yourself through new experiences to create or strengthen neuronal connections, which could make you smarter.
2. Identify and discourage your inner ‘fixed mindset’ voice.
Many people battle a growth attitude with a critical inner voice. To foster a growth mindset, try to catch and change negative beliefs like ‘I can’t do this’ and instead turn those thoughts towards things such as ‘I can do this if I keep practicing’.
3. Honor the process
Even though society frequently honors individuals who produce exceptional results, this might be counterproductive to a growth attitude. Instead, honor the procedure and the labor put forth. Rewarding effort rather than results has been shown to enhance performance.
image too small
4. Seek feedback
Attempt to get opinions on your work. Giving pupils progressive feedback on what they did well and where they may make improvements inspires them to keep going. Feedback also fosters a growth mentality and is linked to a happy dopamine reaction.
5. Leave your comfort zone
A growth attitude can be encouraged by having the courage to step outside of your comfort zone. Try to select the more difficult option when faced with a difficulty because it will help you advance.
6. Recognize that mistakes will inevitably occur
Failure, setbacks, and early perplexity are all components of learning! When doing something new, consider ‘failures’ from time to time as opportunities to learn; make an effort to relish the learning process as it unfolds.
Case Study: How Microsoft Moved From a Fixed Mindset
Microsoft is a terrific example of a business that has switched from a fixed perspective to a growth mindset.
Through the application of the growth mindset strategy and supplementary ideas like psychological safety and the learning organization, they have become a respected leader not only in their own field but also throughout the world.
We can learn what Microsoft did to move from a fixed mindset by seeking the answers to the following question: How did they manage to right the ship and regain their status as one of the world’s coolest companies?
Their success is largely due to their growth mindset strategy.
A leadership decision was made that growth mindset should underpin Microsoft’s intended culture.
This led them to create a set of Microsoft specific leadership principles with the goal of including everyone in the organization, from senior executives to new employees, in establishing growth mindset behaviors, procedures, and environments as part of Microsoft’s everyday culture.
They achieved this through using a variety of methods including:
– Getting senior executives to discuss and practice growth mindset
– Campaigns to promote growth mindset adoption among employees; and
– Continual evaluation of how employees perceive growth mindset at work
They did this through creating opportunities:
– For employees to learn about growth mindset, interactive online modules with rich storytelling and multimedia have been designed.
– Managers to have meaningful discussions on growth mindset behaviors in the workplace by using conversation guides.
– Storytelling is a leadership technique used to illustrate growth mindset behaviors.
“Don’t be a know-it-all. Be a ‘learn-it-all’ is an excellent statement that was made by Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft during their transition to a growth mindset.
This statement clearly captures how they adopted the growth mindset approach and emphasizes the need for straightforward yet effective communication initiatives.
Kathleen Hogan, the chief people officer of Microsoft, praised Nadella’s efforts by saying: ‘One of the most effective things Satya has done is to talk about the idea that adopting a growth mindset for our culture isn’t about identifying everyone who doesn’t have a growth mindset; it starts with you identifying where you have a fixed mindset yourself, and it starts with you rising up every day to try to grow as a leader’.
By leading from the front and adopting growth mindset characteristics, Nadella showed the entire organization that he was serious about changing the way the company moved forward.
For example, Nadella requested that his leadership team be surveyed about instances in which they believed he displayed a fixed mindset. He then shared the results with the top 200 executives of Microsoft and stated, ‘Here’s where I show up with a fixed mindset; here’s what I’m working on. You must continually start with yourself and set an example of the behavior because this is a process and change starts at the individual level’.
Exercise 7.3: Pro’s and Con’s of Change
1. On a page, draw a large circle in the middle of the top half of the page. In that circle:
– Write down all the things that come easily to you:
o The things you can do without thinking about it
o The things you expect to happen on a regular basis
o The things you know how to react to
o The things, places and people you know how to act around
2. In the middle of the bottom half of the page, draw a second circle of the same size (if you have a different colored pen use that):
– In this circle write down all the things that create discomfort:
o The things you’re afraid of
o The things that make you uncomfortable
o The things about which you don’t know what to expect
o The things around which you don’t know how to react
o The things you have no experience or knowledge about
o The things that challenge you
3. Identify a challenge that you know you will have to face soon
– Write down what the challenge is – describe it in as much detail as you can.
– Is this something you want to do, but fear has been holding you back?
4. Identify your comfort zone signs:
– What is holding you back?
– What characteristics does your fear around this challenge hold?
– What thoughts do you notice yourself having around this challenge?
5. Write down what you’re missing out on by not facing this challenge.
– What opportunities for learning does this challenge provide?
– What skills could you develop?
– What opportunities will you miss by staying in your comfort zone?
6. Write down the potential for growth that this challenge offers you:
– How might this transform you as a person?
– How would completing this challenge change how you think and feel about yourself?
– What other ways could the growth you would experience from completing this challenge assist you?
Course Manual 4: Benefit Mindset
A benefit mindset develops when we recognize that we can improve our skills and change our perspectives to become more compassionate, inclusive, and interdependent.
It is known as a ‘benefit’ mindset because it is concerned with the ongoing process of discovering how we may bring about change and realize our individual potential in a way that benefits everyone.
Benefit mindset, which was created by Ash Buchanan in partnership with a global community of contributors, is based on the knowledge that reaching our potential requires more than just being intelligent, motivated, or growth oriented.
More specifically, it pertains to how successfully we are able to change the way we learn about our place in the world, compassionately attend to our personal and societal shadows, and join forces for the welfare of all people and all other living things.
While having a growth mindset has numerous benefits over having a fixed perspective, the ability to achieve our potential in a way that values our individuality and promotes the wellness of the entire community of life—not just humans—is what truly makes us thrive.
As Martin Luther King said:
‘It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. We are made to live together, because of the interrelated structure of reality.’
A benefit mindset acknowledges that we are not independent, stand-alone individuals.
Regardless of our interests, passions, or areas of skill, each of us has a part to play in fostering a healthy environment on the globe because we are all interdependent beings who are a part of a vast global ecosystem known as the community of life.
To realize our potential in a way that validates life and helps others do the same, it is crucial that we take responsibility for changing how we come to see our role in the world. This goes beyond simply believing that we can grow.
Issues such as climate change, systematic injustice and socioeconomic disadvantage might take center stage as some of the world’s most critical issues, however it is now up to all of us – schools, corporations, governments, and the general public – to look past the high profile of some issues, show up and make a contribution that benefits the wellness of everyone at every level.
This is not a task for brave leaders, astute researchers, or a select few enlightened individuals. Every person has a responsibility in this regard. Each person has a responsibility.
The flow-on effect
Since all life is interconnected and our wellbeing is intricately linked, when we act in ways that are good for other people and society as a whole, we have the potential to have a positive ripple impact.
This is when acts of kindness or other compassionate deeds have a cascading positive effect on others and on us in terms of our health and wellbeing. Acting out of care for all life in this way results in a positive cycle of mutual benefit and opens up fresh opportunities for self-healing and global development.
We become more compassionate towards everyone and the rest of the living Earth community when we become aware of our interdependence. It also helps us to realize that many of the things we take for granted as being normal and healthy in today’s culture are fact harmful and unhealthy, harming not just ourselves but also other people and the environment.
Therefore, rather than using the disruption of today as an excuse to stay inside and resume our old ways of living and working, we can use this time to consider who we are and what kind of society we want to be, and then decide to change both ourselves and the world by embracing the possibility of profound civilizational renewal.
We have faced, and will likely continue to face difficult times, but difficulties also have the potential to help us realize who we truly are and what kind of society we want to be.
The disruption of today offers us a once-in-a-lifetime chance to band together and help one another. Let’s take use of this chance to show off our greatest human traits and give back to the living Earth community as alert, involved, and responsive individuals.
Exploring the benefit mindset
As humans, we’re social creatures and with that comes a yearning to belong.
We form relationships with a range of people when we feel included and understood by them, and these ties complete our lives. Each of us is looking for such connections deep within.
In the workplace, where each individual’s social and emotional health directly influences their overall ability to contribute, acceptance and affinity are extremely crucial. Belonging becomes significant for everyone when there is a sense of community and cooperation, and the idea of benefit mentality is based on this sense of shared relevance.
Growth mindset plants strong seeds of self-improvement and self-belief; benefit mindset nurtures those seeds to maturity in ways that improve not just one’s own life but also the lives of others.
Benefit mindset researcher Ash Buchanan claims that it is ‘a purpose-driven mindset that is redefining success from being the best in the world, to being the best for the world’.
We are able to make thoughtful judgements that benefit both parties when we consider how our attitudes and behavior affect other people.
Empathy education is merely the beginning. We may turn what may start as extracurricular obligations into joyful, regular deeds of kindness as employers and organizations demand more and more proof of service and leadership.
However, without concrete examples and regular feedback, people could be unsure about how to put their mindsets into practice.
Here are four strategies for motivating teams to act in a way that eliminates barriers between ‘me’ and ‘we’ so that individuals can simultaneously benefit themselves, others, and the planet we share.
1. Suggesting Inclusion: Not a Single Individual Eats Alone
Employ an organization-wide policy that no one is left sitting alone to eat.
Community and belonging can be strongly forged around food and there is nothing more comforting than being included with others who are gathered around a meal.
So, in situations where there are multiple people in a break room at the same time, this means that everyone is embraced and welcomed to join a conversation or sit with the group for the meal.
A friendly smile and a welcoming comment can mean the difference between someone feeling like they belong rather than disconnected from the organization.
The transformation in organizational culture that occurs when each individual discovers a sense of place and belonging is extraordinary.
2. Peer support: Use the benefit of experience
Enlist individuals who have been with your organization for some time to help new employees to transition into the company culture. Choose your champions from all walks of life within your organization because everyone has a different nugget of information on how to succeed within the business.
Never underestimate what both the giver and the receiver in these situations experience in these exchanges. You often see a boost in confidence and ability in both parties.
3. Inspire change makers: interactive individuals
Engage your employees by asking them to make a list of the elements of the organization that they feel could be easily changed or have something added.
For example, things like flexible seating and hot-desking is one option that doesn’t require too much change but that can foster more inclusive relationships because people get to know each other better when they sit together. Other suggestions might include things like implementing a recycling program, setting up peer mediation, introducing some plants, offering wholesome meals and snacks, organizing theme-based events like morning teas or fundraisers, establishing new interest groups or introducing a regular news alert.
Employees learn that they may be agents of improvement when they are given the opportunity to propose, plan, and implement change.
4. Focus on the good: the everyday heroes
Establish a process whereby employees can share and highlight information regarding ‘heroic’ acts they have seen in the workplace.
This is about naming selfless and inclusive acts that benefit the collective and are witnessed by others as they occur.
They’re not necessarily about naming people or highlighting individuals, they’re about ‘bringing to the light’ the acts that individuals (and sometimes groups) perform that increase the wellbeing of everyone as a whole.
These tales are often more powerful when they’re reported anonymously and they create a model for deeds of kindness to be the default way that life is lived by those within the organization. Acknowledging other people’s kindness is a great method to increase the influence of a benefit mindset.
Acting with a benefit mentality is not something people do for two hours on one Saturday each month out of reluctant duty; rather, it is a way of being that produces significant outcomes both inside and outside of the organization.
What is a benefit corporation?
A benefit corporation is a for-profit corporate entity with societal effect as one of its objectives in business. You could say that a benefit corporation has taken a benefit mindset and applied it to a for profit model so that the business can succeed only within a lens of creating greater benefit for the community as well.
Some people feel that maximizing shareholder value (earnings and/or share price) is the only overarching or compelling objective of a company because laws governing conventional corporations often do not identify the ‘best interest of the corporation’.
Benefit corporations specifically state that achieving a profit is not their main objective. Their operations may or may not be very different from those of conventional corporations. A regular corporation can transform into a benefit corporation by simply declaring this in its approved corporate bylaws.
For instance, a 2013 study by MBA students at the University of Maryland revealed that one key reason businesses in Maryland had chosen to file as benefit corporations was for community recognition of their values.
A business may decide to file as a benefit corporation rather than a traditional C corporation for a variety of reasons. Directors and officers of a benefit corporation exercise the same authority and conduct as those of a traditional corporation, but they are also required to take into account how their decisions will affect not only the shareholders but also the community, the environment locally and globally.
The company’s operations have no bearing on its position as a benefit corporation; rather, it gives them protection so they can pursue goals and engage in activities that include the public good.
A business that wishes to turn a profit while also addressing social, economic, and environmental problems has the option of operating as a typical for-profit business corporation model or deciding to become a benefit corporation. Both have advantages and disadvantages.
In addition to public perception and product quality, shareholders normally assess a company’s health based on its long-term financial success. However, in recent years, the proliferation of quarterly trade reporting has resulted in a hyperfocus on short-term gains.
As a result, although it is untrue, the idea that corporate directors are required by law to maximize shareholder profit has grown. The statute governing benefit corporations assures that a director must take into account other public advantages in addition to profit, preventing shareholders from citing a decline in stock value as justification for a lawsuit or dismissal of the corporation.
The publication of yearly benefit reports of benefit corporations’ social and environmental performance is mandated under transparency rules. These reports must be thorough, reliable, impartial, and transparent. Fewer states, however, had legislation that would remove a company’s benefit corporation designation or impose fines if it didn’t produce benefit reports that adhered to state law.
The majority of benefit company statutes’ reporting requirements can be satisfied by one of 12 third-party standards.
A benefit corporation is exempt from the third-party standard’s certification or audit requirements. It may instead just utilize third-party standards as a benchmark to assess its own performance.
The law governing the need for operating certifications varies from state to state in the 36 states that currently recognize benefit companies as legitimate business entities, as various authors have researched and noted in this case.
For instance, operating as a benefit corporation is not subject to the necessity for certificates from a third party in the state of Indiana.
Additionally, it has been suggested that other businesses that decide to operate as benefit corporations would also choose to pursue obtaining a B Corp certification from a third party, such as B Lab.
Other studies support the relationship between employee ownership and a benefit corporation.
In the United States, there are specific laws that have been created in 36 states that accept this type of business structure ‘to merge the traditional for-profit business corporation model with a non-profit model by allowing social entrepreneurs to consider interests beyond those of maximizing shareholder wealth’.
Why a benefit mindset is important
Attempts to do good are likely to fail unless people have a true concern for the linked systems they are a part of. The skills to attend to and interact with, those systems are also crucial to embedding a benefit mindset into any organization.
Consider what would be possible if a benefit mindset and a push for more organizations to become benefit corporations were combined, allowing business to be used to address environmental and social issues. Think about the good effects this approach would have on a social enterprise or a green building. What about the effects that could be had for generations to come if this was set as an example for a ‘normal’ way of thinking?
One could argue that this is simply old wine in a new bottle. Our parents, educators, and purpose-driven enterprises are already aware of it. But what’s been missing is a clear, concise explanation of the attitude that change agents employ to build a better future.
It is believed that this new benefit mentality paradigm will help us continue to explore and comprehend how crucial mentality is for creating a better society.
Case Study: The Psychology of Contribution and Everyday Leadership
The mindset one has affects their capacity to learn and lead, as well as to achieve and contribute. It represents personally distinctive attitudes, beliefs, and values. The benefit mindset is offered as a mutually supporting approach for increasing wellbeing on both an individual and a community level by bringing together two study areas—a ‘being well’ viewpoint from positive psychology and a ‘doing good’ perspective that is socially and environmentally focused.
It expands on Dweck’s theory of Fixed and Growth Mindsets by incorporating the broader context in which an individual exists. The benefit mindset characterizes common leaders who find their talents to contribute significantly to causes bigger than themselves, leaders who believe in making a significant difference, and leaders who situate their actions within a meaningful context.
This case study contends that one of the best levers we have for simultaneously bringing out the best in individuals, organizations, and the planet is the creation of cultures of participation and everyday leadership.
When Carol Dweck’s book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (2006) initially came out, it was marketed as a straightforward concept that could make a significant impact. According to Dweck, perceptions about our own intelligence and abilities—as either fixed features we cannot change or as attributes we can hone with work—have a significant impact on our capacity for learning and development.
This Fixed and Growth Mindset (FGM) hypothesis contends that a Fixed Mindset inhibits learning while a Growth Mindset provides a means of realizing one’s fullest potential. This idea has gained traction in both business and education, and it contends that the mindset we decide to adopt for ourselves has a significant impact on both our capacity for learning and success (Harvard Business Review Staff, 2014).
However, ten years after this book’s publication, people began to reevaluate what it means to advance and succeed. A growing number of urgent social, environmental, and economic issues, such as population increase, deteriorating ecosystems, geopolitical stressors and economic stress are now being faced by humanity.
On a planet with limited resources, there is a growing understanding of the interconnectedness and indivisible nature of human wellbeing, as well as the necessity of placing restrictions on economic and population growth.
A new mentality paradigm that is socially and environmentally conscious seems to be emerging in this setting. This new mindset and worldwide movement are not motivated by personal gain, but rather by individuals who value their health AND improving the globe.
Being the best not just in the world but also FOR the world is how success is now being redefined by a purpose-driven, leadership-based approach. This paradigm is referred to as the benefit mindset.
Every person’s development depends on knowing how to expand, excel, and set themselves apart through focused practice. The benefit mindset then places this need for human growth and effort within a group and intentional setting.
Using this viewpoint, and overlaying an organizational context, the main concern for leaders then becomes a question of how they can get their individuals to thrive and then create an environment where they can share what they have learned so that all their team members can work together to become partners in one another’s thriving.
It is an innate ‘knowing’ and understanding that our capacity for growth is intricately linked to the ecosystems and communities to which we belong.
A benefit mindset provides an opportunity for ‘being well’ and ‘doing good’ to be mutually supportive and intrinsically linked.
Your capacity for doing good increases as your health level increases. Furthermore, the more good you perform, the more your capacity for wellness increases. Being healthy and doing good are probably related and mutually beneficial.
Implications:
A benefit mindset therefore becomes a potent tool for discussing the part that attitude plays in consciously forming the future is the benefit mindset. Regardless of position or status, everyone can take action to truly make a difference.
Some key areas where this can be seen include:
– Education – students have a more comprehensive understanding of human potential and internal growth thanks to being taught the ways to develop a benefit mindset. Early on, it can assist kids in integrating study and leadership, success and contribution. Additionally, it might significantly alter students’ perspectives to include ‘me and we’ and encourage young people to become intentional future creators.
– Business – It is starting to be acknowledged that companies with a purpose will be the ones that are most likely to succeed in the future. One of the best ways to truly integrate purpose and everyday leadership into organizational operations may be to develop everyday leaders with a benefit mindset. This offers strategic value for attracting and supporting the growth of individuals in utilizing business as a force for good and in building cultures of human flourishing. A rising number of people only want to work for purpose-driven organizations.
– Psychology – A large portion of psychology concentrates on the individual or how elements of the social environment affect an individual’s behavior. The benefit mindset pushes psychologists to create more complex contextual viewpoints on wellbeing, leadership, and human potential. It also presents a challenge for researchers to investigate mental routes for altering mindsets beyond growth.
While the process for switching from a Fixed to a Growth Mindset is clear, “how can we support people and organizations in developing a benefit mindset?” becomes the question that drives the development of organizations into the future.
Exercise 7.4: Creating and Achieving Goals that Benefit Individuals and Community
1. Identify a goal that you would like to work towards.
– Write down the specifics of your goal:
o Is it health related?
o Is it educational?
o Is it personal development focused?
o Other?
2. Is your goal an approach goal (i.e. a positive outcome you’re working towards) or a preventative goal (i.e. something that you’re working to prevent or eliminate)?
3. Write down all the ways that achieving your goal benefit you?
4. Overlaying a benefit mindset to your goal, write down all the ways that your achieving this goal can benefit your community (family, friends, workplace).
5. How can you use what you learn whilst achieving this goal be used to assist others wanting to achieve the same, or similar goals?
Course Manual 5: Global Mindset
The set of personal characteristics, communication abilities, and practical knowledge known as a ‘global mindset’ enable those in leadership positions to influence people from expansive multicultural backgrounds, groups, and organizations.
It is a combination of personality, business knowledge, and know-how and is necessary for success in our globally interconnected and intensely competitive environment.
There are three crucial aspects that combine together to produce a global mindset:
– The cognitive component of intellectual capital refers to an individual’s knowledge of international business in their industry and the larger macroenvironment. It also describes how simple it is for individuals to comprehend, process, and understand this data.
– The affective component of psychological capital refers to an individual’s emotional acuity, capacity for self-reflection, and readiness to participate in a global setting. It exhibits a supportive and helpful attitude towards the diversity of opinion and behavior. It is the desire, capacity, and acceptance of cultural diversity.
– The behavioral component of social capital measures an individual’s propensity to operate in a way that fosters trusting relationships with others from around the world. Anyone studying organizational leadership must have a solid understanding of how social capital functions in multinational corporations, governments, and nonprofit organizations whether they plan to pursue leadership positions in the public or private sectors.
Our world is becoming more interconnected, so workers will experience multiple cultures at practically every company or other organization, in any function, whether it is through team members, executives, or clients. Being open and at ease in these situations is a key ability that gives one a competitive edge in the complex and hectic global business climate of today.
A global mindset is essential for success, especially for global leaders who frequently operate in multinational contexts with varied cultures. Global leaders must be able to interact with and sway people from other cultures.
Additionally, these world leaders have the ability to promote inclusion and diversity in corporate cultures while offering practical, strategic solutions for their multinational companies.
Key attributes of a global mindset
Three essential characteristics—intellectual, psychological, and social—define a global perspective. Processing fresh knowledge is the emphasis of the intellectual attribute. The psychological attribute has to do with the desire to learn about different cultures. The social attribute emphasizes relationships with others.
