Introducing "Food for Thought" #17. The formula is simple: three short messages once a week to feed your mind.
Leadership
How can you help your team develop a growth mindset?
A growth mindset is characterized by the ability to develop skills, intelligence or even new talents over time.
A team also has its own mindset, reflected in the actions, behaviors and attitudes conveyed by its leaders. The key here is to cultivate a culture where the emphasis is on acquiring knowledge and broadening skills, rather than rewarding results alone.
Here are a few more ways to create a culture of growth:
- Aim high: Ambitious goals drive the team to find the means to achieve them. Individuals with a fixed mindset who refuse to evolve will no longer fit in.
- Don't punish mistakes: This reinforces the fixed mindset, which manifests itself in the fear of trying something new because of the risk of failure.
- Prioritize learning: Mistakes will happen over time. In fact, that's a good thing, because mistakes promote individual and team growth.
- 100% transparency: Give your team the access they need to find the information themselves.
- Don't value hours worked: instead, value the quality of the work accomplished. By valuing hours, you open the door to the notion of "making time", rather than empowering the team.
Learn more about the growth mindset in this Harvard Business Review article.
Listen
Good listening skills
"It means accepting pauses and silences, because filling them too quickly, or even prematurely, prevents the speaker from communicating what he may be struggling to express."
-Kate Murphy
Inspiration
Inspiring philosophies of life
To travel is to discover the world through new eyes.
Ubuntu [South Africa]: The art of relating to others.
Niksen [Netherlands]: The art of doing nothing.
Hygge [Denmark]: The art of enjoying small moments in good company.
Pura Vida [Costa Rica]: The art of enjoying life, whatever the circumstances.
Friluftsliv [Norway]: The art of living in harmony with nature.
Wabi-Sabi [Japan]: The art of embracing imperfection and renouncing perfection.
Aylyak [Bulgaria]: The art of doing everything at a relaxed pace without worrying about a thing.
