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Sometimes success can be a bad thing. If you’re a star at the start of your career it’s possible to develop an expectation of success. This mindset means that you’re not open to trying new things and that you’re resistant to risk because it introduces the possibility of failure. Having a fixed mindset means that you see challenges as threats and engage obstacles with fear, not curiosity or even excitement.
To achieve success you must develop a mindset focused on growth. You may not have gotten great grades, but you always did the work and attacked problems with enthusiasm. A growth mindset is flexible, resilient, and passionate. It doesn’t require genius because is comfortable with asking questions. You’re not afraid of people knowing you don’t have all of the answers.
Risk is Good for Business
Now that you understand the qualities of the fixed mindset and the growth mindset you probably think you’ve got everything under control. If only it were that easy! A mindset for growth can turn into a fixed mindset without you noticing the change.
As you advance in your career and are given additional assignments your growth mindset can gradually move from nimble to fixed. An increase in responsibilities comes with an increase in status, authority, income, and professional reputation. When someone has more to lose his or her response usually is to avoid risk.
Instead of imagining a variety of solutions to a problem you may chose not to act. If you’re interested in advancing in your career—or even keeping your job—you must set up an interior warning system programed to alter you when you start to reject innovative solutions.
Failure is a Gift
When you, a team member, a colleague, a boss, or an employee wants to take a risk pause for a moment to consider the pros and cons and then make a decision. And here’s the scary part—sometimes the solution you pick won’t work. Don’t panic. Don’t blame anyone.
Recognize failure as a gift and take responsibility for the outcomes. Fixing the problem provides you and your team an opportunity to learn from your mistakes. You are a person with a growth mindset and you’re able to turn failure into fortune.
Learn From Your Experience
The best strategy for managing failure is to keep a record of it. Once the project is finished and a solution is found you schedule a time for your team to review all of the successes and failures achieved on the road toward completion.
Together, you’re going to perform a post-mortem, like investigators do on detective shows. They examine what went wrong. They discuss how decisions were made. They review the resources that were available during the assignment. They search to understand what happened, why it happened, and how it happened.
They also keep an eye open for out-of-the-box thinking, bold suggestions, and creative ideas that might not have worked for now but could work at another time or in another situation.
Follow these strategies and try out some of your own and you’ll be well on your way to creating a success mindset.
KMG Consultants Inc. 