Intellectual attributes
The capacity to process fresh data is the intellectual quality of a global mentality. This illustrates how an entity can continue to employ its current business practices, learn new cultural customs, and behave themselves professionally. Because it is focused on the mental process, knowledge acquisition, and the element of understanding, the intellectual attribute of the global mentality is called cognitive. The intellectual attribute also has to do with how well-versed they are in the workings of the international market in the sector they work in.
The ability to analyze and interpret information about global markets for organizational benefit constitutes intellectualism in this context.
Employees that have a global mentality want to know more about how businesses operate in markets outside of their own. They learn more and improve their knowledge of how to handle problems and make sensible, profitable business judgements as a result.
The intellectual attribute of a global mindset helps individuals learn how to communicate effectively and listen appropriately.
Psychological attributes
The emotional component of global mindset. It alludes to the manager’s emotional vitality and her readiness to participate in a worldwide setting. It exhibits a supportive and helpful attitude towards the diversity of opinion and behavior.
The desire to learn more about the customs and beliefs of other cultures is a psychological characteristic of the global mentality. Employees demonstrate this psychological quality in the workplace by relating to and adjusting to coworkers from various cultural backgrounds.
Employers can demonstrate this psychological quality by demonstrating a desire to understand how various cultures function. In essence, the global mindset’s psychological characteristic relates to appreciating diversity and having a positive attitude towards understanding that their culture is not the only correct way to do things.
Social attributes
This is the global mindset’s behavioral component. It demonstrates the manager’s capacity to behave in a way that fosters trustworthy connections with individuals from diverse cultures.
An individual’s capacity to behave in a way that fosters trustworthy connections with people from other cultures is shown in the social attribute of a global mindset.
Anyone wanting to achieve success in organizational leadership must have a solid understanding of how social capital functions in multinational corporations, governments, and nonprofit organizations whether they plan to pursue leadership positions in the public or private sectors.
All three attributes are connected. A manager can use worldwide intellectual capital, for instance, by leveraging global psychological capital. Even though a manager is well-versed in different cultures and keeps up with current affairs, they may lack interest in working with people from other cultures and find global responsibilities unpleasant and irritating if their global psychological capital is weak.
The importance of a global mindset
We have limited capacity to take in and process all the data required to make the multitude of daily choices that the modern way of living demands.
Our brain filters the information coming in from the outside world in order to cope. A person’s behavior to and interpretation of situations are predetermined by this filtering over time, which is referred to as a ‘mindset’.
Organizations and people can both have different mindsets.
International strategic management research and the work of Bartlett and Ghoshal, who argued that in the global environment, companies need highly specialized yet closely networked groups of global business managers, country and regional managers, and worldwide functional managers, underpin the strategic importance of an organization’s global mindset.
To successfully connect all aspects of the organization and provide a platform for maximum success, leaders, particularly those of international corporations, must have a global mentality.
As a result, the organization is not dependent on one person’s capacity for global thinking. To take advantage of all global opportunities, it instead relies on the network or interconnected global mindsets of individuals across countries and across all levels within the organization.
A company’s global mindset should focus on understanding the complexity and nuances of the global environment, as well as the trade-offs and possibilities as they arise, rather than on being able to accomplish everything.
Researchers contend that the ability to balance conflicting economic, national, and functional interests is a crucial component of global strategic management.
The ability of the organization to combine speed with accuracy in reaction is the main advantage of having a global mentality. Benefits from the organizational global mentality may materialize as one or more competitive advantages. The following five factors provide competitive advantage:
1. Early mover: The benefit of spotting developing opportunities before others do.
2. Trade-offs: A more sophisticated and in-depth examination of the trade-offs between regional adaptation and international standardization.
3. Best practices: Improved communication amongst subsidiaries about best practices.
4. New products: New product concepts and technology are introduced more quickly.
5. Coordination: Improved cross-border coordination of complementing operations.
How can you demonstrate your value with a global mindset?
Working in an environment that maintains a global mindset can be a rewarding and exciting professional option, but it also presents unique opportunities and challenges.
You need a global mindset to succeed in a global setting, which entails being aware of and flexible enough to adjust to other cultures, perspectives, and expectations.
Here are a few strategies for cultivating a global mindset that provides advantage for individuals and organization alike:
Understand your culture and self
Understanding your own culture is necessary before you can respect and appreciate those of other people. What are your guiding principles, presumptions, prejudices, and beliefs? How do they influence your behavior, communication, and decision-making? How do they compare or contrast with those of the nation or organization you are visiting? You may discover your strengths and places for development by being self-aware and reflective. You can also prevent any misunderstandings or disputes by doing so.
Study people and their cultures
Finding out about and from the people you work with and engage with is one of the finest ways to cultivate a global mentality. This entails not just learning the specifics of their culture, history, politics, and economy, but also making an effort to comprehend their viewpoints, motives, and feelings. You can achieve this by being curious and empathetic, actively listening, asking open-ended questions, and observing non-verbal signs. By asking for advice, getting coaching, mentoring, or taking part in cross-cultural training or exchange programs, you can also learn from others.
Adjust and incorporate
Being adaptable and prepared to adapt and integrate your own identity and values with those of others is what it means to have a global mentality rather than giving up on them. This entails changing your communication approach, working practices, and expectations to fit various contexts and target audiences while remaining sincere and courteous. Additionally, it entails synthesizing your various perspectives and experiences into a dynamic and cohesive global identity that will aid you in navigating challenging situations.
Be innovative and cooperative
By enabling you to develop and work across boundaries, having a global mentality can also help you demonstrate your value. You can come up with innovative solutions and strategies that address global difficulties and demands by being receptive to new ideas, views, and chances. Building trust and rapport while utilizing the varied abilities and talents of your team is possible when you are considerate, supporting, and inclusive of others. You can deliver outcomes and contribute value to your organization by being proactive, responsive, and accountable.
Inform and persuade
Finally, having a global mentality can improve your ability to influence others and communicate in a global setting. You may modify your message and delivery to meet your objectives by being conscious of and responding to the cultural norms, tastes, and expectations of your audience. You can prevent uncertainty and ambiguity, ensure understanding, and achieve alignment by being precise, succinct, and consistent. You may establish credibility and authority, motivate action and change, and command respect by being persuasive, self-assured, and respectful.
Developing a global mindset and the impact on virtual teams
Thanks to technology, the world is now a very small place, and a large proportion of organizations now have team members situated globally.
That means that communication and connection with teams now takes place in a virtual environment more than ever before.
Leaders and managers who have strong global mindsets are uniquely positioned to create an environment where all team members can prosper, grow and develop in a way that maximizes the potential of every individual as well as accelerates and enhances the results and outcomes produced within an organization.
Global leadership
Cross-cultural leadership is unquestionably a crucial skill for a global perspective. Effective cross-cultural leadership affects, among other things, how people form trust and relationships, how they communicate, how they collaborate, and how they handle conflict.
For leading a worldwide virtual team of varied people, the knowledge, skills and abilities for leaders of traditional, face-to-face teams are important but insufficient competencies. For instance, Evans et al. (2002) cited an experimental study of virtual teams with members from various nations; the study revealed that, in line with the traits of a global mindset, cross-cultural leaders were successful because of their adaptability in different contexts and ability to handle paradox by carrying out contrasting leadership roles concurrently.
House et al. (2004) showed that while some leadership qualities were generally successful across all cultures, other qualities were culturally distinctive in their renowned GLOBE research of 62 nations.
Leader team orientation and sharing vision, beliefs, and confidence with followers were judged to be extremely effective leader behaviors in all cultures. Therefore, cross-cultural leaders are greatest at knowing when and how to modify their leadership styles to suit various cultural contexts in the absence of a ‘one best way’ approach.
Cultural Intelligence
The ability to engage successfully with people from various cultural origins is considered cultural intelligence in its broadest definition.
A person’s ability to recognize cultural differences, adapt to new environments and situations, comprehend cultural norms, and act responsibly and successfully depends on their level of cultural intelligence.
Until knowledge beyond the other person’s ethnicity is accessible, the culturally savvy individual holds off making a decision. Undoubtedly, effective communication within a virtual team depends on cultural sensitivity and awareness.
Context—which is defined as a way of life and work in a particular geographic place with its own special business conditions, cultural presumptions, and unique history—is the most distinguishing element of global virtual teams.
Therefore, cultural competence among managers and staff members as well as openness to various working styles are crucial for team effectiveness.
Interpersonal and Communication Skills
The demands of global virtual teams place an even greater emphasis on effective communication and interpersonal skills.
Despite using a common language for team communication, members of global virtual teams are almost always typically not native speakers of that language.
Communication is typically confined to relatively brief episodes due to time and distance. Additionally, research suggests that the expected difficulty in communication increases with the degree of cultural differences between the sender and recipient.
Although initially intimidating, leaders and managers with a global mindset can get through these obstacles by focusing on the factors that make virtual teams effective, i.e., by creating a sense of mutual understanding and trust among team members.
In order to eliminate ambiguity, communication aimed at fostering shared understanding should be clear regarding objectives, duties, and procedures. It is important for members to communicate openly and promptly in order to develop cooperative partnerships.
Leaders must encourage open communication to promote information sharing regarding the procedure and pertinent duties, other team members’ reliability and dependability, as well as common values and team norms, particularly in the case of global virtual teams.
Globally minded managers must consider contextual differences when collaborating across cultures. To communicate more successfully, it is necessary to consider and adjust language styles (implicit vs. explicit), message content (factual vs. emotion-based), and the channels used to send messages (formal vs. informal).
Case Study: IKEA’s Competitive Advantage Thanks to a Global Mindset
IKEA has had success in China because they were able to comprehend local management techniques as well as the needs and desires of the clients. Using a global mindset approach, IKEA is adopting this strategy and putting it into practice to cater to the Indian market. In other words, the company intends to introduce the basic IKEA philosophy whilst incorporating local knowledge.
In 2018, IKEA utilized its global mindset to open its first store in India.
For a long time, India had been seen as one of the last significant unexplored markets for global retailers. IKEA opening its first store there took a significant period of time and the process was in no way quick. The program was driven mostly by the company’s need to learn about Indian culture and consumers.
Whilst talking about the mindset behind the expansion of IKEA globally, CEO Michael Ohlsson said: ‘Most people don’t really know and can hardly imagine that we visit thousands of homes around every store in the world every year’.
IKEA’s approach to understanding and learning is to be open and curious and to have a conversation with its consumers while seated in the kitchen. They use a question-based investigative process that asks their consumers:
• What irritates you?
• What annoys you the most?
• What is it that you wish you had?
• What can you afford?
• What other options do you have?
As early as 2006, the company began an effort to become a retailer in India, but the goal was difficult to accomplish due to stringent FDI laws. When investment regulations were loosened in 2013, IKEA seized the chance and invested an incredible Rs. 10,500 crores (one crore is equal to US $10 million, or £1,111,372,500) in its Indian operations.
Additionally, IKEA has gone to the lengths of creating products and pricing that are specifically designed for the Indian market.
It is anticipated that IKEA’s pricing point will be its main advantage in India. There aren’t many brick-and-mortar chains that serve the growing middle class in India, despite the emergence of several new competitors in the online sector to meet their wants for furniture and home décor.
IKEA identified early in the research process that it was to this group of people that it wants to appeal the most. In 2018, when it launched its Hyderabad store, the company launched with a catalogue of 1,000 products ranging from kitchen appliances to furniture and home accents, including its renowned and distinctive DIY (Do It Yourself) line.
However, they also recognized that not everyone would want to step into a DIY model, so they created a service in order to enable on-call assembly, and teamed up with home services provider UrbanClap, taking into account India’s relatively new DIY culture.
Even though the first store wasn’t opened in India until 2018, the CEO of IKEA India, Juvencio Maeztu, arrived in India in 2012. Since then, he has been occupied with attempting to comprehend and establish the groundwork necessary for IKEA to succeed in India.
He ventured beyond his comfort zone during his first two years, learning and molding both the company’s and his own methods to fit the ‘Indian way of doing things’. As he explains: ‘This is a market you need to learn and not come into with an attitude that you know everything’.
As he encountered people from various walks of life, he asked them for tips and information that IKEA should be aware of regarding their new market. As a visionary leader with a global mindset, Maetzu was the perfect selection to lead the development of IKEA in India.
IKEA’s globalization strategy is genuinely excellent. They take the necessary time to understand the culture they are moving into and adapt their practices accordingly. In contrast, other large retail organizations have failed in their attempts to break into global markets due to their poor local adaption and entry strategy.
The principles of the success of IKEA are simple, stepping out of their base culture with an open mind that there is not a universal way to do things, simple but not easy. In truth, Companies are not global; leaders are, and the success of IKEA can clearly be seen to be driven by the global mindset of their leaders.
Exercise 7.5: Shaping a Global Mindset
1. Write down as many experiences you’ve been through, people you’ve met, people who have been influential in your life, mentors, the places you’ve been that have made an impact on you and so on.
2. Try to pinpoint the way each thing you’ve written down has shaped your perspective on:
o Life
o Yourself
o The people you’ve met
o Your relationships
o Your perspective of the world
o Your workplace
o Your professional environment
o Other?
3. In looking at the above list, are there any areas you think might positively and/or negatively impact your ability to create and maintain a global mindset?
4. What, if anything, can you do to broaden your knowledge, skills, wisdom to assist you in effectively operating with a global mindset.
Course Manual 6: Abundance And Scarcity Mindsets
The things that are wrong with the world, the situation, people, places and things are always available and if we allow ourselves, we’ll always see them.
The purpose of the mind is to ensure your survival, not to make you happy. It constantly searches for everything that could harm you and exaggerates the negative. We are programmed to function from a place of fear and shortage. It is literally how humans have survived for thousands of years on planet Earth. It is what has kept us alive.
However, there are fewer things in today’s way of living that are genuinely life-threatening situations, which suggests that our minds are still operating on outdated information. This also suggests that there may not be as great a need for a focus on negative outcomes and that now, more than ever before, there is a greater opportunity for us to choose what we concentrate on.
Now, therefore, has become the perfect time for us to realize that an abundance attitude is something we can learn to cultivate.
In almost every situation, there is an opportunity to choose between abundance or scarcity. The most important step is to teach ourselves that we have the ability to stop and make the choice.
What is a scarcity mindset?
When someone has a scarcity mindset, they think they have few resources or can’t take care of themselves or other people.
This limiting way of thinking can produce strong anxiety feelings, which can seriously disrupt a person’s life. Financial hardship, deprivation, or societal expectations can all contribute to the development of a scarcity mindset.
This mindset is a way of thinking that emphasizes the scarcity of resources, which call for their wise conservation and utilization.
As a result, individuals are prone to develop a strong sense of possessiveness towards their possessions and show signs of financial concern. An abundant mindset, on the other hand, is a positive outlook that assumes there is enough of everything to go around.
Some of the following may indicate a scarcity mindset:
– Postponing paying bills until the last minute: People with a scarcity mindset frequently postpone paying their bills because they worry about running out of money. They can have the general conviction that there isn’t enough money for everyone and that if they spend it now, they won’t have enough later to meet their requirements.
– Scheduling too much into your day: People who have a scarcity mindset may believe that there aren’t enough hours in the day to take advantage of all the opportunities that present themselves, so they try to pack as much as they can into their calendar. Stress, overwhelm, and overscheduling may result from this.
– Loss aversion: People who have a scarcity mindset frequently worry about losing their possessions, including money, assets, contacts, opportunities, and resources. This anxiety may result in a lack of confidence in other people and a reluctance to take chances in order to succeed.
– Being excessively self-reliant: People who have a scarcity mentality tend to be excessively self-reliant because they think that they are the only ones who can provide for their needs. Feelings of isolation and loneliness may result from this.
– Fear of failure: People who have a scarcity mindset frequently worry excessively about failing because they think they won’t have enough resources to try again if they fail. When people engage in self-defeating behaviors like giving up because of fear of failing, this can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
– Perfectionism: People who have a scarcity mindset are frequently perfectionists because they think that anything less than perfect is unacceptable. This can cause procrastination, a fear of taking chances, an inability to grasp the broad picture, and other negative effects.
– Hasty decision-making: People with a scarcity mindset may rush through the decision-making process without giving it much thought. They risk missing out on opportunities if they are impulsive.
What causes a scarcity mindset?
Lack of financial literacy is one of the main reasons of a scarcity mindset. People who lack sufficient knowledge about how money works, how to manage their finances, or how to save effectively may be more prone to adopting this mindset.
This is especially true for those who may not have learned how to manage their money if they grew up in a family or community without a financial safety net.
A scarcity mindset could result from:
History of poverty
People who have experienced poverty in the past are more prone to develop a scarcity mentality since poverty frequently accompanies a sense of insecurity. Deprivation, pessimism, and anxiety can result from a lack of resources including money, time, and energy. It can be challenging to retain optimism and hope when people lack access to the necessities for survival and growth.
The effects of poverty on mental health cannot be underestimated.
Family members competing for what they believe to be their fair share of scarce resources can cause disputes. Family members may experience animosity, insecurity, and mistrust as a result of this competition because one feels the other is taking more than they should. This may exacerbate already strained relationships and family problems.
Additionally, intergenerational trauma sufferers may be impacted by poverty, which can result in feelings of shame and inadequacy.
Unfortunately, people who experience poverty may be judged as being ‘less than’ by society and can themselves take the uninformed opinion of others on board and come to believe this about themselves.
If people feel unworthy of success or abundance, they could start to think in terms of scarcity.
Financial trauma
Financial trauma can result from a variety of situations, including job loss, unforeseen medical expenses, or financial troubles. Those who have gone through financial trauma could become preoccupied with their current wants and the notion that their resources are finite. They might develop a fixation on cutting costs, even to the point of foregoing purchases of necessities or engaging in necessary activities.
When someone takes advantage of another person financially, frequently by restricting their access to funds or taking away their financial independence, this is known as financial abuse. It is a type of domestic violence that is frequently disregarded, but it can have a significant effect on the victim’s capacity for trust and money management. The abuser’s objective is to seize power and revoke the victim’s freedom.
Dieting
Dieting can often result in a mindset of scarcity and be harmful to one’s physical and mental health. Instead of focusing on the foods that are permitted, a person can concentrate on the items that are prohibited. As a result of feeling perpetually starved of their favorite meals, the person may develop a mindset of scarcity.
Dieting can sometimes lead to a vicious cycle of deprivation and overindulgence, leaving you feeling guilty or ashamed after bingeing on off-limits items. This contributes to emotions of deprivation and a scarcity mentality even more.
Concerns for the future
The dread of the unknown is a result of worrying about the future. A person may feel an unceasing need to invest in the future in order to prepare if they are constantly thinking about the future rather than the now. One may feel that they have few options for success as a result and hold onto what resources they do have. They might even start to experience existential or time anxiety as a result of their persistent worry about the future.
Unrealistic worldview
People who have an unrealistic worldview frequently fail to see the wealth of opportunities and resources that are at their disposal. Instead, they concentrate on the challenges that stand in the way of their goals.
Due to this, individuals could feel the need to struggle to get what they desire, which might make them too competitive.
People who get overly focused on their own requirements and fail to get what they desire may grow resentful of those who are more fortunate than they are. This kind of thinking can lead to a mindset that is motivated by envy, self-pity, and other negative emotions.
Expectations of society
Individuals with a scarcity mindset can take on board societal expectations and can find themselves overly impacted by how they view the availability of resources. People may always feel the need to improve themselves in order to be accepted and successful as a result of socially imposed ideas, such as those that are connected to one’s wealth, career, and looks.
Tips for Overcoming Scarcity Mindset
A scarcity attitude can be a significant barrier to reaching your objectives. It may cause you to concentrate on what you lack rather than what you do have, which may keep you from taking the essential steps.
Fortunately, there are a number of techniques that might assist you in getting past the scarcity attitude and acting proactively to achieve success.
Here are a number of recommendations for overcoming a scarcity mindset:
Show gratitude
When we feel appreciative, we recognize that we have enough and concentrate on the things for which we are thankful. Writing down three things each day for which you are grateful is one approach to do this.
This might be anything from a steaming cup of tea to a breathtaking view to a deep connection. Give reasons why you are thankful for this particular area of your life in detail.
By openly doing this, you can also help others turn their attention from scarcity to abundance.
Consider whether you need help
A mindset of scarcity may be immensely harmful in life. Feelings of helplessness, despair, and a sense of being caught in a never-ending loop of negative thoughts might result from it. However, you may learn to get rid of a scarcity perspective and switch to an abundance mindset, which will widen your range of options.
It can be challenging to make this shift on your own, so think about working with a therapist to assist you deal with your scarcity attitude. There are many advantages to therapy, and you can choose the best therapist by checking an online directory, contacting your doctor for referrals, or asking family members.
Ask for support from your loved ones
Be open and honest with your loved ones about your feelings when overcoming a scarcity mindset. Inform them about your struggles and your desire for assistance.
Given their concern for your welfare, your loved ones will likely be more than happy to lend you a hand. With the appropriate direction, you may begin to make changes for the better and move through life with a more upbeat view.
However, you ought to avoid paying attention to those people who think in terms of scarcity. They may have a negative impact and foster resentment, envy, and negative thinking.
Manage your money
Keeping tabs on your spending is the first step in managing your money. You can clearly see where your money is going if you list all of your costs, both required and optional. You may start making adjustments, setting spending priorities, and making a budget after you have a clearer knowledge of the situation.
A budget is a plan for allocating your money that will aid in directing your future financial decisions. You should first calculate how much money you’ll need for necessities like food, rent, and utilities before setting away more funds for discretionary items. Once you’ve established a budget, it’s crucial to follow it.
Maintain an active lifestyle
Exercise offers several advantages for mental health because it has been shown to lower stress levels, enhance mood, and even boost self-confidence.
Additionally, it might assist you in escaping the vicious cycle of pessimism that results from a scarcity perspective. Exercise encourages you to put less emphasis on worrying about the future and more on the here and now.
