Creating a Growth Mindset Plan

This week, the focus was to create a growth mindset plan in which we took ideas from Carol Dwecks book “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success” and applied it to the change we want to implement in the workplace.  The term “growth mindset” was introduced with Dr. Johnson when we took EDLD 5303 and 5305 in which she had asked us, “do we have a fixed mindset or a growth mindset?”. I never thought about it until I started this degree and found myself that a lot of times I have a fixed mindset.  I see myself as a person who doesn’t like change and feel anxious when change comes unexpectedly.

This week’s readings and videos dove deeper on the concepts of the growth mindset.  The four steps and implementation showed me the processes into which I created strategies and what resources I would use to push change. Embracing challenges taught me to acknowledge them and see how others view it.  Not everyone will think like me since I work on the backend of the Banner system.  I realized that everyone learns at a different pace, and I can’t expect results quickly.  I’ve been one to not want to make mistakes in front of others due to how people will perceive me in the workplace.  This is not the case because making mistakes and learning from failures can help mold the growth mindset.  We all make mistakes but its how we handle these mistakes and push forward that we can start to foster the growth mindset.

A powerful word that I learned in this class was the word “Yet”.  Instead of saying, “I can’t learn this program.”, I should rephrase this, “I can’t learn this program yet”.  This shifted my mindset completely as I’m always used to people saying that they can’t do something.  Using the word “yet” pushes through the barriers of negativity and allow to push myself forward knowing that in time I will understand it. 

Creating an environment where feedback is given positively and constructively can go a long way within the organization.  It’s a habit that we need to break off and learn to speak our ideas and get feedback so we can grow as individuals.  Having training sessions with staff to learn to give and receive feedback is beneficial for growth.

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