Your attitude towards acquiring talent and intelligence plays an important role in your career development, says Rosemary Smyth, founder of Rosemary Smyth and Associates in Victoria. Developing a growth mindset, an idea first popularized by Carol Dweck in her book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, can help you overcome setbacks and take charge of your own success.
People who believe that talent and intelligence are something they’re born with can get stuck with a fixed mindset, which means they’re more likely to give up when they don’t easily master a new task. Individuals with a growth mindset, on the other hand, believe they can improve their skills through hard work and perseverance, Smyth says.
Both a growth mindset and fixed mindset can be changed through concerted effort. Here are five ways to develop a growth mindset at work:
> Embrace challenge
When confronted with a difficult challenge, make the choice to view it as a learning opportunity rather than a roadblock. Learning something new takes time and effort, Smyth says, so remind yourself that you can keep trying again if you fail.
This advice is especially relevant for rookies struggling to build a client base through cold calling. If you’re not gaining much traction, it can be tempting to put down the phone and say that you’re simply not good at cold calling. But, if you shift your mindset to believe this is an opportunity to improve, Smyth says, you can start to focus on the techniques that make certain conversations last longer than others.
> Try alternative approaches
If you’re stuck in a fixed mindset you’re likely doing the same thing over and over again. Instead, you want to be able to focus on strategies to create new opportunities with current and prospective clients, Smyth says.
If you lose an important client, it can be easy to blame the cause on circumstances; however, you can increase your growth mindset by taking the time to reflect on what you could do differently next time to avoid losing clients.
> Enjoy the process
Don’t stay too focused on the end result because you’ll miss opportunities to grow from the learning process, Smyth says. For instance, if you’re holding a lot of challenging conversations around retirement planning, focus more on the competency of your advice, rather than dwelling on whether or not prospects moved their accounts over to you.
> Create new goals
Part of developing a growth mindset is consistently pushing yourself to achieve new goals, Smyth says. This helps keep you motivated on further improving your professional skills. For example, start thinking about how you’d like your business to look one year, and then five years from now, rather than focusing solely on the month ahead.
> Ask for feedback
Learn from your colleagues and clients by asking for feedback after completing a challenging task. For instance, you might ask how long-term clients would rate your presentation or if there are any areas in your business that could be improved, Smyth says.