Using yoga for anxiety techniques is one way to put this into practice. When you stay present in the here and now, you can let go of your worries and fears, and instead, focus on your current activities.
Reflection
You can learn to recognize and accept your emotions by meditating.
This allows you to cultivate a sense of acceptance and self-compassion, which can be difficult when stuck in a scarcity mindset. You can start to comprehend why you are feeling so worried by meditating. This can assist you in making more intelligent choices about your future course.
Reframe your thoughts to take charge
Instead of focusing on what you don’t have, think about what you do have and how you can use it to create something better.
To reframe your thinking, acknowledge the thoughts that are causing you to think in a scarcity mindset without judgment or criticism. Ask yourself if these are true and if the evidence supports them. If not, consider asking yourself why you are even thinking these things.
Finally, recognize that you have the power to create change and to take steps towards creating the life you want. A great way to do that is to practice positive affirmations like, “I have enough and I am enough.”
What is an abundance mindset?
The idea that there are enough resources in the world for everyone and the attitude of gratitude for whatever the universe offers are both examples of an abundant mindset.
People who have an abundance mindset put their attention on what they already have and learn to be at home with the present.
They enjoy the many advantages of thankfulness, are able to make wiser judgements, and can plan for the future because they aren’t living in a condition of fear. Tony Robbins has been known to say: ‘When you are grateful, fear disappears and abundance appears’.
Signs you have an abundant mindset
Many people live their lives without giving their mindset any thought. Without even being aware of it, their social conditioning may have geared them towards negativity and it is most likely holding them back without them having any conscious knowledge of it.
The key to an abundant mindset is to teach yourself to spot these indicators. Doing so means that you will provide yourself with every opportunity to move towards a grateful and abundant mindset.
– You applaud others’ achievements. Jealousy and fear are the reverse of an abundance mindset. You think that your achievement will be equal to their success and that their accomplishments don’t diminish your own. You truly rejoice when others accomplish their objectives.
– You reciprocate. People with a scarcity mentality are too preoccupied taking to offer. You’re on your way to having an abundant attitude if you regularly give away your goods, volunteer your time, energy, or skills, or take pleasure in caring for your loved ones.
– You are a present-day person. You aren’t concerned about the future or mired in the past when you put your attention on appreciation and abundance. You put your attention on taking it all in since you are aware that the only thing that is guaranteed is the now.
Naveen Jain, an award-winning CEO and entrepreneur, challenges the notion that we live in a world of scarcity; rather, he suggests that our primal, survivalist instincts confine us to this world of scarcities, and that adopting a mindset of abundance is crucial in cutting-edge entrepreneurship.
You can hear what he has to say about abundance mindsets in his TEDx talk:
Seven essential characteristics for an abundant mindset
Our mindset shapes which path we take through life. Just as there are pathways that are paved with uncertainty, there are also always pathways that are lined with abundance at every bend. Any time we wish, we can decide to move from the path we are walking and choose a different route.
The scarcity pathway forces us to live a life that can only be defined as pedestrian, one that is not completely experienced. Strong negative reactions abound, comparable to a high tide that causes waves in a rock pool, not to mention all the possibilities and experiences that were lost.
People who decide to follow the road of abundance live very different lives.
Making the decision to live life to the fullest, radiating happiness, being kind and generous by nature, being creative and inspirational, and making most of the possibilities and life-changing events that come their way.
Here are the top seven distinctions between people who have an abundant attitude and those who have a scarcity perspective.
1. Big versus little thinking
Because it is ingrained in their DNA, people with an abundance mindset are known for thinking large. Limitations brought about by a scarcity mindset prohibit the intellect from coming up with bold objectives.
2. Ample vs. Scarce
People who have an abundance mindset think that the world is filled with plenty of resources, love, relationships, wealth, and opportunity. They assert that they can afford whatever they desire in life by saying, “I can afford that.”
People who have a shortage mentality like to think that there are few opportunities, resources, connections, and prospects for love and fortune. They frequently utter the phrase “I cannot afford that.” Daily repetition of the phrase strengthens the conviction and creates the identical pattern in life as reality.
3. Joy vs. Resentment
A person who has an abundance mindset is optimistic and genuinely delighted for other people when they succeed. People that have a scarcity mindset, on the other hand, are competitive and dislike when others succeed.
4. Accepting Change vs. Fearing It
An individual with an abundant mindset recognizes that change is a necessary component of life and actively embraces and accepts it. understanding that even though change can be tough or challenging to navigate, it frequently results in more favorable consequences.
Those with a scarcity mindset are plagued by fear. They will take a longer period of time to accept change and spend time constantly moaning about it.
5. Reactive versus Proactive
People who have an abundant mindset approach life with a proactive attitude as a result of their positive outlook.
They proactively plan for the future and develop long-term strategies as opposed to waiting for things to happen and then responding, as those with a scarcity mindset do.
6. Educating versus being an expert
Learning and growth are craved by an abundance mindset. While people with scarcity mindsets think they already know everything, drastically limiting their ability to learn and grow, they have an insatiable hunger for information and the acquisition of new abilities.
7. The Difference Between What Works and What Doesn’t
When one has a scarcity mindset, they tend to think negatively and take the side of the victim.
The intense emotions they go through every day, which include anxiety, fear, worry, rage, and resentment, cause stress on the body. Their bad feelings, thoughts, and beliefs cause ailments to develop in the body, resulting in all-around ill health. They concentrate on “What is not working” every day.
Visionaries who have an abundance attitude frequently see the world’s endless potential. ‘What is working’ is their daily mantra.
The beauty of life is that you have the ability to alter, therefore the road you have taken thus far is not fixed. The first step is deciding to take a different route.
Life is brief, so live it up, trust in the limitless opportunities it presents, and make the decision to lead a rich life filled with special moments you may treasure always.
How to cultivate an abundant mindset
Many people naturally think in terms of scarcity, especially in the corporate sector and other hostile contexts. But if you figure out how to adopt an abundance attitude, you’ll have access to chances you never imagined.
Put your limiting beliefs to the test
Limiting beliefs are unconscious notions we have about the world and ourselves that we allow to keep us from living fully. Even in the greatest of circumstances, learning how to express thanks will be difficult if you unconsciously believe that you are unworthy of happiness.
Keep an eye out for the limiting ideas you unconsciously possess as you embrace the process of developing appreciation in your life and consider how they are keeping you from realizing your full potential. You’ll discover how your beliefs affect practically every aspect of life once you start the difficult process of changing your limiting beliefs with an abundance attitude. This is due to the fact that our beliefs develop as a result of a variety of life experiences, including our knowledge base, our environment (past and present), happy and traumatic life events, the outcomes of our earlier decisions, and how we view the future.
Access more powerful behaviors
Our views have many facets, making it difficult to determine where they came from. It may even be more challenging to replace them with more wholesome viewpoints. However, it will be worthwhile to make the effort if your preexisting ideas are preventing you from cultivating a spirit of thankfulness.
Make a list of things you’re grateful for to shift your mentality and get rid of your self-defeating thoughts. Next, work on changing your limiting beliefs into empowered ones. Ask yourself: Does this belief advance my quest for appreciation, or does it hold me back? when you uncover each limiting belief. You’ll discover that cultivating an attitude of thankfulness and an abundant mindset becomes more natural with time and effort.
Embrace change
Life never proceeds as expected. Always expect unpleasant surprises. Change is inescapable, so we must develop the ability to welcome it. Every change life brings our way has the ability to transform us, whether or not we choose to accept it.
We must learn to approach change with interest so that we don’t let it disrupt our lives. Start cultivating an attitude of thankfulness by “softening” and accepting change without resistance. Make the choice to concentrate on adopting an abundance mindset and focusing on what you can be grateful for rather than telling yourself that you have lost something, have less of something, or will never have what it is you want. You can instill an abundance mindset into all you do by developing the ability to express gratitude in challenging situations.
What, then, is an abundance mindset? It doesn’t imply that you are suppressing your feelings or acting in denial. It implies that you have decided overall to live in a lovely state every day, regardless of what transpires. Because you won’t be happy very frequently if the only time you’re happy is when things go your way. And the more you practice cultivating an abundance attitude, the more you will start to experience delight, which will eventually lead to the creation of a new emotional home.
Why cultivating an abundance mindset is essential to creating inclusive and diverse spaces
Consider that there are 8 chairs at the table, and that white, able-bodied, straight men over the age of 55 currently occupy all of them.
Now suppose we wish to alter this image: imagine that we want women to fill four of these seats.
In this instance, four of the men will have to give up their seats because we are unable to add any more. If these four men have a scarcity mindset, they are likely to hold on to what they have, put up a fight, and possibly even lay out some defensive barriers in front of them to make it harder for anyone else to take those seats, because they will be afraid that giving up their seat will leave them with nothing.
These men will, however, be assured that there is always more accessible if they adopt an abundance mindset. And let’s face it, history has shown that there is more available to this particular type of individual.
Both lack and abundance are mental states.
You have an abundant attitude if you think that giving others opportunity would lead to additional opportunities for yourself.
Those who favor an attitude of abundance will be confident that there are enough chairs and tables in the world for everyone, and that the ideal chair for them will be easy to locate. They don’t want to sit at a mirror-topped table. Because they are aware that inclusive and diverse teams are more productive, they are happy to be self-serving in their D&I initiatives. They are aware that they want to be among individuals who are happy and fulfilled in their true selves.
They have nothing to fear from inclusiveness, and everything to gain.
You have a scarcity mindset if you think that giving other people opportunities deprives you of anything.
Let’s investigate this further with a different example.
There are now bandages available in various skin tones. When they became available on the market, there were numerous comments made by many different people about the availability of the new colors.
Anyone who felt compelled to comment with phrases like: ‘Oh for goodness sake, whatever next,’ or ‘it’s just a ‘band-aid’, who cares what color it is,’ or ‘Why not make them in one color, my favorite is the spotty one’, could be said to be exhibiting a scarcity mindset.
If they had an abundant mindset then they wouldn’t find it offensive when someone has a choice. The manufacturer of the bandages created a product that comes in a different color choices. A person with an abundant mindset would be celebrating that there are so many options to choose from. It is on a scarcity mindset that would be closed to seeing the opportunity for choice.
Very few people think to stop and consider which side of the playing field they are currently on, or if they believe the playing field is unfair. Additionally, the sheer fact that someone is afraid to let go of something (like moving from one color ‘band-aid’ to multiple colors) indicates that they already believe that they have something to lose.
An attitude of shortage stems from fear. This prevents inclusion. On the other hand, an attitude of abundance springs from a place of confidence.
Making space for others improves, enriches, brightens, engages, and fulfils those spaces. What if we choose to follow a different path? What is there is enough for everyone? What if giving to others opens up space for us to experience more?
Case Study: Rethinking the Scarcity Mindset that Holds Back Not for Profits
Neil Edgington stated back in 2015 that ‘the nonprofit sector is hindered by a number of issues, not the least of which is a lack of funding’. However, he added, ‘perhaps a bigger impediment is the scarcity thinking that may actually contribute to that lack of money’.
Edgington leads Social Velocity, a management consulting company that assists NGOs in achieving ‘greater social impact and financial sustainability’. Even if many nonprofits are legitimately concerned about their ability to continue receiving financing in light of tough times, he still feels that every nonprofit should strive to overcome this harmful thinking in 2018.
Scarcity Thinking: What Is It?
In a nutshell, scarcity thinking is ‘the hunger loop in which nonprofit executives typically exist—we can’t attract enough money, so we cut corners on systems and staff, which makes us less effective and forces us to serve fewer clients, which means less social change’.
From where does it originate? Funders… are important for a number of reasons. Edgington provides a link to The Nonprofit Starvation Cycle, a significant 2009 paper published in the esteemed Stanford Social Innovation Review.
‘Unrealistic expectations about how much running a nonprofit costs’ are held by funders. Nonprofits can barely function as organizations – let alone serve their beneficiaries as a result of not being able to obtain enough funding to meet their needs for decent infrastructure. It becomes the habit to ask for and spend too little on overhead, which is extremely stressful and cannot be sustained over time.
However, social science research shows that ‘robust infrastructure’ is a prerequisite for successful organizations of all stripes. The term ‘sturdy information technology systems, financial systems, skills training, fundraising processes, and other essential overhead’ refers to infrastructure in this context.
Edgington and other influential figures in philanthropy contend that a significant shift in the perspectives of organizational leaders themselves, in light of recent writings regarding the need to dispel the damaging ‘Overhead Myth’.
Getting Rid of the Negative Thought Cycle
It’s a common misconception among nonprofit executives that they must eke out an existence on meagre resources and are only deserving of the scraps. It makes sense that their innate idea that resources are limited exists in them.
In both his 2015 and current articles, Neil Edgington draws on psychological theory and research to demonstrate that adopting an ‘abundance mindset’—the belief that there are ‘abundance of resources and you need only to get crystal clear about what you want to achieve and those resources will come to you’—is a crucial step in helping nonprofit leaders (boards and staff) break the cycle of deficiency.
He heavily draws his argument from Carol Dweck’s Ph.D. work. She contends in Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, published in 2006, that ‘scarcity thinking’ is a ‘destructive fixed mindset’ rather than merely a method of thinking.
There is a ‘deep psychological barrier’ to the charity sector’s widespread perception that resources will be limited. The group will ‘never try for more’ if there is a ‘constant deficiency’ mentality within the organization.
In most of his articles on the topic, Edgington asserts that ‘shifting this nonprofit mindset from never having enough (scarcity), to endless potential (abundance) could transform the sector’.
Examples of Shifts in Mentality
By ‘flipping some of the most common conversations happening each day in nonprofit boardrooms across the country, crossing out the typical scarcity mindset and fully embracing an abundance mindset’, he claims, a big shift may be achieved.
For example, ask ‘How much money will it take to accomplish our goals?’ to turn a normal scarcity conversation, such as ‘How much money are we able to raise?’ into an abundance exercise.
‘The excitement you generate from board, staff, and funders when you think big and long-term will translate into the money you need to accomplish your future goals’. Going from a fundraising approach to a financing approach is how he best describes this strategy.
As another example, he suggests flipping the scarcity discussion – ‘let’s not add fundraising staff until we have the money’ – to ‘let’s fully invest in our fundraising infrastructure’.
Alter the scarcity dialogue to something like ‘we will create a healthy reserve fund’ instead of ‘we can only break even’ and watch the way the steps you take change.
Exercise 7.6: Awareness of Progress and Accomplishments
1. Identify a goal or ambition that you want to achieve.
2. Rate where you currently are in achieving your goal or objective by ticking the box of a number from 0 – 5 below:
3. By only celebrating the achievement of ‘BIG’ goals, we tend to forget the many small steps that occur every day or week that lead up to the big goals. If you circled any number above 0, list a few steps (no matter how small) that you have already reached and that have contributed to your current progress towards your goal:
–
–
–
–
–
4. Now, reconsider your current progress towards the main goal (the rating on the scale). Write down how you feel when you consider the progress you have made so far?
– Which of your strengths have helped you get this far?
– What strategies have helped you get this far?
– How can you leverage these strengths and strategies in the future steps that you will be taking to get closer to achieving your goal?
5. Each step you take is worthy of celebration. What can you do to celebrate the small successes that come with fulfilling each step along the way?
– Celebrating can be a small gesture – it is the appreciation of completing each step in the process that is the most important thing here.
Course Manual 7: Productive And Defensive Mindsets
For many people, productivity might imply different things. It can entail producing a significant amount of work quickly for some. Others may need to labor more shrewdly than others in order to get the same result.
However, there is one thing that all productive people share: a productivity mindset.
A productive mindset is a method of thinking about work that is results-oriented. Finding effective and efficient ways to do tasks is the goal. People who have a productivity mentality pay attention to both inputs and outputs.
They are aware that producing high-quality work is just as vital as producing a lot of it. They also understand that only if their efforts are well thought out and carried out will they be successful.
Conversely, have you ever come across someone like this?
– When given a challenge, they respond by explaining why they are unable to complete it.
– Before you have even finished speaking, they are prepared to dismiss any ideas you may have.
– Before they even attempt, they confidently state why they will fail.
Defensive thinking is the term for this way of thinking. It occurs when avoiding defeat takes precedence above winning.
A defensive thinker’s main objective is to avoid failure and humiliation, not to accomplish a goal.
Productive Mindsets
It is far easier to succeed in both one’s personal and professional life when one has a productive mindset.
Having a productive mindset necessitates having a clear knowledge of one’s objectives, upholding a good outlook on work, and having the ability to concentrate and retain motivation.
Some people are more naturally inclined towards a productive mindset, however it is possible to learn how to create this type of mindset for yourself. Some factors that can assist in forming a productive mindset include:
Curiosity
A productive existence depends on having an open mind. When you’re curious, you’re more likely to look for answers and learn new things. By doing so, you can increase your knowledge and discover new things that will help you reach your objectives.
Curiosity can inspire creativity and lead to the creation of fresh concepts. Additionally, it enables us to maintain an open mind and be flexible to change, which is essential for both personal and professional development.
However, developing curiosity can be difficult since we sometimes become bogged down in our routines and succumb to complacency.
To overcome this, it is possible to experiment with many ways to expose ourselves to novel and varied experiences, such as reading, travelling, or even taking up new hobbies, to foster curiosity.
When looking for assistance or notice that you have a desire for additional inspiration, keep in mind to embrace your curiosity and allow it to direct you towards novel and intriguing alternatives that may result in unforeseen discoveries and chances.
Persistence
Nothing happens without giving it deliberate attention and being persistent in working towards making it happen.
The capacity to keep moving forwards in the face of obstacles and setbacks and to see a task or goal through to completion is known as persistence.
It’s about overcoming difficulties and resisting the urge to give up when faced with setbacks or disappointments. We are also more likely to advance, learn from our errors, and develop as people when we are persistent.
To encourage perseverance, one can set defined, quantifiable, and realistic goals and divide them into digestible steps. However, persistence can be difficult. The next time you’re faced with a challenging task or circumstance, have a positive attitude, keep motivated, and don’t be hesitant to ask for assistance.
Responsibility
The next topic in our conversation is duty. It is the readiness to accept responsibility for one’s deeds, choices, and results.
By accepting responsibility for our actions, we give ourselves the ability to take charge of our lives and effect change. It entails being dependable and delivering on our promises.
Additionally, being accountable will enable you to accept responsibility for your actions, allow you to learn from your mistakes, and increase your resilience and capacity for self-improvement.
But accepting responsibility can be challenging. We may feel overwhelmed at times and want to put the blame on others. When dealing with a situation properly, it can be quite helpful to recognize and accept our part in it and to be honest with ourselves and others.
Optimisation
Let’s examine productivity enhancement. To effectively manage your time and accomplish your goals, you must optimize your tasks. Prioritizing and concentrating on what is most crucial is a crucial component of task optimization.
You may increase your productivity and take full use of your time by determining and concentrating on the most important tasks. This entails allocating specific time slots for certain tasks, establishing reasonable completion dates, and utilizing time-saving tools like calendars, reminders, and to-do lists.
Utilizing tools and resources to simplify your life is another method to optimize your tasks.
Vision
We need to have a clear understanding of our objectives in order to take steps towards achieving them. How can we plan our route there if we don’t know where we are going?
Keep a constant mental image of the life you are trying to build for yourself. Your day will be more productive as a result of following that ambition.
Visualization is a fantastic tool for helping you stay on track with your vision. Athletes and top achievers use this really helpful strategy to accomplish their objectives.
It has been demonstrated that the power of visualization can increase your motivation and drive to take more action in your life. To be productive, you really must have a clear vision. Keep your vision clear at all times, and let it direct your behavior.
Create a routine
Routines are excellent for entering a highly productive state of mind. You might think the phrase ‘routine’ is dull and uninspiring, yet it is an essential component of planning a productive day.
The morning is the ideal time to create a habit. This will assist you in adopting the proper mindset for productivity. Establish a regimen that will enable you to encourage yourself, awaken your brain, and have a clear sense of your goals.
Concentrate on one thing
If your to-do list contains a lot of stuff, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and less than effective. In fact, having a long to-do list may actually hinder your productivity.
Your productivity can greatly increase by concentrating on a single task. Choose one task per day that you must perform, in your opinion. You will feel successful if you finish that one task.
Then, before doing anything else, set out to do that assignment. Do not let sidetracks prevent you from completing that one task; instead, stay at it.
Anything else you accomplish during the day is a bonus once you complete that task. You’ll feel more accomplished as a result, which will encourage you to continue being productive.
Mindfulness
Lastly, mindfulness entails being fully present in each moment, focused on the work at hand, and conscious of your surrounds and your thoughts, feelings, and environment. It enables us to shut out distractions and concentrate only on what we are doing, which improves our performance and productivity. The ability of mindfulness to lessen stress and improve wellbeing is another significant advantage.
You can practice mindfulness using a variety of methods, including deep breathing exercises, meditation, and even brief walks. Setting aside time specifically for mindfulness practice, such as in the morning or before night, can be helpful for some people. Overall, being attentive allows us to completely inhabit the now, which lowers our propensity to be consumed by anxieties about the future or regrets about the past. This makes us more resilient and change-adaptive.
You may increase your productivity and accomplish your goals by incorporating these components of a productive mindset into your everyday routine.
You’ll be more prepared to handle the opportunities and problems that come your way if you are curious, persistent, accountable, optimistic, and mindful.
Keep in mind that productivity requires both hard labor and smart work. You can work hard and smartly by combining these components into your thinking, which will ultimately lead to success in both your personal and professional life.
Defensive Mindsets
As the expression goes:
‘ …whether you think you can, or think you can’t, you are right’.
Defensive mindsets often result from a lack of confidence and a concern about being humiliated in front of others. But we can never achieve success if we don’t take a chance on failure.
Because it is simple to confuse defensive thinking with humility, it is hazardous. However, having a negative view of oneself is not humility; rather, it is a fiction you tell yourself that will keep you from making any effort to reach your objectives.
