Failing? Just have a growth mindset! Depressed? Just have a growth mindset! The concept of a growth mindset is good in theory. In practice, a growth mindset has to be intentionally modeled alongside best practices and within a system or classroom that actively practices authenticity. Otherwise, it comes across as flippant and could be considered toxic positivity.
Is competition a useful strategy within a team, organization, or classroom?
I’ve never liked competition. Well, I DO like it… when I’m winning. If I’m not winning, I’m not playing. It’s truly my one fatal flaw. I felt validated when Dr. Heffernan started talking about the “Super Flock,” in her TedTalk titled Why it’s Time to Forget the Pecking Order at Work. She said, “Individually productive chickens only achieved their success by suppressing the productivity of the rest.” And they did this by pecking one another to death. It didn’t matter that the chickens were all individually superstar chickens. They couldn’t handle the competition. This applies to humans on teams in a similar way. When teams are in a system that encourages competition, powerful individualism, and favoritism, those teams don’t function well together. The end result is, “aggression, dysfunction, and waste.”
How can you build trust in a team?
This begs the question of how to create a system of authenticity and cooperation. Dr. Heffernan suggests that “Rivalry has to be replaced by social capital.” Social capital is, “the reliance and interdependence that builds trust.” In Charles Feltman’s book, The Thin Book of Trust, he defines trust as, “Choosing to risk making something you value vulnerable to another person’s actions.” So the opposite of an aggressive, dysfunctional, competitive environment is one full of vulnerability, trust, and cooperation. Feltman further suggests that “behaviors that are indicative of trust include: Cooperation, collaboration, conversation, dialog, listening, communication, support, sharing information, offering ideas, expecting the best, and being willing to examine [your] own actions.” It is that type of system in which teaching a growth mindset would allow classrooms and teams to flourish.
Now, how can a growth mindset be an asset in a well-arranged system/classroom?
Outside of an authentic, vulnerable system that encourages social capital, a growth mindset is but a parlor trick. But inside of a good system, the growth mindset is a useful tool. A growth mindset encourages people to think of skills and intelligence as malleable. For example, I am still struggling with WordPress. It is far more robust than any other website platform I’ve ever used. If I think about my skills with a fixed mindset, I might think, “I cannot create my website on this platform! It’s too hard! I’ll never learn it!” Using a growth mindset, I would flip the script. For example, “I cannot understand how to use WordPress, yet. I can google it though! And I know that one of my colleagues is using WordPress. I bet they could help me out when I get stuck.”
You can encourage a growth mindset in an authentic environment by:
- Actively teaching people about the difference in growth and fixed mindset.
- Reframing your praise to reflect stamina, grit, and the process a student/person uses rather than the product.
- Modeling and coaching students/others to reframe their distorted thinking.