Lead With a Growth Mindset

Do you know your Top 5 strengths?

It is crucial that leaders and managers understand their personal strengths and weaknesses. Understanding self allows people to manage themselves, adjust to different personality styles, and manage relationships. There are a variety of personality and leadership assessments that leaders can take to gain a deeper understanding of themselves. Leaders can ask their peers, their boss, and direct reports for feedback to gain valuable insight on where they are strong and where they can grow.

“Perhaps one of the most transformational things about positive psychology from a leadership perspective is its emphasis on helping people develop their strengths rather than focusing on or punishing them for their weaknesses. Weaknesses, after all, are inherent to the human condition - we all have them. But our strengths can often outweigh them, if properly leveraged.” – Adam Fridman

1.     Discover Your Team’s Strengths - Leaders will inspire their teams by assisting them to get crystal clear on their personal strengths. There are online surveys such as the VIA character of strengths or the strengths finder survey that leaders can have their teams take. Have each person make a list of their top 5 strengths and write-down how they can utilize these strengths to be more successful at work and in life. Use this as a topic for a team meeting and have team members give each other new ideas. Ask each person to keep a list of their strengths at their desk and incorporate this discussion regularly during one on ones.

2.     Develop Their Talents - Individuals who believe their talents can be developed, through hard work, good strategies, and input from others, have a growth mindset. People innately want to grow, develop, and become more effective in their roles. Leaders can demonstrate belief in their employees and when people believe that they can change, they are more motivated to do so. Employees want ongoing coaching and feedback on how they are doing vs. the formal annual review. How often are you meeting with your direct reports to share what they are doing well and where they need improvement?

3.     Create a Learning Environment – How often are you incorporating learning into your team meetings? Do you offer individualized learning opportunities for your team members? Do you know what each of your direct reports wants to learn professionally in the next six months? You can utilize books, Ted talks, other leaders in the organization, other team members, outside professionals, courses, and online trainings to create a learning environment for your team. Intellectual wellbeing is one of the pillars of human happiness, adults enjoy learning as much as children.

 “In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment.” – Carol Dweck