In every aspect of life, it’s best to avoid defensive thinking. If we use Jiu-Jitsu as a focus for an example, here are some ways that a defensive mindset might manifest:
– Refusing to participate in a competition because the idea of losing makes you feel too humiliated.
– Refraining from sparring against superior players in case they might outshine you.
– Remaining at a gym even though you aren’t learning since you feel at ease there.
When someone feels personally attacked, defensive habits are a typical reaction, but they can impair our capacity to recognize issues and discover solutions.
According to a number of studies, addressing the causes of defensiveness will aid in interpersonal interactions, conflict resolution, and decision-making in order to lessen defensiveness and satisfy people’s psychological desire for belonging. Conversely, making the wrongdoer feel alone can increase defensiveness in response to wrongdoing.
When we make a mistake, we often absolve ourselves by remembering the sequence of events in a way that allows us to be presented in the best possible light. This means that we can end up remembering things incorrectly, failing to pay attention to crucial information, shifting the blame to others, downplaying the harm we may have done, denying responsibility, or completely disengaging from the situation. These are all examples of psychological defensiveness.
Understanding and minimizing defensive reactions are the main goals of the research being carried out at Flinders University. Specifically, the research efforts of Professor Michale Wenzel, Associate Professor Lydia Woodyatt, and Dr. Ben McLean from the College of Education, Psychology, and Social Work at Flinders University shows that defensiveness is strengthened by negative social responses, but is reduced when people feel secure in their group identity, respected, and valued.
It’s natural to defend ourselves when we believe that someone has wronged us. As a result, when someone does something wrong in our society, we are programed to stigmatize, reject, or punish them, yet over time, this is probably simply increasing defensive reactions—not only for that particular individual, but also for others in similar circumstances.
Although psychological defense is an evolved type of self-protection, it also has costs. For example, psychological defense can make it harder for us to recover from setbacks and preserve our optimism and self-worth.
According to the research at Flinders University, ‘Defensiveness causes decision-making to have blind spots. Defensive responses by individuals and organizations result in problems being unrecognized, victims going ignored, and relationships breaking down’.
What happens in the brain when a person gets defensive?
The limbic system, which is involved in the processing of emotions, is active when a person becomes overly defensive.
Although this response is described as rudimentary by mental health professionals, it might also be described as somewhat animalistic. Particularly the cerebral cortex in humans has an astounding level of sophistication.
Although humans are capable of a wide range of mental processes that set them apart from other animals, it’s crucial to keep in mind that at their core, people are still living, breathing creatures with built-in automatic survival mechanisms for their own protection.
Or, to put it another way, nobody would ever describe an alligator as ‘mean’ for shredding a fisherman to pieces. Exactly why not? We know that the structure of an alligator’s brain differs from that of a person.
Though a human’s version of defense could take a different form, such as becoming defensive, the defensive response is equally as rapid, brain-based, and primal as an alligator’s. It’s critical for people in relationships to know that much of what we say and do when we are in dispute or in a fight comes from brain activity.
Why people get defensive
Adults who are emotionally mature in general comprehend the necessity for mutual respect in all relationships, which includes hearing the other person out and perhaps altering behavior to satisfy the disappointed party’s emotional demands. Someone sends a loud and clear message when they become hastily and unjustifiably defensive: ‘“Back off; you’re wrong’.
The unsatisfied party frequently experiences shock and confusion in the heat of the moment, dismissing completely their history as comrades and casting them as an enemy or foe. People frequently have the want to exclaim, ‘Wait, it’s me. Remember? You’re acting as though you don’t know me or, worse yet, as though you despise me’.
Psychological defense mechanisms that have been developed over years are activated in instances when the defender becomes swiftly and unjustifiably defensive as a means of defending their ego.
Simple techniques for handling a situation where someone becomes defensive with you.
To start, refrain from saying, ‘Don’t be so defensive’. In fact, avoid using the word at all because even the mere suggestion of it will exacerbate the tense atmosphere.
Saying this is like asking someone to not think about a blue elephant and the defensive person has heard this criticism from many people before you, so they are aware that their defensiveness is a personality flaw.
Instead here are a few ways you can defuse a defensive situation:
– As soon as you notice the defensive response, pause for a few seconds or longer.
– Look away at something, anything, in the immediate environment to divert your attention and lessen the possibility of your own potential limbic reaction.
– Consider politely leaving the conversation and saying, ‘Give me a minute to put my thoughts together’.
– Ask yourself whether this defensiveness represents a long-term pattern or a one-time incident. If the reaction was actually a problematic sign, discuss the topic with a few trusted friends later.
Although many people have issues in their personal or professional relationships, some are unquestionably more problematic than others. You might be able to accept someone’s occasional defensiveness; however, if they never genuinely let you to express your displeasure with them, you might not be able to.
Overcoming a defensive mindset – what happens if you try to avoid criticism
At the age of 8, a boy’s parents suddenly seemed to stop loving him. Overnight, they went from caring, supporting role models in his life to suddenly hitting and yelling at him to stop and listen.
In the next year or two, the boy moved to internalizing everything in his head since his parents reluctantly praised his extensive vocabulary, exceptional recall, and early reading prowess … but it didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
He lacked genuine safety, escape, or approbation. Because he internalized everything, he was unable to escape his own thoughts and was forced to always search for methods to win his parents acceptance and shield himself from the hurt of not receiving it.
In latter years, the boy discovered that he was exhibiting a ‘defensive mindset’ by latching to positive circumstances and attempting to steer clear of anything that would invite criticism.
To avoid potential situations of hurt and retribution, he began an internal dialogue with his inner critic where he would pre-position a question such as ‘This is what I’m going to say’, before the subsequent conversation, to which he would receive a reply like: ‘You better hope you don’t make a mistake, like last time, you moron! You ought to be so intelligent, but you’re not’.
His ego’s maneuvering was fruitless because his father’s drunkenness was so predictable in its un-predictableness. Despite his best efforts to defend himself, the abuse persisted.
Then the boy went to college and he suddenly experience a completely different form of emotional life. For the first time since he was 8 years old he found himself surrounded by wonderful friends who embraced him for who he was rather than what he tried to be.
But every time he returned home in semester breaks he went back to being eight years old. His father would sneer at him any time he talked about anything positive.
Given how much he had invested in his own thoughts, he knew that this was a subtle judgement of him and the worst part was that he was aware that the sneer made up for the fact that he was now bigger and taller than his father and that his father could no longer reach to strike him on the top of his head.
The accumulation of the taunts and the sneers and the physical abuse worked their way on a psychological level and the boy found himself facing what he thought was an un-avoidable conclusion: that perhaps he was useless.
In a desperate attempt to protect himself, his mind would actually race, losing track of the present, blaming himself for the past, and dreading the future. Without knowing it, this boy was socially conditioned to have a defensive mindset.
How the mind works
We begin to think defensively because our inner critic acts as a jail guard to ensure a minimal level of protection against an external threat. When there is no way out, forced habits are hard to break.
This boy eventually overcame this defensive mindset by taking a number of steps:
1. He sought help.
A healthier mind and mindset became possible through therapy. Mentally healthy individuals have an inner parent that talks their internal child through difficult times. Sometimes, due to long-term trauma or a one-time event, that stronger part, that inner parent, becomes unavailable.
For this boy, his therapist became the nourishing external parent until I could connect again with the nourishing parent inside. He can now stand in the place of an extremely gifted advisor that gives high quality advice and support to himself.
2. He looked carefully at the defensive mind and its chatter.
He discovered meditation and slowed down his experiences to review both his reactive and automatic thought patterns. He realized that the mind can uncouple itself from the false self of the ego entirely, observe, and step into core, silent authenticity.
At that time, he also discovered a life-saving book, Joan Borysenko’s Minding the Body, Mending the Mind. He would begin to relax as he’d read her descriptions of how the mind functions, what the mind was made for, and what it was not intended for.
He started to follow her advice to close his eyes, breathe, and simply watch with inner eyes as his mind became empty; and finally, best of all, he’d remember to slip into the pose of the ‘witness’, the observer behind his ‘chatter’.
3. Get in touch with attachment and aversion.
It’s unhealthy to be dependent on outside approval in this way, and it’s also not conducive to healthy relationships. Defensive thinking cuts us off from the present and prevents us from dealing with others authentically, since we’re focused on getting a certain reaction from them, not simply engaging with them.
Also, it’s fruitless to try to avert criticism, since it’s inevitable. And we can’t always be sure someone’s actually criticizing us. As he dug deeper, he discovered that, all too often, he projected his trauma-induced inner critic into the actions or words of people around him.
He attributed random talk and actions to some larger rejection of himself, when the only person consistently rejecting and criticizing him was, in fact, himself.
4. Re-experience the pain behind the inner critic.
After decades of therapy, extraordinary persistence, hard work, and courage, he finally re-experienced the dislocation of his father’s rejection of me. He sat in a room with someone he trusted watching him in silent sympathy and support, as his body convulsed with racking sobs.
He could now be eight again so that he could re-experience the trauma, sympathize with himself, reintegrate, and move on. In those therapy sessions he learned that his thinking was a defense mechanism. It was a flimsy barrier against the overwhelming pain in his gut, a life-affirming yet almost intolerable pain he could not approach for decades.
Suddenly, after violent re-immersion in that eight-year old’s world, he developed the inner holding tank for feelings that healthy people have so they don’t bounce from emotional gut pain into defensive mind-trapped thinking. But he could never have reached that place of direct and terrible re-experience without slowly peeling away the layers of defensive thinking.
Allowing himself the direct pain experience without any attempt to rationalize it freed him from the internal critic, the involuntary product of trauma. He could accept the awful truth: He didn’t have an explanation for his father’s changed behavior, and it wasn’t his fault. His critic was the tragic misuse of a fine mind never meant to substitute for authentic feeling, whether joy or pain.
Case Study: Harvard Business Review – Why Good Companies Go Bad
Successful businesses frequently struggle to adapt appropriately when faced with significant changes in their surroundings, which is one of the most prevalent and confusing business issues. Their best employees depart, their stock values plummet, and they are unable to defend themselves against rivals equipped with new products, technology, or strategies. Many fail to recover, but some do in the end—usually after excruciating rounds of restructuring and downsizing.
Why do successful businesses fail? It’s common to presume that paralysis is the issue. When faced with a change in the business environment, firms become paralyzed, akin to a deer caught in headlights. However, the evidence doesn’t support such hypothesis.
Besieged organizations typically have their managers identify the threat early on, thoroughly consider how it affects their business, and launch a flurry of efforts in response. Despite all the bustle, the businesses continue to struggle.
The issue lies not in a lack of activity but rather in a failure to act appropriately. One of the most frequent causes of the issue, which can range from managerial intransigence to outright ineptitude, is a state that is often referred to as active inertia.
A moving object’s propensity to continue on its current path is referred to as inertia by physicists. The phrase is typically linked with inaction—imagine a pool ball at rest on a table. An organization’s propensity to behave in accordance with established patterns, even in the face of significant changes in the environment, is known as active inertia.
Because they are stuck with the ways of thinking and doing that have worked in the past, market leaders just speed up all of their tried-and-true practices. When people attempt to excavate themselves, they only make the hole deeper.
Given the prevalence of active inertia, it’s critical to comprehend its causes and manifestations. After all, if executives assume that the enemy is paralysis, they will automatically conclude that the best defense is action.
Examples of Active Inertia
To see the destructive potential of active inertia, consider the examples of Firestone Tire & Rubber and Laura Ashley. Leading businesses in their respective fields, both of them failed to rise to the occasion of change—not because they did nothing, but rather because they did not respond effectively.
Firestone had been growing steadily for seven decades when the 1970s came around. It dominated the booming U.S. tyre market, sharing the top spot with Goodyear, its Akron, Ohio, crosstown rival.
The managers of Firestone were well-aware of the positioning and strategy of their business. They saw the Big Three Detroit automakers as their key customers, they saw Goodyear and the other leading U.S. tyre makers as their competitors, and they saw their challenge as simply keeping up with the steadily increasing demand for tyres.
The business was now a symbol of its own prosperity. Its culture and operations reflected the vision of its founder, Harvey Firestone, Sr., who insisted on treating customers and employees as part of the ‘Firestone family’.
The Firestone country club was open to all employees, regardless of rank, and Harvey himself maintained close friendships with the top executives of the big carmakers. (In fact, his granddaughter married Henry Ford’s grandson.)
Firestone created fiercely loyal managers, steeping them in the company’s family values and in its Akron-centered worldview.
The company’s operating and capital allocation processes were designed to exploit the booming demand for tyres by quickly bringing new production capacity on line. In the capital-budgeting process, for example, frontline employees identified market opportunities and translated them into proposals for investing in additional capacity. Middle managers then selected the most promising proposals and presented them to top executives, who tended to speedily approve the middle managers’ recommendations.
Firestone’s long-standing success gave the company a strong, unified sense of its strategies and values, its relationships with customers and employees, and its operating and investment processes. The company had, in short, a clear formula for success, which had served it well since the turn of the century.
Then, almost overnight, everything changed. A French company, Michelin, introduced the radial tyre to the U.S. market. Based on a breakthrough in design, radials were safer, longer-lasting, and more economical than traditional bias tyres. They had already come to dominate European markets, and when Ford declared in 1972 that all its new cars would have radials, it was clear that they would dominate the U.S. market, too.
Firestone was not taken by surprise by the arrival of radials. Through its large operations in Europe, it had witnessed firsthand the European markets’ quick embrace of radial tyres during the 1960s. And it had developed forecasts that clearly indicated that radials would be rapidly accepted by U.S. automakers and consumers as well.
Firestone saw radials coming, and it swiftly took action: it invested nearly $400 million—more than $1 billion in today’s dollars—in radial production, building a new plant dedicated to radial tires and converting several existing factories.
Although Firestone’s response was quick, it was far from effective. Even as it invested in the new product, it clung to its old ways of working. Rather than redesign its production processes, it just tinkered with them—even though the manufacture of radial tyres required much higher quality standards. In addition, the company delayed closing many of its factories that produced bias tyres, despite clear indications of their impending obsolescence. Active inertia had taken hold.
By 1979, Firestone was in deep trouble. Its plants were running at an anemic 59% of capacity, it was renting warehouses to store unsold tyres, it was plagued by costly and embarrassing product recalls, and its domestic tyre business had burned more than $200 million in cash.
Although overall U.S. tyre sales were plateauing, largely because radials last twice as long as bias tyres, Firestone’s CEO clung to the assumption of ever-growing demand, telling the board that he saw no need to start closing plants.
In the end, all of Firestone’s intense analysis and action was for naught. The company surrendered much of its share of the U.S. market to foreign corporations, and it suffered through two hostile takeover bids before finally being acquired by Bridgestone, a Japanese company, in 1988.
The women’s apparel maker Laura Ashley also fell victim to active inertia. The company’s eponymous founder spent her youth in Wales, and she started the business with her husband, Bernard, in 1953 as a way to re-create the mood of the British countryside.
The company’s garments, designed to evoke a romantic vision of English ladies tending roses at their country manors, struck a chord with many women in the 1970s. The business grew quickly from a single silk-screen press in Laura and Bernard’s London flat to a major retailer with a network of 500 shops and a powerful brand the world over.
Laura Ashley expanded her tiny operation not to maximize profits but to defend and promote traditional British values, which she felt were under siege from sex, drugs, and miniskirts in the 1960s.
From the beginning, she and Bernard exercised tight control over all aspects of the business, keeping design, manufacturing, distribution, and retailing in-house. The couple opened a central manufacturing and distribution center in Wales, and they proudly labeled their garments ‘Made in Wales’.
They provided generous wages and benefits to their employees, thereby avoiding the labor unrest that crippled many British industries throughout the 1970s. They also established close relationships with their franchisees and customers, who grew fiercely loyal to the company’s products and the values they embodied.
When Laura died in 1985, Bernard kept the company on the course his wife had set. Fashion, however, changed. As more women entered the workforce, they increasingly chose practical, professional attire over Laura Ashley’s romantic garb.
Competitors publicly dismissed the Laura Ashley style as better suited to milkmaids in the 1880s than CEOs in the 1980s. At the same time, apparel manufacturing was undergoing a transformation. With trade barriers falling, fashion houses were rushing to move production offshore or to outsource it entirely, dramatically reducing their operating costs.
Laura Ashley, in contrast, continued to pursue the outdated designs and the expensive manufacturing processes that had served it so well in the past.
The company did not, however, suffer from paralysis. By the late 1980s, an outside consultant had identified the major challenges facing Laura Ashley and had outlined remedial actions. Recognizing the need to act, the board of directors, chaired by Bernard, brought in a series of new CEOs, asking each to develop and carry out a restructuring plan that would increase sales and cut costs.
The new plans set off flurries of activity, but none of them went far enough in recasting the company’s strategy. It remained unclear whether Laura Ashley was a brand, a manufacturer, a retailer, or an integrated fashion company.
Nor did the plans refresh the company’s traditional values to bring them in line with the marketplace. Afflicted with active inertia, Laura Ashley went through seven CEOs in a decade, but the company’s decline continued. American televangelist Pat Robertson recently joined the board as an outside director, leading one financial journal to conclude that the company sought divine inspiration for its earthly problems.
The Inside-Outsider as Change Leader
Guiding a company through big changes requires a difficult balancing act. The company’s heritage has to be respected, while the company has to revolutionize itself to be relevant in the current and future marketplace.
It’s a tricky tightrope to walk. For example, in an attempt to save Firestone and take the company into the future, the new CEO’s revolution saved Firestone from bankruptcy, but it left the company poorly positioned for future growth.
A team of outside managers disposed of several of Firestone’s most promising businesses and invested heavily in tyre retailing, despite warnings from seasoned insiders that the company’s tire stores had never been profitable. The combination of these steps meant that Firestone’s days as an independent company were numbered.
Goodyear, by contrast, took a very different path. Respectful of its corporate heritage but not beholden to it, Goodyear adapted to the new competitive environment through a series of carefully staged changes, avoiding the need for a revolution. The company cut its production capacity for traditional tyres in a way that showed respect for its longstanding commitments to workers and communities.
Wherever possible, it converted existing factories to radial production or built new radial facilities adjacent to closed plants, retaining most employees and thus mitigating the disruption to the communities. And whereas Firestone radically reduced its level of customer service, Goodyear continued to invest in its customer relationships, establishing a basis for future growth.
If ever there appeared to be a candidate for revolution it was IBM in 1993. When Lou Gerstner left RJR Nabisco to take the helm at IBM, he entered a company that had lost more than $16 billion in three years, had been singled out as a dinosaur by Fortune, and was in the process of being carved into 13 divisions that could be sold off in chunks.
Gerstner shook up the hidebound IBM culture and slashed costs, but he also preserved and nurtured many of IBM’s traditional strengths. Rather than ape the freewheeling style of Silicon Valley companies, Gerstner emphasized IBM’s reputation for stability and responsibility. He reassured corporate customers that they could rely on Big Blue to help them move into the world of networked computers.
Instead of abandoning IBM’s mainframe business, Gerstner expanded services and acquired software that complemented IBM’s heavy metal, enabling the company to offer ‘total solutions’ to customers’ information technology needs.
Gerstner’s strategy of transforming IBM through renewal rather than revolution has succeeded beyond anyone’s expectations, leading to a more than fourfold increase in the company’s share price and positioning it to continue as an industry leader into the next century.
IBM’s turnaround offers an important lesson to any successful company facing big changes.
Active inertia exists because the pull of the past is so strong. Trying to break that pull through a radical act of organizational revolution leaves people disoriented and disenfranchised, cut off from the past but unprepared to enter the future.
It’s better for managers to respect the company’s heritage. They should build on the foundations of the past even as they teach employees that old strategic frames, processes, relationships, and values need to be recast to meet new challenges.
Exercise 7.7: A Shift in Perspective
1. Think about a current issue that your team/the organization is facing.
2. Write down everything you can about the situation surrounding this issue.
3. What other perspective(s) are there about this situation that you haven’t written down in your answer to question 2?
– Are there other things about this issue that aren’t currently being looked at?
– Are there things about this issue that haven’t been considered?
– Is there information about this issue that hasn’t been gathered as yet?
– Are there facts that you don’t currently have?
– Other?
4. What are the stress and anxiety points associated with this issue?
– What can you do to reduce the impact of some of these points?
– How will reducing the impact change the perspective of the overall issue?
5. What will ignite your desire to take action and resolve this issue?
– What is currently holding the issue back from being resolved?
– What needs to happen to resolve the issue?
– Has your perspective of the issue changed with the answers you’ve created above?
– How has this impacted your view of the issue?
Course Manual 8: Deliberate And Implemental Mindsets
According to mindset theory, an implemental mindset involves filtering information, but a deliberative mindset implies being receptive to information in one’s environment.
While those with an implemental mindset concentrate on scheduling the when, where, and how of putting a decision into action, those with a deliberative mindset concentrate on the attractiveness and viability of a wide range of alternatives.
An implementation intention is a self-control tactic that takes the shape of a ‘if-then plan’ and can help with habit and behavior change as well as greater goal achievement. As it outlines the when, where, and how of goal-directed behavior, it is subordinate to goal intents.
In the context of pursuing goals, the distinction between deliberative and implemental mindsets is a dual-process idea. It is assumed that choosing amongst prospective action goals and encouraging the implementation of chosen goals are two distinct processes involved in the process of goal pursuit.
Different cognitive orientations (deliberative and implemental mindsets) occur when people engage in these activities, affecting how information is processed and how actions are controlled.
The degree of openness to available information, the cognitive tuning towards preferential processing of task-congruent information, the partial versus impartial analysis of desirability-related information, and the realistic versus overly positive illusory analysis of feasibility-related information have all found themselves the subject of research into the application and power that developing these mindsets provide to individuals over time.
