Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, - you’re right.

I love that quote Henry Ford famously quipped decades ago, and that many years later, Stanford University professor, Carol Dweck proved right.

When people start a new job, even if they are still with the same organisation, there is a lot for them to learn, and at times people feel their head is in a spin. In our coaching programmes, many people express concern about whether they are up to the new job, and express doubts about their ability to master what is required.

Carol Dweck and her colleagues show that a key to success in learning is adopting a Growth Mindset. They distinguish this from people who have a Fixed Mindset.

People with a Growth Mindset do better in all sorts of circumstances. They do better at school, learning chemistry, at work, and even in their tendency to see solutions to world problems such as achieving peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis!

People with a Growth Mindset:

• believe they can learn anything
• know the key to learning is effort
• value learning more than looking smart
• like to work with people who are better than they are
• seek feedback
• take challenges
• persist
• use all sorts of resources and modes of learning
• aren’t afraid to ask questions
• see mistakes as learning and a part of the process
• are comfortable with what they know and don’t know
• in the face of obstacles, come up with different ways of achieving the desired outcome.

According to Dweck’s work, people with a Fixed Mindset:

• second-guess themselves believing they aren’t wired a certain way; e.g. I am not a numbers person
• are reluctant to ask for help
• are afraid to say they don’t know
• are afraid of what they don’t know
• like to work with people who have the same level of competence, or less, than they have – so they don’t look less competent or less skilled
• give up more quickly when they find they can’t master something
• work on their own — that way they can fail in private and nobody needs to know  
• keep using the same methods of learning; and even when it isn’t working, believe the solution is to just try harder, or spend more time at it
• see failure as evidence they can’t do it, and they are not naturally talented in the area
• don’t put themselves out there; they stay safe and with the tried and tested.

Many people are a mixture of both; for example, they may have a growth mindset about learning a new sport, and a fixed one about learning a new language..

Critical to your success in your new role will be which mindset you develop. And the good news is, mindsets can be changed. In our graduate programmes, we spend quite a bit of time teaching people to identify their mindsets and showing them how they can develop a Growth one.

Many people notice that just knowing the difference helps them to self-correct. The key is to notice your thinking when you feel challenged or uncertain. Write down what you are telling yourself, and then see if you can re-write it from a growth mindset perspective.

You can learn more about Carol Dweck’s work and Growth vs. Fixed Mindsets by:

• reading her book, The New Psychology of Success
• watching YouTube clips by her and many others.