Building a Growth Mindset in Others

Building a Growth Mindset in Others

“Becoming is better than being” ― Carol Dweck, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
Tuesday 15 November
9:30am11:00amUK time

A growth mindset keeps us attuned to our goals, helps us put setbacks in perspective and mine our mistakes for learning. It builds our motivation to pull in feedback, and keeps us curious and able to adapt more readily to what's beyond our control. And, as we'll collaboratively discover in this session, there's plenty we can be doing to helpfully encourage a growth mindset in our colleagues and teams.

'Not yet' thinking

If we want to enrich the confidence, performance and wellbeing of our team-members and colleagues, recognising the difference between a 'fixed' and 'growth' mindset is a purposeful first step. From there, we can positively guide people towards a way of thinking that will actively enable them in the day to day — impacting the ways they can support our own development in return.

'Growth' and 'fixed' mindsets are concepts coined by the American psychologist Carol Dweck. Simply defined, someone in a growth mindset will view intelligence, abilities, and talents as learnable and things they can develop with effort over time. In contrast, someone in a fixed mindset sees those same traits as 'built in' and unchangeable. Growth mindset is about thinking 'not yet', and keeping oriented to the idea of continual learning, the importance of feedback and seeing inevitable setbacks as learning opportunities. And, when we’re in a growth mindset mode, we’re much more likely to positively share our knowledge and experiences with others.

It's not binary

Mindset, as Dweck shows in her research, is something of a spectrum — and we're all likely to shift between different degrees of fixed and growth thinking depending on all kinds of factors; factors that we can set out to influence, when helping others to get and stay in growth mode.

This workshop is for anyone (and especially helpful to those managing others) keen to deepen their understanding of growth mindset and the science behind it — and to pick up practical, actionable and everyday approaches to unlocking it in others.

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Session slide snapshot

Core content covered:

— Fixed mindset indicators
— The role of descriptive praise, and emphasising behaviours over outcomes
— Trust and psychological safety
— Shifting perspectives on setbacks, with key reframing techniques.
— ‘Yet’, ‘but’ and being mindful of the language we use.

How the session will be structured:


Led by a YCN coach facilitator, we'll combine the sharing and discussing of key ideas and concepts with reflection and small group conversations and activities. As always, the live session will be supported with follow on resources, digital tools and micro-learning to help revisit and share what's new among teams.

Who the session is for:

Ideal for people-managers; anyone keen to support and motivate the development of others will get a great deal from this 90 minutes among growth-minded peers.

Tuesday 15 November
9:30am11:00amUK time
The power of believing that you can improve
The power of believing that you can improve

In this enlightening and multi-million viewed Ted talk, the architect of growth and fixed mindsets Carol Dweck sets out the science behind the ideas — revealing the ways we approach the problems we encounter, and what we can do to flex our thinking. An influential and inspiring introduction to the topic.

Watch the Ted Talk, change your mind