Implemental Mindsets
The study of goal-striving in the late 1980s and early 1990s served as the inspiration for the idea of implementation mindsets.
Recent studies indicate that the correlations between intentions and behavior are modest, in that setting intentions account for only 20% to 30% of the variance in behavior of the person that has set the intention.
Research has shown that strong intentions (for example, making a statement that ‘I strongly intend to do X’) were more frequently realized than weak ones.
When compared to goal intentions, past behavior still tended to be a superior indicator of a person’s future behavior. According to research, people who have good intentions but don’t follow through on them fulfil weak intention-behavior relationship.
As interest in implemental mindset grew, it sparked an expanding body of research to assist researchers in figuring out how to make people placing their attention on the where, when and how of a situation more effective in achieving desired goals.
Over time, research put forth the idea that the way goal-setting criteria are phrased has some bearing on how successfully goals are attained. The goal-specificity effect, for instance, shows that people perform better when their goals are hard and specific as opposed to challenging but ambiguous goals.
A goal-proximity effect, where proximal goals lead to better performance than distal goals, was also suggested by recent studies. Based on these findings, the implemental mindset theory was created.
The concept of implemental mindsets
Though most people have good intentions, they frequently don’t follow through. The issue is how to make sure that the predetermined goal intentions will consistently result in the anticipated goal-directed actions and, ultimately, the accomplishment of those goals. Implemental mindset provides a workable answer to this issue.
Certain goal-directed behaviors must be implemented in order to achieve one’s goals, yet people frequently struggle to start or keep up these behaviors. The implemental mindset method can be used to solve issues with starting and maintaining goal-directed behavior.
Compared to goal intents, this if-then plan is a fairly particular strategy. It’s possible to state a goal intention like ‘I want to reach X’.
Contrarily, implemental mindset is far more specific and aims to link a future crucial circumstance (a chance to achieve a goal) with a particular goal-directed behavior, resulting in what can be called automatization of goal achievement.
Therefore, an implemental mindset would frequently show up as follows: ‘When situation X occurs, I will carry out response Y’.
Implemental mindset is far more procedural and concrete than goal intentions, which are more general and abstract.
Once a precise plan for dealing with a particular problem has been created, the circumstance becomes mentally represented and activated, improving perception, focus, and memory related to the pressing matter.
The chosen goal-directed behavior (the then-part of the plan) will therefore be carried out naturally and effectively without having to think about it. The elimination of any delay and consideration on the part of the decision maker when such a crucial scenario comes is made possible by automating the behavior in response to the future event or trigger.
Additionally, this offers the benefit of freeing up cognitive resources for other mental processing activities, as well as for avoiding distractions that could jeopardize the goal or conflicting goals.
It is also believed that once established, an implemental mindset would continue to function subconsciously. Strategic automaticity is the name given to this process.
For the implemental mindset to have an impact on a person’s behavior, the level of commitment to the objective and the plan set is crucial. Without commitment, a goal-directed behavior will scarcely be changed by an implemental mindset.
An individuals’ likelihood of following through on a plan increases when someone actively encourages them to do so.
Planning exercises that are effective help people think about the when, where, and how they can carry out their plans.
For a number of reasons, facilitating plan formation increases follow-through. People can first think about logistical challenges and create specific strategies to get past them. Second, the process helps to reduce the likelihood that someone will underestimate the time required by a task. Third, making plans encourages people to remember to take action. Last but not least, creating an action plan signifies a resolve to take action.
Research shows that breaking promises causes discomfort. As a result, plans work best when they are made as commitments to other people.
Deliberate Mindset
No matter how long you have lived on this planet, someone has said something unfavorable about you that has stuck with you. Regardless of whether they were disparaging remarks about your IQ, prowess, reliability, age, etc., they get stuck in your mind.
Whether we decide to believe these claims or not is a decision. The decisions we make are our own, we get to choose whether we take on board the opinions of others or whether we go in a different direction. The challenge is in being present and connect to yourself so that you can consciously make these decisions and not let auto-pilot make them for you.
Over time, most of us will have experienced receiving messages in a form that is horrifying, cruel, and brutal. Over time, as we hold on to these messages and wire them into our being, they can eventually become very draining for us to carry.
We are prone to succumbing to seriously incorrect notions about ourselves as the months develop into years. Taking on board other people’s opinions of us forces us into a position where we carry mistaken notions of who we are like chains around our wrists.
Almost all of us have experienced moments where we’ve had the thoughts like: ‘I’m not good enough, I don’t have the skills, it’s too complicated, it won’t work, I’m too stressed, this always happens to me’.
Holding on to thoughts like these can make us fall into negative thought patterns.
We convince ourselves that it is simpler to anticipate the worst and make plans for the worst-case scenario, but in reality, our default negative thinking keeps us from appreciating the moment and embracing the good things that are happening all around us.
Negative default thinking is exactly what it sounds like: automatic, negative thought patterns that come to mind as a reaction.
To counteract this negative position, we can decide to deliberately change our mindset and instead actively interrupt our negative thought cycle.
Holding a deliberate mindset stops the loop of negative default thinking and enables us to adopt a growth mindset, a state of mind in which we believe in possibilities, don’t hold ourselves responsible for our errors or circumstances, but rather see them as chances to develop and learn more about ourselves.
A deliberate mindset causes us to stop and ask questions like:
‘What if I consciously choose to counteract every bad idea I have?’
‘What if I chose to think back on the five good things that happened to me today rather than just the one bad?’
‘What if I consciously altered my perspective to react favorably?’
‘What if I choose to be grateful and let go of the bad?’
Research studies into those people who hold a deliberate mindset have shown that their level of Increased positive thinking can lower health risks, improve coping mechanisms, and improve both psychological and physical wellbeing.
Fostering a deliberate mindset can empower someone to can identify the aspects of their life that lead to more negative thinking, check in with their thoughts throughout the day, have a healthy lifestyle, be around positive people, and engage in purposeful thinking or positive self-talk to improve positive thinking.
There is a plethora of information at our fingertips that provides us with details about the latest geopolitical crises, politics, or weather. When we’re not conscious of it, the sheer magnitude of the information available to us can cause us to live, watch, and worry about these topics.
Developing a deliberate mindset gives us the ability to consciously decide whether we will take the information on board, and even to discern when we’ve consumed too much information and that it is time to counteract that with positive inputs into our mind instead.
Principles of deliberate mindset
Sometimes, it can be confronting and feel like it’s really difficult to challenge and alter your mindsets.
Our mindsets can frequently be so strongly held that we’re not aware of them and therefore don’t even consciously connect to the fact that we could consider challenging them.
By continuing to blindly act in the same way, we run the risk of being stuck in our lives. There are two attitudes that are very beneficial to help you to confront the mindsets that you’re holding on to and that it may be time to let go so you can continue to grow and develop: practice and performance.
A practice mindset is pervasive in sports and the arts. Professional athletes put in numerous hours of practice every day to stay at the top of their game, and those who are well-versed in the arts would never question the necessity of practicing their instrument or creative art every day if they want to continually improve.
The concept of practice is widely acknowledge and accepted as a process that assists in leading to success. Why then, do we not apply ‘practicing’ to the way in which we live our lives?
Practice and performance must coexist as crucial mindsets if we are to learn and develop as human beings.
A practice mindset views life as a never-ending practice that involves constant improvement. It is a mindset that is unaffected by position in the hierarchy or one’s role. Instead, it is the knowledge that purposeful practice and constant change are necessary to become the best leader you can be.
Deliberate practice
We are aware that improving at anything takes practice—and sometimes a lot of practice. But it is also worth noting that not every form of practice is the same.
If you are practicing in a subpar or ineffective way then it doesn’t matter if you practice for 10,000 hours or 300,000 hours. Utilizing a deliberate mindset to practice is effective not only because you are consciously connected to practicing the proper skills, but also because consciously and deliberately repeating specific tasks changes how your brain processes information.
In essence, repetition increases the myelination of your cerebral connections, resulting in faster, more effective changes to neural pathways.
This gives you the opportunity to gradually internalize a new behavior or ability so that you can do it without investing excessive effort or thought.
Consider how simple it is to ride a bike or operate a car with diligent practice and repetition. Consider also how simple it is to perform both of these tasks incorrectly as a result of inconsistent practice or practicing in a disconnected way that doesn’t focus on the areas that you need to improve.
It makes sense to commit to developing a deliberate mindset so that you can better embody effective abilities and behaviors.
There are 5 principles that can assist you in developing a deliberate mindset and applying it to your practice:
1. Self-disruption: This involves finding a technique to interrupt your automatic old behavior for any new behavior or way of being to become embedded and natural. Sometimes, the simplest way ot do this is to establish a new routine or behavior alongside the existing one. Because the older conduct has been practiced for such a long time and is so much more instinctive, it will almost always take over when you are under any kind of pressure, thus it rarely works when you most need it to.
Approach any new opportunity for development prepared to purposefully disturb your current way of thinking and acting. Try something new and pay attention to how it makes you feel and think. Invite others to challenge and investigate your presumptions. Create discomfort for yourself and observe the results.
2. Conscious mindset: Develop a doing-as-practice mentality. Make the commitment to yourself for a lifetime of development. Expect a stretch assignment or development program to be a spark and a chance to practice being an even more whole version of yourself rather than an end in and of themselves.
3. Emotional involvement: You need to be emotionally invested in the mentality, ability, or behavior you decide to use. You won’t be able to pay attention or act consistently if you don’t care. Consider the straightforward enquiry, ‘Why does this mindset, skill, or behavior matter to me?’ Choose another practice that does matter to you if you find that you are not emotionally invested in it.
4. Attention and repetition: Energy is drawn to attention. Be thoughtful about the daily practices you select. Ask yourself, ‘What am I practicing today, in this meeting, or with this person?’ Examples include an attitude, a skill, or a way of being. Then keep practicing until the attitude, talent, or behavior becomes ingrained in your personality. Once you’ve embedded that skill or attitude, move on and work on something else.
5. Practice quality: It is useless to practice the incorrect things or something ineffectively. In order to get started on the proper path and find allies to support you along the way, and maybe even consider whether you need to engage the services of a coach or an experienced colleague to mentor you. Ask for their support and challenge by telling others who care about you what you are doing. Ask them how you may assist them in their own practices and be explicit in your requests for assistance.
All five of these principles are not required, but the more you can apply them to the way you live your life, the more self-aware, flexible, and effective you will be. Asking yourself what you are practicing right now is an excellent place to start.
Case Study: The Deliberate Practice Mindset – Lessons from ‘Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise’
The book Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise by K. Anders Ericsson, Ph.D., and Robert Pool, Ph.D., which was released on April 5, 2016, was formed by three decades of research.
Have you ever heard of the “10,000 hours rule”, which states that if you practice something for at least 10,000 hours, you can become an expert at it?
With the publication of Malcolm Gladwell’s ‘Outliers’, this theory gained popularity, but it was a misreading of the results of a 1993 Berlin study of violin students. This rule of thumb was popular because it was convenient and appealingly straightforward.
The author of the original study, Anders Ericsson, makes it clear in ‘Peak’ that there is no optimum amount of practice hours that guarantees mastery.
It is the kind of practice that is important. Experts just have millions of hours of proper practice under their belts.
There are 3 types of practice:
Naïve practice:
This type of practice describes how most people approach learning anything new.
– Begin with a broad concept or area of interest.
– Obtain some fundamental guidelines.
– Work on your skills until you reach an acceptable or enjoyable level.
– Stop improving and switch to automatic mode. At this level, skills typically degrade over time rather than improving.
Purposeful practice:
As our naive practicing progresses, we may become more focused and develop purposeful practice habits.
– Establish clear, precise objectives, such as playing a song three times in a row flawlessly.
– Maintain attention on your plan.
– Recognize your mistakes and how you made them.
– Leave your comfort zone.
Deliberate practice:
While this is the best approach to practice, it is neither simple nor usually fun.
According to Ericsson and Pool, deliberate practice can only occur if the following conditions are met for the discipline:
– There must be objective methods of evaluating performance, such as obvious wins and losses.
– The discipline must be competitive enough to give you a strong incentive to practice and improve.
– It must be well-established, with specific skills defined over decades or centuries.
– A subset of practitioners comprises coaches or teachers with sophisticated training methods.
To practice deliberately:
– You must give this task your whole focus and conscientious effort.
– You work methodically to enhance particular facets of your performance in accordance with well-defined, specified goals. Based on the advice your coach or teacher provides, you adjust your behavior.
– You execute outside of your comfort zone and with almost maximal effort.
– You develop useful mental models that will be used in further practice.
Our brains are extraordinary. They create mental images that direct our behavior and thought. Our thoughts contain patterns that indicate potential, potential outcomes, and ‘the full picture’.
For example, Alexander Alekhine competed in 26 games of ‘blindfold chess’ in 1924 against experienced opponents while unable to see the boards. He would make announcements in response to the runners calling out similar moves on their separate boards. He drew five, lost five, and won 16 of his games.
How did he accomplish that? Over time, he had formed mental images of the game of chess.
Experts are better than novices at recognizing patterns because they have pre-formed mental representations that they have developed spending thousands of hours experiencing similar situations.
They are constructed and heavily utilized during deliberate practice because they are domain-specific.
Understanding how something is done right (for example, what a perfect dive looks like) helps you create mental representations, which are then strengthened as you perform the activity perfectly.
A skilled rock climber uses mental images to instantly recognize the best handholds and footholds on a mountain face before sending.
Getting started
Great news, then! You don’t need to have spent 10,000 hours doing something to decide whether or not you should pick up a new skill right now. You can still get knowledge in a subject that interests you. The key is in making sure you approach picking up the new skill through deliberate practice.
Some additional points to consider when looking for ways to develop a deliberate mindset:
– Physical upkeep is crucial. Get adequate rest. Eat sensibly. Remain active.
– Be realistic about how long you can concentrate on one subject at a time. Don’t make yourself wait there for an hour if it’s only going to be 30 minutes.
– Recognize your drive and have confidence in your ability to succeed.
– Seek out social help if necessary. Engage a friend to assist you or join a group of like-minded people.
You’ll hit a wall. When you do, push yourself to identify and address your sticking areas in a novel approach.
Exercise 7.8: Deliberate Change
1. Take a moment to identify a process that is used within your team/department/division that you would like to change.
2. Write down the changes you would like to see.
3. For each thing you wrote down, what do you think might stop you from achieving those changes?
4. For each thing you wrote down, what do you think might help you achieve those changes?
5. What skills or attributes do you and/or your team members need to develop to be able to create these changes?
– Do your team members currently have these skills and attributes?
– Where is there a gap in skills and attributes?
6. For each skill and attribute required, write down three simple things you can do every day to help your team grow and develop these skills.
7. Place these skills and attributes required in order of importance.
8. How and when will you implement the steps required to assist your team in gaining the skills and attributes you’ve identified as the most important?
9. When will you achieve this by?
10. How will you hold yourself accountable to achieving this?
Course Manual 9: Collective Mindset
A collective mindset is a competitive advantage that produces more innovative ideas, fewer blind spots, and long-lasting decisions. Teams can develop a collective mindset that is significantly more powerful than the combination of their individual pieces by welcoming varied ideas, fostering psychological safety, and utilizing cognitive variety.
Teams that share principles like trust, justice, and dedication to excellence often work well together. They also actively look for these qualities in prospective new team members and discuss them freely.
When difficulties develop, teams that have a strong collective mindset move together to think about common ideals to decide how to proceed. Values influence the culture and identity of a team that has a strong collective mindset.
Our daily lives are made up of a combination of drawing from our personal experiences, observing the physical world around us, engaging in social interactions, seeking moral guidance from our ethical context, enjoying aesthetic experiences, empathizing with close friends, and reflecting on the meaning we create from all of those things.
Each experience creates a seed of knowledge that is then stored within the consciousness of the individual that has experienced it. Each of those seeds of knowledge then becomes valued by the collective mind for its own sake as well as for its contribution to understanding the total.
The goal of a collective mindset is to utilize both the individual and societal collective minds. The development of a collective consciousness unleashes enormous potential in both people and within communities.
A collective mindset takes into account connections between parts and wholes, consistency and change, people and society, and reason and creativity rather than the lines that separate them. A mind is the physical brain’s action dimension and the source of collective thought.
Within the collective mindset, diversity is embraced and used by a collective consciousness via:
– Accepting the diversity of people’s views, knowledge, and beliefs and, in doing so, creating a place where difference can thrive.
– Working together to solve wicked challenges.
– Recognizing the interdependence of seemingly opposing concepts (such as parts and whole, stability and change, individuals and society, and creativity and reason).
– Utilizing all of the data generated by the various modes of understanding (personal, biophysical, social, ethical, aesthetic, empathetic, and reflective).
– Adhering to the tenets of deep democracy, in which each person contributes their entire self to the process.
Instead of finishing a puzzle, the collective mindset is intent on taking all the pieces of knowledge and unleashing creativity to make a collage.
The adage ‘Teamwork makes the dream work’ is commonly used and understood. Amazing things can occur when a group of people come together with a common purpose and vision.
But putting together a team is not the only aspect. It involves developing a common worldview. This entails creating a set of shared attitudes, values, and convictions that bind individuals together and fosters a sense of shared identity.
People are powerfully driven when they believe they are a part of something greater than themselves.
They encourage one another to be more successful, stand by one another when faced with difficulties, and build on each other’s achievements. Teams, organizations, and even entire communities can thrive and experience long-lasting success by learning to think collectively.
Key attributes of a collective mindset
Individuals feel empowered to share their special talents and ideas when they have a communal perspective. They put aside ego and labor for the betterment of others because they understand that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
A collective mindset has the following essential qualities:
– Common goals and values. The group’s decisions and course of action are guided by a distinct vision and set of ideals.
– Direct conversation. People are open to exchanging opinions, suggestions, and even helpful criticism. Instead, rather than merely responding, they listen to comprehend.
– Confidence and psychological security. Without worrying about criticism or retaliation, people feel supported and free to take risks, ask questions, and make errors.
– Flexibility. To keep current, the group is prepared to try new things, refocus when necessary, and alter course. They avoid thinking rigidly.
– Inclusivity. All opinions and viewpoints are respected. Diversity of thinking and life experiences is what the group desires.
– Growth perspective. Members support ongoing learning and improvement. Failures and setbacks are not reasons to give up for them, but rather a chance to learn and improve.
Although cultivating a communal attitude requires work, the benefits in terms of greater innovation, productivity, and wellbeing make the effort worthwhile.
There are no boundaries to what a group can do when they get together with a common goal and an openness to learn.
How shared values and visions influences outcomes
A collective mindset is perhaps the most powerful way to create a lasting business. This entails creating a common vision and set of values that bind your team together.
To ensure that this happens, there are several key components you need to consider:
– Your ideal future is outlined in your vision statement. It needs to be both ambitious and doable. A vision statement aids in providing your team with a sense of direction and purpose.
– Your group’s core values outline what is most important to them. Integrity, excellence, and customer service are a few examples of the values you should strive to uphold. Discuss your values and narrow them down to 3-5 guiding principles. Your decisions should be based on these principles.
– Regularly share your vision and principles through meetings, mailings, and setting an example for others. The key is repetition. They should be taught to new employees right away.
– Promote and hire people who share your goals and ideals. Success is more likely when a cohesive team of like-minded people is present. Those who are not on board will only hinder you.
– Regularly review and reflect on your vision and values. It might need to be modified as your business develops and changes in order to stay relevant. Any adjustments should be carefully considered and communicated.
Though it can be challenging at times, developing a collective mindset is very important. Your employees will be motivated and maintain a collaborative and cooperative mindset when they are aligned with a shared vision and set of values. This will underpin every activity within the organization which will help propel your business to new heights.
Ryan Gottfred talks about the power that a collective mindset can have on transforming leaders’ effectiveness and organizational culture. You can learn more by watching this YouTube video:
The advantages of a collective mindset
Extraordinary things can occur when organizations come together with a common goal and vision. The following are some of the main advantages of cultivating a collective mindset:
Higher Productivity
Productivity soars when everyone is on the same page and working towards the same objective. People are inspired to contribute to the team’s advancement because they perceive a shared feeling of obligation and responsibility. Additionally, it reduces interruptions and wastage of time caused by conflicting tasks.
Enhanced Problem-Solving
You have access to a larger range of ideas and life experiences when several minds are working on a problem. More inventive solutions result from this range of ideas. Additionally, people no longer worry about being judged when they speak up and offer unique views. The end effect is a setting that encourages creative thinking.
Better Interactions
Between team members, a collective attitude fosters empathy, cooperation, and trust. By exchanging knowledge and overcoming obstacles together, people come to know one another more deeply. Bonds are formed as a result of this camaraderie and sense of shared experience that continue far beyond any particular endeavor.
Greater Resilience
Teams with a strong collective mindset are able to weather difficulties and setbacks more easily. They see problems as something to solve together rather than something that divides them. This shared confidence and determination give them the ability to pivot quickly in the face of change. They believe that as long as they work as a cohesive unit, they can achieve their goals against all odds.
How to build a collective mindset
To build a collective mindset in your team or organization, focus on fostering an environment of open communication, shared values, and common goals.
Promote open communication.
Encourage team members to share ideas, ask questions, and voice concerns freely and without judgment. Make it a habit to check in regularly and listen with an open mind. Share information openly and make transparency a priority. When communication is open, trust is built, and collective thinking can emerge.
Identify shared values.
Determine the values you have in common and how you want to define your culture. Things like integrity, excellence, courage, teamwork, and innovation Discuss these shared values openly and look for ways to reinforce them in your day-to-day work. Shared values give teams a sense of shared purpose and identity.
Set common goals.
Work together to establish key goals and priorities you all want to achieve. Provide opportunities for input and discussion so people feel invested in the goals. Then determine how you’ll work together interdependently to accomplish those goals. Common goals motivate collective action and problem-solving.
Practice inclusion
Make sure all voices are heard and all viewpoints are respected. An inclusive environment where everyone feels their contributions matter is essential for collective thinking. Look for ways to draw out quieter team members and encourage alternative perspectives. Value diversity of thought and life experiences.
Synergy will emerge, and lasting success will follow.
Celebrating wins together
When your team experiences success, make sure to recognize and celebrate it as a group.
Share the spotlight.
Highlight the efforts and contributions of each team member. Recognize that success is a team effort, not the result of any single person. Share details of how each person played an important role in achieving the win.
Express Gratitude.
Thank your team members for their hard work and dedication. Let them know you appreciate all they do to support the team and move the organization forward. Gratitude is a powerful way to strengthen bonds between people and foster a sense of shared purpose.
Celebrate in person.
While a quick email or chat message can be a nice gesture, take the time to celebrate in person whenever possible. Get together for a team lunch or after-work event. Enjoy each other’s company and camaraderie. In-person interactions are much more meaningful and help create shared experiences that bring people together.
Share the story.
Help others in the organization understand what your team accomplished by sharing details of your success story. Explain the goals, challenges, key milestones, and ultimate win. This helps to spread positive feelings and highlights the collective effort it took to achieve success. It also sets an inspiring example for other teams.
Fostering trust and collaboration
To build a collective mindset, you need to foster an environment of trust and collaboration.
Open communication.
Encourage team members to share ideas, ask questions, and express concerns freely. Make it clear that all input is valued. Schedule regular meetings where people can connect and share updates on their work. An open flow of communication builds understanding and helps avoid misunderstandings.
Shared goals.
Work together to establish shared goals and a common vision. Discuss how each person’s role contributes to the overall mission. When people understand how their efforts fit into the bigger picture, they’ll be more invested in helping each other succeed. Review goals regularly to make sure the team is on the same page about priorities and timelines.
Mutual support.
A collaborative team dynamic depends on people supporting each other. Cheer each other on. Offer help without being asked. Praise team members for their contributions and accomplishments. Say “we” instead of “me”. Ask others what they need to do their jobs well and provide resources when you’re able.
Effective communication
For any team or organization to achieve lasting success, effective communication is essential. When everyone is on the same page, working together toward a common goal, there is nothing you can’t accomplish.
Share information freely.
Make sure important details, updates, and decisions are disseminated to all team members. Whether in meetings, emails, or casual conversations, share information openly and frequently. Secrets and silos only breed mistrust and hamper progress.
Encourage open dialogue.
Create an environment where people feel comfortable voicing their opinions and concerns. Listen without judgment and be open to feedback. Address issues respectfully and look for compromise and solutions, not blame. Regularly solicit input from all team members to make sure all voices are heard.
Provide clear direction.
While open communication is key, teams also need leadership and guidance. Set clear goals and objectives, define roles and responsibilities, and establish key priorities and timelines. Be available to answer questions and offer support. Uncertainty and a lack of direction will only lead to wasted time and resources.
Give constructive feedback.
Offer sincere praise and recognition when deserved, but also provide constructive feedback when needed. Do it with empathy, focusing on specific actions and behaviors, not personal attacks. Explain how certain behaviors or decisions impacted the team and organization. Feedback should motivate and inspire improvement, not breed resentment.
Lasting success is built through unity, not uniformity.
Embracing Diverse Perspectives
This means embracing diverse perspectives and valuing input from all team members.
Listen with an open mind.
It’s human nature to gravitate towards those with similar views. However, surrounding yourself only with like-minded people can limit creativity and innovation. Actively seek out different voices and make an effort to understand other points of view. Listen without judgment and be willing to consider alternative ideas.
Create a safe space for dissent.
For a team to achieve its full potential, all members must feel comfortable voicing their opinions freely. Establish a culture where constructive criticism and debate are encouraged. Make it clear that dissent will be met with an open mind, not punishment or ridicule. People will only share differing views if they feel psychologically safe to do so.
Leverage cognitive diversity.
A team with a variety of backgrounds, experiences, and ways of thinking will lead to better outcomes. When faced with a challenge, a diverse group can generate more solutions by combining their unique perspectives. They can also identify more risks and opportunities by spotting connections that less diverse teams would miss. Promote diversity of thought to gain these cognitive benefits.
Value all contributions equally.
The best ideas can come from anywhere, so make sure to consider input from all team members equally. Don’t dismiss suggestions just because of who offered them. Judge concepts and solutions based solely on their merit, not on job titles or other attributes. When all voices are valued, people are empowered to contribute fully.
Continuous Learning and Growth
To achieve lasting success, you must commit to continuous learning and growth. Complacency is the enemy of progress. When you stop learning, you stop improving and adapting to change.
Seek out new knowledge and skills.
Make learning a habit and a lifelong pursuit. Read books, take online courses, or get coaching or mentorship. Look for opportunities to strengthen existing skills or develop new ones. Growth and progress happen through continuous self-education and expanding your mind.
Embrace change and new ways of thinking.
The world is constantly evolving, and the skills and mindsets that led to success yesterday may not work today or tomorrow. Challenge old assumptions and habits of thinking. Expose yourself to different perspectives and disciplines. An open and curious mindset will allow you to adapt to change rather than be blindsided by it.
Surround yourself with people smarter than you.
Seek out people who share your passion for learning and growth. Engage in discussions with those who have different areas of expertise or life experiences than your own. Their knowledge and insights can help expand your own thinking in new directions.
Reflect regularly on your progress and goals.
Take time for self-reflection to gain awareness of your progress and determine where you need to improve. Review your goals and priorities, assess what’s working and not working, and make adjustments as needed to stay on track. Continuous reflection and reevaluation will keep you learning, growing, and moving steadily toward success.
Shared Accountability
When groups develop a shared sense of accountability, it leads to a highly productive environment where people feel motivated to do their best work.
Shared goals.
Teams with a collective mindset share common goals and a vision for success. They understand how their individual roles contribute to the bigger picture. This clarity of purpose gives meaning to their work and fosters cooperation. Ask yourself:
• Do we have a clear mission and key objectives?
• Does each person understand how they specifically impact these goals?
Open communication.
Freely sharing information and feedback is essential. Teams should create an open environment where people feel comfortable voicing opinions, concerns, and ideas. Consider:
• Do we have regular meetings or channels where people can connect?
• Are we transparent with one another about challenges, setbacks, and wins?
• Do we provide constructive criticism and praise in a respectful way?
Mutual trust.
When a team develops a collective mindset, a deep level of trust forms between members. They become interdependent, relying on each other to do quality work. This trust allows them to be vulnerable, take risks, and support one another through difficulties. Ask:
• Do we express confidence in each other’s abilities and judgment?
• Are we comfortable admitting mistakes or limitations without fear of judgment?
• Do we have each other’s backs when facing challenges or setbacks?
A shared sense of accountability is what transforms a group of individuals into a highly effective team. By developing a collective mindset based on shared goals, open communication, and mutual trust, teams can achieve an extraordinary level of success together.
Recognizing and celebrating wins together is how collective mindsets are built over time through shared experiences. Make celebrating success a habit and a priority for your team. The bonds formed and lessons learned will serve you well in achieving even greater wins in the future. Focus on unity, shared purpose, and collective growth to become an unstoppable team.
By focusing on open communication, shared values, common goals, and an inclusive environment, you’ll be well on your way to fostering a team mindset where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Success becomes inevitable rather than elusive. You’ve got this! Now go out there, build your collective, and make amazing things happen.
Case Study: A Movie Called “42”
The movie ‘42’ is about a baseball player called Jackie Robinson.
The film tells the story of Jackie but is also a form of biography of the evolution of American culture.
Branch Rickey, the Brooklyn Dodgers’ general manager, signs Jackie Robinson as the team’s first black player in 1942. Rickey describes the aggressive behavior that Robinson would encounter in joining the team in one of the initial sequences and asks if Robinson will be able to handle it.
When Robinson inquires if Rickey wants to be a man with the bravery to fight, Rickey responds that he wants to be a man with the courage to refrain from engaging in combat.
Rickey obviously has a thorough knowledge of the moral strength that would be required. Moral denotes virtue, morality, and ethics. Power equates to capacity. When we decide to live by a higher ethical ideal, we acquire moral authority.
Nature has a way of providing us with an example of the options that are available to us in our lives. For most of us, we’re taught that our options when we’re challenged or offended are ‘fight or flight’. However, there is a third choice. Being purpose-driven is a choice that one can make in any situation in their lives.
When faced with a challenging and/or offensive situation, every individual has the option to proceed without protesting an injustice. However, this option is so little understood that it is commonly viewed that such a person is regarded as unique.
This distinction draws attention and compels people to reflect and exercise independent judgement. Some people change as a result of the processes of seeing, considering, and selecting. The alteration has the potential to propagate virally and become contagious.
Transformational leadership or moral authority typically facilitates transformational change. There are numerous scenes in the film where characters undergo transformations. Here are three scenes that are worthy of mention:
Like the majority of people, the Dodgers players are the first to take a stand against Robinson. But over time, they witnessed him endure horrifying assaults. At one time, a rival manager stood outside the dugout and hurled insults at Robinson nonstop. The players for the Dodgers appear to alter as this goes on. Finally, a player who had not been especially friendly to Robinson gets up, crosses the field, and declares that if the manager says anything else, he will be dealing with the entire team as a consequence.
Branch Rickey later makes the astute observation that the manager from the opposing team was actually aiding the cause. He argued that when an abusive individual, like the manager, does not receive a response, people tend to feel sorry for them. According to him, sympathy is ‘to suffer with’.
The opposition manager had the Dodger players sympathizing with Jackie Robinson because they were witness to, and therefore also experienced his suffering.
The assumptions and then the behavior of Robinson’s teammates started to change as a result of this suffering (or love). A change was brought about by moral power.
The second scene worthy of note is one where the Dodgers are about to play in Cincinnati.
The Dodgers’ standout shortstop Pee Wee Reece is from the surrounding state of Kentucky. Reece walks into Branch Rickey’s office full of outrage. He displays a letter to Rickey. Reece has received a threat and a description as a carpet bagger from someone in Kentucky. Reece is furious. Rickey takes out three substantial folders with Robinson-related vitriol. Threats of violence abound throughout the letters. What Reece reads leaves him speechless.
The third scene takes place in a Cincinnati baseball stadium. A little youngster and his father are conversing. The son, a fan of Reece, expresses his desire to see Reece succeed. The father responds sympathetically and shares a memory of being a young boy and cheering on his favorite player.
The Dodgers enter the field at that precise moment, and the loving father immediately yells derogatory remarks at Robinson. The young boy observes with interest and then imitates.
There are two startling moments in this. First, we learn that a man may be a loving father and a bigot at the same time. Second, we see a comparatively young youngster study his loving father and imitate his terrible actions. It serves as a simple demonstration of how everyone of us possesses both nobility and fragility, as well as how our cultures have an impact on how we behave.
The entire stadium continues to demonize Robinson as the incident develops. Pee Wee Reece notices this and does something startling after that. He puts an end to what he’s doing, rushes over to Robinson, and encircles him. Robinson queries Reece about his activity. Reece declares, ‘I want these people to see who I really am’.
The crowd becomes hushed. People start to clap. The young boy observes. He then starts to clap gradually.
Reece, who was earlier enraged, changes his behavior and makes a decision. The novel behavior grabs attention and forces others to make a decision. New actions take place. Another example of transformational effect is what we see.
When people adopt a collective mindset, they establish new outlooks and perspectives and then willingly adopt new behaviors, which is how cultural change happens.
The new behaviors proliferate in a viral, as opposed to a linear, way. A new culture eventually emerges as a result of the contagious new manner.
Collective mindset is a tool that transformational leaders employ to alter beliefs and conduct. It is challenging to understand that organizations are also moral systems since we tend to presume that they are political systems. Developing and maintaining a collective mindset requires ongoing attention to ensure that it’s power continues to bind people together in the pursuit of shared vision and values.
Exercise 7.9: Using Shared Values and Visions to Encourage Goal Commitment
1. Write down a goal that the organization is currently working towards achieving.
2. Write down as many challenges and obstacles that the organization could face while working towards achieving this goal.
3. Write down all the reasons that it’s important for the organization to achieve this goal.
4. Using the following list of words, write down as many words as you can think of that summarize the importance of achieving this goal. (These words represent the shared values that underpin achieving the goal):
5. On a piece of paper, write the goal in the middle of the page.
– Surrounding your goal, write down all of the values that you create in step 4.
– If there are some values that resonate more strongly, write them in bold and in their own color. Then write the other values in a different color.
6. Write down 5 steps you can take to ensure that all employees are engaged with and adopt the values that have been written down.
7. Which step will you take first?
8. How and when will the step be taken?
9. How will you hold yourself accountable for taking the step?
Share your answers with the main group. Ask them for their feedback on ways you can engage all employees to adopt the created values.
Course Manual 10: Promotion And Prevention Mindsets
There’s a great book called Focus: Using Different Ways of Seeing the World for Success and Influence that was written by Heidi Grant Halvorson Ph.D and E. Tory Higgins Ph.D.
This book discusses the way that most people fall into one of two groups in every workplace, educational setting, or community on Earth.
In the first group are people who are like Bob.
Bob is the type of individual whom some would describe as ‘difficult’, but he would probably prefer that he be referred to as a ‘sceptic’.
When in a conversation with Bob, it can be difficult to finish a sentence without him cutting you off to point out how incorrect the beginning was. He always gets things done right away, keeps his appearance spotless, and uses precise word choice.
He is a pessimist by nature—the defensive sort—and even when you try to reassure him that everything will be alright, you can visibly see him become noticeably uneasy at what appears to him to be your ‘careless and naive attitude’.
There is no disputing that Bob occasionally can be a pain to work with, and at this moment he probably sounds like he would be. But if you get to know him, you can more easily understand why he operates the way he does—he’s driven to avoid errors.
In fact, Bob gets angry just thinking about committing a mistake. He is at least a bit apprehensive a lot of the time. His work is typically perfect as a result.
In the other group are the people who are like Ray.
Ray may not have ever genuinely been concerned about anything. He is equally intelligent and driven, but he approaches his work (and life) with an unwavering positivity that is difficult not to admire.
He is all about the ‘Next Big Idea’ and doesn’t worry about the little things. But occasionally, that lack of perspective and worry about getting things done can cause problems. He often forgets where he puts things and stumbles across them sometime later because he doesn’t worry about finding them in the moment.
Ray’s work is imaginative and inventive; he doesn’t hesitate to forge new intellectual roads and take calculated risks, even if some of them prove to be time-wasting dead ends. But in terms of looks, Bob once said in a meeting that Ray’s shirt was so wrinkly it appeared as though he had kept it in his pocket all morning. Ray doesn’t like doing maintenance.
On the surface, Bob and Ray appear to be two gifted, dedicated people who share the same ambition: to perform their jobs admirably.
Whether you’re a manager, marketer, teacher, parent, or psychologist seeking to influence someone, you often start by trying to understand what that person wants before using that information to understand and forecast their behavior.
But why is everything about how Bob and Ray go about getting what they desire so different?
Promotion and Prevention Mindsets
People like Ray ‘accentuate the positive’. They regard things they want to achieve as chances for improvement or growth. In other words, they are focused on the advantages and rewards that will come their way if they succeed. Those people ‘play to win’.
Often, this outlook on life is referred to as ‘good’ and as having an emphasis and focus on promotion.
Numerous global studies demonstrate that promotion-focused individuals respond best to optimism and praise, are more inclined to take risks and seize opportunities, and do very well in terms of creativity and innovation.
Unfortunately, all that taking chances and optimism makes them more prone to mistakes, less inclined to fully consider their options, and frequently unprepared with a Plan B in case something goes wrong.
What is truly ‘bad’ for someone who is focused on advancement is a non-gain: a chance passed up, a reward not obtained, or a lack of success. Instead of feeling like they let opportunity knock on the door unanswered, they would rather say yes and have it blow up in their faces.
Others, like Bob, tend to see their goals as opportunities to meet their responsibilities and to stay safe. They think about what can go wrong if they don’t put in enough effort to succeed. They play to avoid losing rather than to win. More than anything else, they want to feel safe. When someone works towards this form of ‘good’, they have what is known as a prevention mindset.
Those who are prevention-focused are more motivated by criticism and the threat of failure (for instance, if they don’t work hard enough) than by praise and a positive outlook.
People who are more concerned with prevention tend to be more cautious and avoid taking risks, but they also produce work that is more accurate, detailed, and well-thought-out. Of course, excessive care and vigilance against mistakes effectively stifle all potential for development, creativity, and invention.
However, the ultimate ‘bad’ for those who prioritize prevention is a loss you were unable to stop: a mistake you made, a penalty you received, or a risk you were unable to avoid. They would much rather turn down an opportunity than get into trouble.
The person who coined the phrase ‘the devil is in the detail’ would have had Bob’s fervent support.
For decades, researchers have been studying the causes and effects of placing a promotion and prevention focus on every part of our lives.
That research has shown that while everyone cares about both promotion and prevention, the majority of people have a primary motivational focus that they predominantly employ to meet the demands and obstacles of daily life.
It’s also true that focus can vary depending on the circumstance: for example, some people may prioritize promotion at work while prioritizing prevention when it comes to their children. For example, when people stand in line for a flu vaccination or a lottery ticket, they are both promotion- and prevention-focused.
Hundreds of studies have shown that the kind of ‘good’ you are pursuing affects everything about you—what you pay attention to, what you value, the strategies you choose to use (and which ones actually work for you), and how you feel when you succeed or fail. It influences both your personal and professional strengths and limitations. It has an impact on how you run your business and raise your kids, which is why your spouse’s choices and preferences sometimes seem strange. Without exaggeration, everything is impacted by your focus.
Two differing mindsets
While there are numerous psychological profiling tools available in the marketplace, grouping people into categories based on a personality trait of either promotion emphasis or preventive focus can help you to predict performance.
These mindsets are well recognized among academic psychologists and marketing and management experts, but knowledge about them hasn’t yet reached leaders and line managers who, it could be said, stand to gain the most from learning about them.
After all, it is the leaders and the line managers whose job it is to improve their own performance at work and the performance of others.
The way we respond to the demands and obstacles we face in life is influenced by our motivational emphasis.
Promotion-focused individuals concentrate on the benefits that will result from achieving their goals and see them as paving the way for success or advancement. They play to win and are eager to see movement and progress towards a goal.
In contrast, those who place a strong emphasis on prevention perceive their objectives as obligations and prioritize safety. They are concerned about what might go wrong if they don’t put in enough effort or take enough precautions. They are watchful and play to avoid losing, hold onto what they have, and keep things as they are. They frequently take fewer risks, but they also produce work that is more accurate, detailed, and well-thought-out. They work slowly and carefully in order to succeed. They may not always be the most imaginative thinkers, but they may be quite good at analysis and problem-solving.
The prevention-focused are inspired by cautionary tales, while the promotion-focused are motivated by inspirational role models.
While those who are focused on promotion typically come up with many ideas, both good and poor, it frequently takes a person who is focused on prevention to distinguish between the two.
While everyone is occasionally concerned with both promotion and prevention, the majority of us have a dominant motivational focus.
It influences what we value, what we pay attention to, and how we feel whether we achieve or fail. It identifies our personal and professional strengths and limitations. And that’s why sometimes it seems so strange when our colleagues with diverse areas of focus make judgements and have preferences.
Most people will be able to recognize their dominating focus right away.
Promotion-focused individuals:
– work quickly;
– explore many options and are excellent brainstormers;
– are open to new ideas;
– are optimists;
– plan solely for the best-case situations;
– seek affirmation and lose motivation without it;
– feel defeated or unhappy when things don’t go their way.
Preventive-minded people:
– stick to tried-and-true methods,
– work slowly and methodically,
– tend to be correct,
– are stressed by tight deadlines,
– are uncomfortable with praise or optimism, and
– become frightened or anxious when things go wrong.
Both sides of the issue have advantages and disadvantages, much like the majority of things that happen in our world. Focusing on promotion and prevention are similar. And despite the clear leaning towards optimism in our culture, there are circumstances in which pessimism may be the wiser course of action. The key is to understand what these are so that you can appreciate your strengths and recognize and address your limitations.
According to studies, people who are interested in prevention are more likely to choose ‘conventional and realistic’ jobs like those in administration, bookkeeping, accounting, technology, and manufacturing. These are vocations where attention to detail really pays off; they call for knowledge of laws and regulations, careful execution, and a tendency towards thoroughness.
Promotion-focused people are more likely to work in ‘artistic and investigative’ fields including music, writing, consulting, and invention. These are typically creative, imaginative vocations where thinking outside the box is praised, and practicality isn’t stressed.
Promotion-focused executives typically do best in fast-paced businesses where staying ahead requires quick and creative responses. In more stable businesses, where avoiding catastrophic error is frequently the key to success, prevention-focused CEOs are most effective.
Building motivational fitness
Identifying which individuals sit within each of these mindsets makes it easier to provide them with leadership and management that will allow them to build on their skills and experience, grow and thrive. It will also make it easier for leaders and managers to lead and manage when they know how to communicate in a way that makes sense to the other person.
Having your leaders and managers with high levels of motivational fitness makes it easier for them to create communication styles that supports the value of the work being done and thus boosts both performance and enjoyment by enhancing and maintaining both the excitement of the promotion-minded and the vigilance of the prevention-minded.
Managers can discreetly modify their management style to accommodate each employee’s mindset preference. Recent studies show that promotion-minded workers flourish under transformational leaders who encourage innovative solutions, have a long-term perspective, and look for opportunities to change things up.
People with preventions mindsets perform well under transactional leaders, who prioritize rules and norms, uphold the status quo, have a propensity for micromanagement, deter mistakes, and concentrate on successfully achieving more immediate goals, the prevention-focused perform at their best. People report they enjoy their work substantially more and are less likely to desire to leave the organization when they work under a leader who provides them with leadership that talks to their mindset.
The dedication to and satisfaction of working at a job suffers when leaders and employees are not a good match. If no one attempts to ease the tension, significant issues may develop.
A word on presenting rewards
Presenting rewards has grown in popularity in recent times, however taking into account the differences between the promotion and prevention mindsets, it is easy to see how the statement ‘rewards are motivating’ is not entirely accurate.
Instead, it’s important that the focus be moved to incentives rather than rewards. This enables you to create your own suite of motivational tools that better fit the mindsets of your employees.
For example, BP’s CEO, Bob Dudley, modified the rules controlling staff bonuses following the Gulf of Mexico oil leak and the PR catastrophe it caused for the company: Increasing safety would be the only basis on which they were calculated.
One well-known drawback of this strategy is that it may result in underreporting of issues rather than an improvement in safety. However, a second significant fault is probably also now clear: The motivational fit of rewarding employees for safety is poor.
People become eager and risk-takers (promotion) when they anticipate a bonus, which is the reverse of being watchful and taking precautions (prevention). On the other hand, penalties for failing to adhere to new safety requirements, such as losing bonus money, would offer the ideal incentive fit.
Perhaps this incentive scheme might have been better to have implemented two valid approaches to approach the same objective: with a promotion focus and with a prevention focus.
Some employees believe that the focus of the organization should be on developing new chances for growth, while other colleagues may believe that the focus should be on enhancing the safety requirements of the organization. The fact is, both are correct.
Despite the possibility of internal conflict and poor communication, promotion-focused and prevention-focused individuals are essential for the success of every organization. Businesses (and teams) must excel at innovation, preserving what is effective, doing it quickly and accurately. Understanding and accepting our own and our coworkers’ personality types is crucial to bringing out the best in each of us.
Goal Setting – Promotion and Prevention Mindsets
How do you encourage yourself and set goals? What emotions do you have when you don’t advance?
E. Tory Higgins claims that people typically set objectives and manage their progress in one of two ways: either by visualizing the perfect conclusion and working towards it, or by staying away from dangers that could lead to failure or discomfort.
Physical fitness serves as an easy illustration here. The aforementioned first personality type might see themselves in a brand-new dress, doing a long run, or accomplishing some other significant feat. The second group of people will concentrate on controlling their eating habits or will make an effort to exercise more. Both outcomes are possible, but only one has an ‘ideal’ objective, while the other is more concerned with what one ‘ought’ to do.
The first kind of individual, according to Higgins, has a ‘promotional’ mindset, whereas the second kind has a ‘prevention’ approach. These two strategies show how we govern and manage our objectives, feelings, and reactions.
This has an impact on your ability to inspire yourself, react to both success and loss, and lead or collaborate with others.
Higgins’ own work offers a fantastic explanation of both types of mindsets:
A promotion focus is on achievement, progress, and advancement. Aspirations and hopes are goals. The strategic tendency is to advance by bringing matches closer to the intended end-state.
In contrast, a prevention-focused approach is more concerned with accountability, security, and safety.
Goals are obligations, duties, and sometimes even requirements. The strategic tendency is to be cautious, take precautions, and avoid deviations from the anticipated outcome.
To put it another way, people with a promotion mindset have idealized selves that they are striving to become. For example, they picture themselves as great businesspeople, fit athletes, or tenured academics and work to become those selves.
People who are focused on prevention frequently tell themselves what not to do, such as telling themselves to avoid junk food in order to lose weight, to ensure that their firm does not lose money, or to publish research in order to keep up with their colleagues.
Neither strategy is intrinsically terrible, and an individual’s mindset choice may change depending on the circumstances. Some professions, like that of a lawyer or accountant, profit from having people who are prevention focused. In other situations, leadership calls on you to create a vision and inspire a group of people to strive towards that vision.
It is crucial to consider how this way of thinking impacts how you collaborate with others, inspire your team, and handle setbacks:
– Promotional people frequently develop a broad vision and aim towards lofty objectives (like hitting a home run in baseball), but their success is sporadic. People with promotional mindsets frequently feel defeated when they fall short of their objectives, encounter setbacks, or face difficulties.
– People who prioritize prevention frequently hit doubles (a baseball reference where a batter strikes the ball and makes it safely to second base); they will consistently and frequently accomplish smaller goals than their promotional competitors. Those who are focused on prevention become anxious when they experience failures or setbacks.
Several research studies demonstrate what this really entails in professional contexts.
When leaders promote, they sell more effectively. Some studies demonstrate that company entrepreneurs who make promotional pitches typically attract a lot more money. The findings also highlight gender differences: female founders prefer to focus on prevention, whereas men are more likely to be promotional.
When changes are communicated in a way that is consistent with their own regulatory focus, employees perceive corporate decisions as being fairer or more rational.
You can better govern yourself by being aware of your own regulatory emphasis. You can manage or collaborate with your peers better if you are aware of their tendencies.
Following are some questions you can ask yourself to help decipher your primary mindset:
– What is my regulatory focus by default?
– What circumstances cause me to have a promotional mindset? What circumstances cause me to adopt a preventative mindset?
– How do my peers typically control their behavior?
– What could I do to encourage their tendencies?
One thing almost all the research studies show is that creating teams with both types of people can be highly beneficial.
Sending a rocket to the Moon, or taking a startup public, or discovering a new medicine, requires both vision (i.e., ‘promotion’) and team members who work consistently, diligently, and predictably (i.e., ‘prevention’).
Case Study: Decentralizing Business Units
Organizations can have greater agility, less complexity, and a better balance between centralization and decentralization by separating people-leadership responsibilities from regular business leadership.
In a move not seen often, the CEO of a global, multi-national organization took a leave of absence citing significant frustration as a major company-wide reorganization was lurching towards completion.
He informed his board that despite his and his senior team’s best efforts, efforts to establish empowerment and collaboration throughout the entire organization were failing. Despite his unwavering determination to guarantee a more dynamic distribution of resources throughout the organization, funds and personnel stubbornly clung to their marginally reorganized compartments.
There remained a lot of tension between the group’s decentralized businesses and its core services, such as finance, HR, and IT. Believing that he would need to start again to achieve the level of reorganization that he was after, the CEO sat staring at a fresh organization chart on his laptop, attempting to make sense of the convoluted array of solid- and dotted-line reporting linkages that floated across the screen.
A lot of his annoyances came from the increasing complexity and interconnectedness of the commercial environment within the organization. There was too much reliance on the same organizational structure management tools—hierarchical org charts with solid and dotted reporting relationships—that had been used for decades. The CEO realized that he needed to step outside these structures if he was to achieve the stated goals.
Deep-seated organizational dysfunction does not have a simple solution. However, it is becoming clearer that there is a straightforward, fascinating, and useful structural model that can take the place of complicated matrix structures and support leaders in a variety of sectors and regions who suffer from unclear roles and drawn-out decision-making procedures and who believe they aren’t moving fast enough to take advantage of new market opportunities.
The concept isn’t new. It has long been used by professional service firms, certain major, international corporations, and, more recently, a substantial number of agile enterprises. However, until McKinsey coined it the ‘Helix Organization’ it wasn’t ever given a formal name. Additionally, its ability to break down organizational barriers and achieve a more ideal balance between centralization and decentralization has never been adequately explained.
The helix’s secret is breaking down the conventional management structure into two distinct, parallel lines of accountability that are essentially different from one another yet roughly equal in power and authority.
One of the two lines fosters the growth of people and capabilities, establishes norms for work performance, and promotes functional excellence; the other focuses those same people and capabilities on the business’s priorities, including managing their daily tasks, adds value, and aids in providing a comprehensive and fulfilling customer experience.
In other words, the helix adopts a promotional mindset.
It ends the practice of making employees answer to multiple ‘bosses’ who believe they have the authority to carry out the same set of leadership tasks, such as hiring and firing, assigning and terminating employees, promoting them, conducting evaluations, and offering incentives, by breaking down the hierarchy and making sure that only one person is responsible for any given set of leadership responsibilities.
All of this contributes to maintaining unity of command, lowering stress, boosting agility and speed, and more successfully tackling the problems that the matrix was designed to solve in the first place.
The best way to understand the helix is probably to look at matrix organizations, which are deeply ingrained in today’s people-management systems and culture despite having spent decades trying to integrate the functional, geographic, channel, and product units of large companies.
In the old matrix positions that have long been in use, there is usually a major boss represented by a solid line on the organization chart, and a secondary boss represented by a dotted line. In terms of budgetary control, resource management, recruiting, firing, promotions, and evaluations—as well as the organization, oversight, and setting priorities for daily tasks—the first boss typically holds the principal position.
In contrast, the helix divides people-leadership responsibilities usually carried out by one manager into two sets of tasks carried out by two different managers, each of which is equally relevant. The helix was inspired by the unique, double-stranded shape of DNA that scientists discovered in the early 1950s (exhibit).
Importantly, unlike in the matrix, these managers are neither ‘primary’ nor ‘secondary’.
Prioritizing goals and work, daily task execution monitoring, and quality assurance are examples of decisions made by one boss regarding one set of things, while the other boss makes decisions regarding another set of things (hiring and firing, promotions, training, and capability building).
There should be less need for the power struggles, tensions, and conflicts that are frequently present in more traditional organizations because the two roles are so dissimilar from one another. Crucially, however, the two managers—one of whom we’ll refer to as the ‘capability leader’ and the other as the ‘value-creation leader’—must concur on a number of issues.
These include, for example, the allocation of personnel and other resources to projects, initiatives, and business units, as well as the associated costs. (Leaders in value creation must use their budget to cover these costs.)
For leaders, this is a freeing strategy when executed correctly. The helix relieves senior engineers, designers, salespeople, and other functional experts of the responsibility of acting as day-to-day managers by severing these two lines of power.
Furthermore, compared to the typical matrix, their employees feel more empowered because they are no longer caught between two supervisors who may provide contradictory directions and feel accountable for the same things.
Additionally, such workers feel more at ease working in small, ad hoc groups that frequently include members of several business units and functional centers of excellence, where a lot of work is actually accomplished.
Exercise 7.10: Primary Regulatory Focus
1. What is your primary regulatory focus?
– Promotion?
– Prevention?
2. What circumstances cause you to have a promotional mindset?
3. What circumstances cause you to adopt a preventative mindset?
4. How do your peers typically control their behavior?
– Do you know the primary regulatory focus for the members of:
o Your team?
o Your department/my division?
5. What could you do to encourage their tendencies?
6. Do you currently change your communication style when communicating with people in different regulatory focus groups?
– How do you communicate differently?
– What do you need to change moving forward?
7. Share your answers with the other members of your group. Ask them for feedback on their observations of your primary regulatory focus and for any additional suggestions on ways you could enhance your communication style.
Course Manual 11: Reflective Mindset
A reflective mindset involves taking the time to stop, reflect and analyze the things you’ve experienced and your actions within your experiences so that you can determine the areas in which you can grow and develop.
It is a mindset that includes both searching within to reflect as well as reviewing what has happened in the external environment.
A manager with a reflective mentality can examine themselves to gain a better understanding of the external environment. A reflective manager considers their prior decisions and applies the knowledge they obtained from them to the current situations they are experiencing.
The key to all of this is self-management. When you are contemplative, your attention is on deciphering and evaluating situations, people, and most importantly, yourself. Meaning-making and personal development are directly tied to the reflecting mindset.
Over-rumination and indecision are two drawbacks of a reflective mindset that are not countered by other strategies.
When someone is in a reflective mindset, they are able to change themselves and take actions that go beyond their experience.
A person with an excessively reflecting attitude may be unsatisfied with their profession or be plagued by indecision.
Examples of reflective mindsets
A great example of a reflective mindset can be seen in use in the sporting domain. In particular, professional athletes often utilize reflective mindsets to assist them in reviewing what they did well, what they did poorly, why they performed things the way they did, and what they can do in the future to enhance their performance.
Those who truly adopt a reflective mindset would perform this review after every practice as well as after every competitive meet or game.
Reflective practice examples can also be found in many other fields.
For example, a surgeon can engage in reflective practice by thinking about a recent procedure that they performed, in order to identify mistakes that they’ve made and figure out how to avoid making those mistakes in the future.
A student can engage in reflective practice by considering how they studied for a recent exam and how they ended up performing, in order to determine how they can study more effectively next time.
A leader can review the motivational speech they gave to determine the points that were well received and the ones that could be further developed or presented in a different way at another time.
Benefits of reflective mindsets
Reflective practice has a lot of potential advantages. The following stands out among them:
– Acquiring new information.
– Improvement of present knowledge, such as by eradicating false assumptions.
– A clearer comprehension of how theory and practice are related.
– A better comprehension of the motivations underlying your behavior, including the reasons behind your choices and how you go about things.
– Increasing your objectives and the guidelines you follow when making decisions (this is related to the idea of double-loop learning).
– A clearer knowledge of your strengths and shortcomings as well as other aspects of your personality.
– Improvement of your metacognitive skills, such as the capacity to more skillfully analyze your own thoughts.
– More sense of control, competence, and independence.
– A greater desire to take action.
– Better performance, for instance as a result of understanding how to act in a more efficient manner or as a result of having more drive to act.
These advantages can be used in various domains in addition to the one in which you engage in reflective practice.
For instance, if a musician practices reflecting on how they play their instrument, they might gain a better understanding of their learning preferences, which could be beneficial for their academic studies.
Reflective practice is sometimes seen as not just advantageous but absolutely necessary to people’s aims. According to various research studies, learning requires more than just having experiences. Without reflection, this experience can be soon forgotten or its educational value might be lost. It’s important to note that generalizations and/or perceptions can be created based on the emotions and thoughts that come to mind during reflection. Additionally, generalizations make it possible to respond appropriately to novel situations.
Similar to this, it is insufficient to only pick up new ideas and make new generalizations if the goal is to modify behavior through learning. This knowledge must be put to the test in fresh circumstances. By organizing action, carrying it out, and then reflecting on it and connecting what happened back to the theory, the learner must connect theory and action.
A guide to creating a reflective mindset
Reflective practice, in its broadest sense, entails considering how you go about things while attempting to comprehend why you do what you do and what you may improve upon. Everyone is a unique individual, therefore there are numerous ways to create a reflective mindset, and some methods of reflective practice will be more effective for various individuals and situations.
Asking guiding questions is a prominent approach to engage in reflective practice. You could, for instance, ask yourself the following questions when engaging in reflective practice in relation to a recent event:
– What emotions did I have during the event?
– What were my objectives?
– What did I do most frequently?
– What was successful?
– What went wrong?
– Are there things I could change next time?
– What ought to I do differently the following time?
Similar to reflective practice, reflective writing can also be done in a variety of ways, including by answering leading questions, outlining a recent incident in great detail, or drawing a diagram to represent your views.
This has the extra benefit of allowing you to revisit your initial reflections, which can be helpful when it comes to strengthening your capacity for reflection. This is especially true if you save your writings in a dependable place, like a reflection diary.
Finding the specific strategies that suit you and your situation best when engaging in reflective practice is essential.
This means, for instance, that it is completely okay to think aloud instead of writing your reflections down if you try to do so but find it consistently more effective. Similar to how peer feedback can assist or hurt introspection depending on the situation, you should only use it if you find it to be beneficial to you.
Keep in mind that engaging in reflective practice is typically more challenging and time-consuming in the short term than acting without reflection, especially when it comes to reflecting as events are happening, which might lead people to avoid contemplation.
Note, however, that it is a practice, and with practice activities become easier and more familiar over time.
Reflective practice is sometimes impractical due to its challenges, thus there are times when it is better for people to steer clear of it. However, when it is possible to reflect in a way that is of benefit, doing so frequently proves to be advantageous in the long run, both in terms of performance and in terms of concomitant benefits, such as personal development.
Overall, there are many ways to put in place a practice that creates a reflective mindset, like writing about your experiences or posing guiding questions to yourself about your actions. The key is for every individual to experiment with different ways until they find the practice that works best for them because different approaches to reflective practice will work better for different people under different conditions.
The reflective cycle
Gibb’s reflective cycle was created by Graham Gibbs in 1988 to provide a structure for individuals to create a reflective mindset that would enable them to better learn from their experiences.
It provides a framework for analyzing events and, given that it is cyclical, lends itself particularly well to repeated encounters, allowing you to draw lessons and make plans from both good and bad situations. It has six stages:
1. An explanation of what happened (description)
2. Thoughts and feelings on the event (feeling)
3. evaluation of the encounter, both positive and negative (evaluation)
4. Analysis to understand the circumstances (analysis)
5. Summary of your findings and suggestions for improvement (conclusion)
6. Make a plan of action for how you would handle such circumstances in the future or consider making any necessary general modifications (action plan)
This model helps individuals to create a reflective mindset by following a process. It can be applied to situations that are a one-time occurrence or something you encounter repeatedly, like meetings with a team you need to work with.
Although Gibbs initially recommended using it in repetitive situations, the stages and principles also hold true for one-time events. If the action plan is created for a standalone event, it may become more general and focus on how you may use your conclusions moving forwards.
A list of useful questions is provided below for each level of the model. You don’t have to respond to all of them, but doing so will help you determine the kinds of things that might be appropriate to include at that moment. Other prompts could be more effective for you.
Description
Here, you have the ability to go into great depth about the circumstance. What happened is the major topic to cover here. Your emotions and judgements will surface later.
Some questions to help you reflect here include:
– What took place?
– When and where did it happen?
– Who was there?
– What actions did you and the others take?
– What happened in the situation?
– What brought you there?
– What did you hope would occur?
Feeling
You can discuss any feeling, sentiments or ideas you had during the event here, as well as how they might have affected it.
Some useful questions to ask here include:
– What emotions did you experience at the time?
– How did you feel both before and after the incident?
– What do you suppose other people were thinking and feeling at the time?
– How do you believe other people currently feel about the circumstance?
– What were you contemplating at the time?
– What do you think of the current circumstances?
Evaluation
Here, you get the ability to assess what did and didn’t work in the circumstance. Try to be as objective and honest as possible. To get the most out of your reflection focus on both the positive and the negative aspects of the situation, even if it was primarily one or the other.
Questions that might be helpful here include:
– What was good and bad about the experience?
– What went well?
– What went wrong, exactly?
– What did you and other people contribute to the situation (positively or negatively)?
Analysis
The analysis step is where you have a chance to make sense of what happened. Up until now you have focused on details around what happened in the situation. Now you have a chance to extract meaning from it. You want to target the different aspects that went well or poorly and ask yourself why. If you are looking to include academic literature, this is the natural place to include it.
Good questions to ask here include:
– Why did things go well?
– Why didn’t it go well?
– What sense can I make of the situation?
– What knowledge – my own or others (for example academic literature) can help me understand the situation?
Conclusion
You can draw inferences about what transpired in this part. Here, you should highlight the lessons you’ve learned and how changing your behavior now could lead to better results down the road. It ought to be a logical continuation of the earlier portions.
Questions that might help you here include:
– What did I take away from this experience?
– How could things have turned out better for everyone concerned?
– What abilities do I need to cultivate in order to better handle this situation?
– What other options did I have?
Action plan
This stage involves making plans for what you would do differently in a related or comparable circumstance in the future.
It can also be quite beneficial to consider how you can support your own efforts to behave differently, so that you don’t just plan what you will do differently but also how you will ensure that it occurs.
Sometimes the realization alone is sufficient, but there are other occasions when reminders could be useful.
Good questions to ask here include:
– What would I do differently if I had to repeat the action?
– How will I get the necessary skills?
– How can I be certain I’ll behave differently the next time?
Using reflection as a group exercise
It is possible to incorporate reflective practice into a group project. This kind of contemplation can take many different forms, like sharing your experiences with a group of people or having a knowledgeable person ask you some questions to get you started.
Shared reflection provides potential benefits as well as drawbacks. For instance, exposure to multiple viewpoints during group reflection may enable individuals to recognize more problems with their behavior than they would be able to do on their own.
Additionally, a group reflection strategy might also make the reflecting process far more difficult for shy people.
In order to decide whether to employ shared practice in your specific circumstances, and if so, how, it is crucial to take into account the potential benefits and drawbacks of the various methods to reflective practice.
Ways to encourage reflective mindset in others
There are a number of ways you can encourage others to step into creating a reflective mindset:
– Describe reflective practice.
– Openly discuss the value of reflective practice.
– Describe how to engage in the process of reflective practice.
Once you’ve done that, you can encourage individuals to engage in reflective practice and create an environment that supports it, while also keeping in mind that different people will benefit from various methods of reflection.
For instance, some people might find it helpful to have someone accompany them through each phase of the cycle of reflection, whereas others will find it more beneficial to just be shown how reflection works before being given the freedom to reflect on their own.
As an alternative, you might adopt a more externally driven approach to reflective practice by leading others through it without fully elaborating on the idea beforehand.
Keep in mind that forcing reflection or having people ‘confess’ their mistakes is typically not a good idea because it can result in unproductive reflection as well as a number of other problems.
In high pressure environments people could respond dishonestly and strategically by delivering answers they believe the person evaluating them wants to hear, for instance, when they are aware that their mark will be dependent on their reflection process responses.
Similar to forced participation, enforced reflection can result in problems like increasing stress and anger towards the reflection process and those who direct it.
Accordingly, you ought to let people make their reflections private when it’s both possible and advantageous to do so. Additionally, you should avoid adhering to a rigid reflection template when doing so would be ineffective and permit people to engage in reflection in the manner that suits them the most.
Case Study: McGill University Health Centre – Putting Reflective Practice Into Action
Nursing education and practice place a high priority on and actively advocate reflective practice.
Informal conversations between nurses concerning difficult work situations occur frequently. M&M rounds and critical occurrences are more formal techniques to evaluate your practice.
The Reflective Practice (RP) Program at the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) is for nurses in leadership roles at the MUH and it serves as the theoretical framework and professional development program’s cornerstone.
It is created with the intention of enhancing their knowledge and abilities and supporting nurse leaders who frequently deal with challenging interpersonal situations involving employees, patients, families, and the interdisciplinary team.
Giving a coworker constructive criticism, handling bullying or disagreement among the staff, publicly disagreeing with the boss, and handling delicate patient and family problems are just a few examples of difficult scenarios.
Competent people routinely accomplish their intended aims without having any unforeseen or undesired side consequences.
Nursing professionals must be proficient in both the technical and interpersonal domains in order to be considered competent.
Acquiring information and refining nursing practice in accordance with current clinical and professional standards are both parts of technical competence. The term ‘interpersonal competence’ describes the capacity to work effectively with others to accomplish shared objectives.
As a source of human energy, knowledge, connection, and influence, emotional intelligence is defined as ‘the ability to sense, understand, and effectively apply the power and acumen of emotions’.
In RP, interpersonal competence is prioritized over technical knowledge. It looks at instances in professional practice where people fail to accomplish their aims while having the best of intentions.
The leaders of our nursing departments are expected to shoulder tremendous workloads and to consistently produce with few resources in the current frenetic, chaotic, and frequently discouraging healthcare environment. There may be high levels of stress, burnout and exhaustion.
Time and effort has been dedicated to the RP program run by MUHC and over time the daily processes, method and the language used as part of the program has seen the culture change.
Despite the high pressure environment and workload, new leaders request to be included in the program and go out of their way to negotiate the time required to participate with their unit directors.
Regular feedback from participants of the program includes:
– ‘When I take the time to reflect, I become more aware of things’.
– ‘I’m more sensitive to the fact that when I’m thinking negatively about someone, I’ve seriously reduced my ability to be effective and helpful to them’.
– ‘It’s easier to work with others when you reflect on conversations and try to see where they might be coming from’.
– ‘When I am in a difficult situation I’m now more aware of what I think and feel but do not say. I’m probably a better communicator now’.
– ‘Unfortunately, because I am human I often try the old way but when it is not working I will remember discussions and try new avenue’.
– ‘[RP provides] a compassionate, trusting effort by a whole group to work on one problem’.
– ‘Sit back, write and learn about the problem submitted and see where the gap is – realize all the intervention/interaction among people done to solve one problem’.
The successful implementation of a program such as this required the following:
– The senior leadership’s continued and explicit support in terms of time and funding for facilitator training as well as time off for both them and nursing leaders to attend monthly RP sessions.
– Finding prospective leaders among advanced practice nurses who are prepared and competent to evaluate their own practices and help others.
– The facilitators’ initial training and continued development by practitioners of this strategy.
– The continual gathering of comments and reflections on the program to boost its efficacy.
– Ongoing Senior Leadership endorsement of reflective practice as an organizational value is one strategy to keep the program running.
– Budgeted money for facilitator training and recruitment.
Clearly stated methods to replenish/replace the facilitator pool and make it possible for/encourage participants to attend consistently.
Exercise 7.11: Reflecting on the Elements of Success
1. Write down a time when you recall an extraordinary experience.
2. Write down all the things that made the experience extraordinary.
3. Ask the group to reflect on what they believe the elements of success were for this experience.
4. Continue until each individual in the group has shared their experience and received reflections from the group.
Course Manual 12: Wellbeing Mindset
Exercise, a healthy diet, enough sleep, and, if you’re really paying attention, some stress alleviation, seem to be the cornerstones of good health and wellbeing. Whether we are fully immersed in it or are simply longing for the time to get to it, we are all at least aware of this profile.
But what if your health and wellbeing go beyond just these things? There are also things you can do while you are still sitting that will enhance your quality of life no matter where you are on the route.
The ‘Wellbeing Mindset’ is an awareness that goes beyond physical fitness or health. It is a mindset that enables you to feel yourself as ‘well’ regardless of your physical state, emotions, or environment, rather than a requirement for being healthy or fit.
In other words, the wellbeing mindset is about how you react to yourself while you experience the ups and downs that are a natural part of life. If you don’t lose the pounds/kilos you wanted to, the wellbeing mindset doesn’t care and doesn’t think you’re ‘wrong’ or ‘bad’ for not doing so.
In fact, even if you put on weight, it gives you the ability to accept, love, and care for yourself. No matter where you are in the process, it is your partner and doesn’t force you to wait for ‘results’ before you may feel like you want to.
This is not to say that just because you have the ‘right’ mindset, you can eat sugar all day and be miraculously healthy. It implies that your perspective on, and understanding of, the universe are not dependent on your actions.
Instead, you learn to carry an inner sense of happiness, thankfulness, and acceptance with you at all times. Additionally, if you possess these qualities, you will naturally treat your body and yourself as sacred.
These attributes are just as crucial to your health as the food you eat.
The wellbeing mindset can also provide you the serenity and clarity you need to assess your options and figure out what really makes you feel good, healthy, and alive. It provides you a better ability to make decisions in a way that feels strong and true for you while also assisting you in developing your body-related intuition.
Despite the fact that some people are knowledgeable about the human body and mind, they can only provide you with information. And let’s face it, there’s an overload of information available at your fingertips 24/7.
However, despite having more information available to you than you could ever possibly hope to use, you can’t receive health and fitness from them, and they can’t do the work for you to achieve the goals you want to achieve.
It is ultimately up to you to decide what you consume, what medical treatments to seek, how much exercise you get, and what brings you joy. Your actions determine your outcomes, and the decisions you take as a result of your attitude determine your outcomes.
How to develop a wellbeing mindset
Developing a wellbeing mindset occurs by focusing on developing skills on two levels:
Physical wellbeing
There are five focus points that underpin physical health and fitness from a wellbeing perspective:
– Nutrition
– Exercise
– Mobility
– Sleep
– Hydration
These five focus areas provide stepping stones for building a relationship with your body, understanding its needs, clearly receiving the messages it is sending to you and then learning how to give it what it requires.
Once again, despite the overload of information at your fingertips, you are the only one who is in charge of the specifics you consume, connect with and take on board in relation to each of these focus areas.
Something you read may provide you with nutritional recommendations, but only you can know whether those recommendations will work for you. Similarly, you decide what constitutes ‘exercise’, you have control over the activities you do, when and how you sleep, and the amount of hydration you take into your body every day.
Cultivating a wellbeing mindset includes a reflective focus that urges you to regularly consider what might be difficult for you and what you may be able to do to assist in holding yourself accountable for new activities or processes you might like to try.
One of the most important parts of developing a wellbeing mindset comes from deliberately and consciously taking control and responsibility for the decisions you make. Doing so can assist in creating a sense of calm and connection within yourself which further fosters a wellbeing mindset.
Deliberately creating processes that support the development of a wellbeing mindset will support the outlook that you have on your ability to achieve stable health and fitness levels.
Psychological wellbeing
There are two focus areas that underpin psychological fitness from a wellbeing perspective:
– Reflection
– Wellbeing practices
These practices cover a wide range of topics that are often not included in health and fitness, including how you interact with and use technology, the relationships in your life, the way you communicate to yourself, having fun, volunteering, mindfulness, and many other topics.
Developing a wellbeing mindset enables you to create daily activities that are straightforward, simple to monitor, and that can help you get more understanding of the areas of your life where these traits might feel lacking. They offer you opportunities to ‘stop and smell the roses’.
Deliberately setting out to create and then continually build on a wellbeing mindset involves developing activities that you can purposefully practice. Instead of focusing solely on performing the exercises, the key is to become conscious of the characteristics of a wellbeing mindset. For instance, you might discover happiness, contentment, or appreciation in a circumstance that ordinarily has little significance, like taking in the laughter of the children surrounding you as you stand in line at the grocery store’s checkout.
A wellbeing mindset creates a space where you are able to forgive yourself for skipping a few gym days and accepting that you are still OK. It allows you to use time whilst doing other things to heighten your awareness of yourself and what is happening for you. For example, you may spend time preparing meals for a week and you find yourself drifting into awareness of what is happening for you in that moment.
The more you deliberately practice the activities you set for yourself, the more likely they are to manifest a wellbeing mindset frequently and unexpectedly.
Reflection is an opportunity to celebrate successes, document your everyday achievement and/or improvements in health and fitness, change your direction, and look back on your day to see how a wellbeing mindset is manifesting in different facets of your life.
Reflection helps you to pause to review your actions, ideas, perspectives and personal journeys in order to more clearly understand how you relate to yourself as you move through life. It gives you the opportunity to look at the way you speak to yourself, whether you keep your promises to yourself, how you deal with your fears and to find new ways to change your current state of being so you can develop a more positive outlook on life.
Framing thinking for a better future
Globally, there are a number of life outcomes that tie us all together. Generally, we desire to be in good health, happy, and able to live in peace. In fact, Aristotle claimed that everyone’s ultimate purpose is happiness, suggesting that seeking happiness is a fundamental aspect of human nature.
Even the 1776 United States Declaration of Independence makes mention of the pursuit of happiness. In more recent times, all nations agreed that happiness is a fundamental human aim in the UN General Assembly resolution approved in 2013, which urged for ‘a more inclusive, equitable, and balanced approach to economic growth that promotes the happiness and wellbeing of all people. As a result, the 20th of March each year has been designated as the International Day of Happiness.
Despite the growing desire to make happiness a personal and societal aim, it appears like we are at a turning point right now. There are now significantly more issues that are faced globally, from pandemics to climate-related issues, as well as weather related occurrences including heatwaves, floods, burnout, and health related issues such as high levels of stress, exhaustion, burnout, depression and anxiety and their flow on effects to other health problems.
These are all effectively ‘alarm clocks’. Do we really want to carry on doing things the same way as always? Or would we like to take a brief stop, think things over, and consider how we may pivot?
A major factor in building a better and happier future is changing our thinking to encompass a more global wellbeing mindset.
Research studies have shown that changing attitudes is the primary catalyst for achieving lasting health, serenity, wellness, and happiness.
We have the option to either shift our mentality and reroute our lives or stay entrenched in our ways. Collectively, this indicates that we can alter the path of human history by altering our attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors.
Even more so than policies and objectives, changing mindsets is regarded in systems thinking and leadership as the most powerful lever for system transformation. For instance, Donella Meadows (the American Scientist and Educator) asserted that ‘mindsets and paradigms can have a dramatic impact since they direct behaviors’. People who successfully influence systems at the paradigm level achieve a leverage point that completely transforms those systems.
Therefore, a global wellbeing mindset change is necessary for us to overcome the various problems we are currently facing on a worldwide scale and to attain sustainability and regeneration:
– from placing blame on others to accepting responsibility; from enforcing quick remedies to working with others to create solutions; and from quantitative to qualitative growth.
– from a focus on GDP to the health of the world and its inhabitants; from materialism to holiness.
It is possible to increase awareness and open our minds and hearts to a wellbeing attitude at several levels, whether they be personal, social, or global.
The Kingdom of Bhutan is a prime example of a wellbeing mindset at the international level. Notably, the Himalayan nation determined that Gross National Happiness (GNH) was more significant than GDP.
Bhutan has been hailed as a major climate champion because it uses its trees to absorb more carbon dioxide than it produces. Their all-encompassing strategy of putting the needs of the people first during the COVID_19 pandemic was an international success story with nearly universal vaccination coverage and nearly zero deaths.
Bhutan has its share of difficulties, but GNH promotes the wellness of all sentient beings and the world, making it a superb source of inspiration for the mental change needed to develop a more harmonious society and economy. It is encouraging to see that many nations, including Canada, Finland, Iceland, New Zealand, and Scotland, are focusing their policies on wellbeing.
Everyone has a role to play
Every person and organization has a part to play in fostering health and a better, happier existence. We all contribute to the creation of our shared adventure, whether consciously or unconsciously. We may rethink, design, and put into practice a growth paradigm that encompasses inner, communal, and planetary welfare in addition to economic progress. We can accept that there are limits to quantitative growth on a finite world and switch to qualitative growth in its place.
Increased awareness is a great place to start. Mindfulness is the most reliable source of peace and joy…and our continuation as a civilization and a planet depend on it. The acronym MANTRA contains the following essential tips for developing a wellbeing mindset:
These useful suggestions are a starting point for increasing both individual and societal welfare as well as a way of life in harmony with Mother Earth.
Emotional intelligence
The ability to understand and manage one’s own emotions as well as better understand and identify the emotions others are experiencing is known as emotional intelligence (EQ).
EQ is a collection of abilities that may be learned and developed over time. People with above-average EQ are better able to create stronger bonds with others, lessen stress for themselves and other team members, resolve conflicts at work, and increase their own and others’ overall job happiness.
Emotional intelligence is often separated into four main abilities:
– self-awareness
– self-control
– social awareness
– interpersonal interactions
People in organizations are required to continually adapt as they expand, evolve, and bend to the constantly changing internal and external settings in which they operate. Perhaps there is a change in priorities, in jobs, in technologies, in new ways of working, or in the strategic direction. Many struggle to keep up since most people are programed to seek certainty.
The more people embrace personal change and adopt a growth mindset, the more they will support an organization’s capacity for adaptability and expansion.
Research has shown that certain people are wired differently than others to deal with change, challenges, and growth possibilities in the workplace. It is now undeniably true that everyone possesses numerous intelligences, and that exceptional traditional intelligence alone is no longer sufficient. Our IQ is frequently fixed, but research studies have shown that through participating in activities that are specifically designed to increase their connection to their emotional responses, individuals can increase their EQ levels.
To develop EQ, it is often important to learn new skills and develop abilities within these categories. For instance, developing self-awareness necessitates learning to recognize and categorize the complicated emotions one is experiencing. Similarly, empathy and attentive listening are necessary for interpersonal connections.
The importance of technical expertise and business acumen within an organization is clear to see. Both of these characteristics contribute to the effectiveness of strategy development and implementation, marketing and commerce. However, emotional intelligence is a quality that many employers ignore.
Not every individual naturally possess high levels of emotional intelligence. In fact, most people will need to undergo some form of training at some point in their lives to assist them in developing and cultivating this expertise.
Now that wellbeing (holistically as an organization and also at the individual level) is a more understood component of the overall success of an organization, a lot of employers are recognizing that emotional intelligence is an important aspect of a wellbeing mindset.
Not only are more and more organizations taking emotional intelligence levels into account when making employment decisions, but they are also providing emotional intelligence training as a key component of their overall staff development strategies.
The ability to detect and express oneself, make and sustain social connections, overcome obstacles, and use emotional information in productive and meaningful ways are all parts of emotional intelligence.
Case Study: The Impact of Leadership on Wellbeing Mindsets
Leaders must be people-centered, communicate clearly, show strength of character, and offer social support and diversity in order to foster wellbeing mindsets in the workplace.
The cost of workplace stress and a lack of employee health is a global issue, with annual direct and indirect expenses in Australia exceeding $221 million, and in the USA exceeding $187 billion (yes, billion!). Workplace health difficulties result in economic losses that are equal to 4-6% of the GDP of most nations. Workplace stress is rising, and it negatively impacts employee productivity and morale. Over 9.9 million working days are lost in the UK each year as a result of poor health, with workplace stress accounting for more than 40% of these days.
Global research studies are showing that it is becoming more and more clear that leaders are associated with both positive workplace performance and the wellbeing of their team.
In 2015, Dr Craig Duncan was employed with the Australian National Football Team (the Socceroos).
He saw firsthand the beneficial effects a leader can have on the performance and wellbeing of players and staff. All of the top Asian nations participated in the Asian Cup, which was being played in Australia.
Being played on home soil, there was a lot of pressure on the Australian team to perform. Even if they weren’t the favorites, there were great expectations, and it would have been simple for this pressure to have a bad effect on the players’ health and effectiveness.
Ange Postecoglou, the Socceroos coach and team captain at the time, however, motivated the players and staff by shielding them from harmful outside influences and making sure everyone understood the purpose and what was expected of them. He provided them with the tools they needed to create a wellbeing mindset so that they were better able to deal with the additional pressure.
The personnel and players were dedicated to following the approach, and they had excellent success as a result. In front of 85,000 spectators in Sydney, Australia overcame South Korea in that year’s final to win and become the first-ever Asian Cup Champions.
This is a fantastic illustration of the direct influence a leader can have on the effectiveness and wellbeing of their team or organization.
Positive work environments are created by leaders that support their staff and champion the importance of wellbeing mindsets in the workplace.
Individuals with strong wellbeing mindsets that are dedicated and committed to maintaining their wellbeing over the long-term have been proven to be more successful and productive. More generally, firms with strong communication strategies that enable diversity and social support tend to attract people-centered leaders that enhance employee wellness at work.
Employee wellbeing and leadership style are strongly correlated, with transformational, authentic, and servant leaders all having favorable effects on their teams’ wellbeing, output, and job satisfaction.
Leaders, on the other hand, can also be a significant source of poor occupational wellbeing, especially if they struggle to manage their own wellness. Employee wellbeing mindsets has been found to be severely adversely affected by destructive leadership, such as harsh supervision.
In situations where toxic leadership is allowed to operate unchecked, team members live in terror of their leader and don’t feel free to make errors or know what is expected of them. This leadership approach results in reduced wellness for employees as well as a toxic culture that has a negative impact on performance and, ultimately, their success.
Employee burnout, stress, and depression are all increased by leadership that engages in bullying, harassing, and isolating behaviors. Significant global challenges including high turnover and understaffing are primarily caused by workplace stress and burnout. However, this undesirable outcome is also significantly influenced by bad leadership techniques.
In an effort to pinpoint the factors influencing employee and leader wellbeing at work, a connection between the two has been discovered. When a leader exhibits unhealthy lifestyle behaviors like workaholism, it can have a profound effect on their team since they look up to the leader as a role model.
Burnout in a leader increases the likelihood that the members of their team will experience burnout as well. Also linked to depression, restlessness, and general life satisfaction is the leader-to-follower crossover impact. Therefore, it would seem that a leader’s welfare is important because it can negatively affect their followers.
The importance of a wellbeing mindset in leadership development must increase because of the intense pressure placed on leaders to perform. Individuals in leadership roles constantly handle pressure from their organizations, internal strife, and huge workloads.
High workloads have been linked to bad health, and leaders who are unwell are less able to concentrate on the wellbeing of their workforce. The essential qualities for leaders to improve workplace health are self-awareness, ego management, and restraint of self-serving activities – all of which are focus areas that are strengthened through active wellbeing mindset activities.
To the fullest extent possible, leadership abilities including wellbeing mindset, communication and emotional intelligence must be developed. The first stage in the leadership coaching I do is controlling and enhancing each leader’s wellbeing.
Individuals who work under leaders that act positively and supportively have lower stress levels, less burnout, higher levels of job engagement, and overall better wellbeing. The welfare of employees is further improved when a leader exhibits the ability to manage stress and adopts healthy living habits. In the end, a leader who has emotional intelligence and self-awareness will increase productivity and employee engagement.
It is becoming clearer that organizations can (and do) incur significant financial losses if employee wellness worsens. The link between wellbeing and absenteeism, presenteeism, workplace stress, and productivity loss is substantial. Managing physical and mental health has been found to have a positive or negative impact on employee wellness, therefore leaders play a crucial role in this.
So, if organizations want to promote workplace wellbeing within their walls, it’s imperative that they start by becoming more conscious of the wellbeing mindsets that are sitting within their leaders.
Exercise 7.12: Creating Wellbeing Mindset Activities
1. Write down the wellbeing mindset activities you believe would be of most benefit to the members of your team.
2. Write down the amount of time you believe would need to be allocated to each activity and how often the activity needs to be done.
3. Write down any skillset shortages that currently exist for each activity you’ve chosen.
– What are the skillset shortages?
– What is required to upskill your team members?
– What resources are required to be able to provide those skills to your team members.
4. Which activity will you introduce to your team first?
– When will you introduce it?
– How will you hold yourself accountable for introducing it?
5. Write down how you will track the progress and adoption of the activity?
– Who will be responsible for tracking the progress and adoption?
– How often will they track the progress and adoption?
– How will you measure the success of the activity?
Project Studies
Before the commencement of Workshop 8, each participant is to create a strategy to increase the growth mindset of the individuals within their team/department.
Each participant is to write a report detailing:
1. The growth mindset strategy that was created.
2. Detail the plans in place to increase the following within each individual:
– Adaptability
– Open-mindedness
– Willingness to share stories about mistakes
– Willingness to learn/trial new things
– Take responsibility for mistakes made
– Understand strengths and how they contribute to the team
3. List the steps, processes and people involved in developing and then implementing the strategy.
– Note the specific tasks required to develop and then implement the strategy.
– Provide details about what needs to occur for each task including the resources required for each phase.
– Provide details about the flexibility component that will be included in the strategy to accommodate growth as it occurs.
4. Provide the following information regarding the Growth Mindset Strategy:
– When the strategy will commence.
– Who will be responsible for implementing each task of the strategy?
– How will you measure the success of the strategy?
– How will you know if, and when the strategy needs to be changed?
– How will information about the implementation of the strategy be communicated, and to whom?
– How will information collected through measurement be used?
Program Benefits
Human Resources
- Improved engagement
- Improved culture
- Reduced burnout
- Increased retention
- Employee loyalty
- Performance improvement
- Empowered workforce
- Healthy organization
- Increased effectiveness
- Happier workplace
Management
- Stronger leadership
- Increased focus
- Cohesive workforce
- Greater collaboration
- Wellness mindset
- Greater potential
- Improved communication
- Consistent management
- Greater creative flow
- Positive environment
Business Operations
- Improved wellness
- Reduced costs
- Operating efficiency
- Improved quality
- Operational synergy
- Enhanced environment
- Clarified priorities
- Improved effectiveness
- Organizational resilience
- Increased productivity
Client Telephone Conference (CTC)
If you have any questions or if you would like to arrange a Client Telephone Conference (CTC) to discuss this particular Unique Consulting Service Proposition (UCSP) in more detail, please CLICK HERE.