The way you think about challenges, adversity and failure could be holding you back — or helping you thrive.

Dr. Beth Gitlin, an adjunct professor at Florida Tech, said people could be limited by fixed mindsets, which prevent them from learning from setbacks and limit their opportunities for improvement. In contrast, those with growth mindsets embrace challenges and aren’t deterred by failure.

A growth mindset “increases flexibility and adaptability,” Gitlin explained in a recent webinar. “Failure becomes a springboard to success.” Gitlin is the principal and founder of BJG Global Consulting in Melbourne, Fla., teaches classes in the MA in Organizational Leadership program.

The benefits of a growth mindset go behind the individual — they can also cultivate higher-performing teams. Read on.

What Is a Growth Mindset?

Gitlin said a growth mindset is advantageous as it provides an intellectual framework for personal and professional development and self-improvement. Here are a few differences between fixed and growth mindsets:

• Skills: Someone with a fixed mindset might believe their talents are innate and can’t be increased or improved. But those with growth mindsets are open to improving their skills and learning new ones through education and practice.
• Challenges: Those with fixed mindsets avoid challenges, while those with growth mindsets are open to them.
• Feedback: People with fixed mindsets might chafe at feedback, as they could think it confirms their shortcomings. But those with growth mindsets welcome input and see it as an opportunity to improve.
• Failure: Those with fixed mindsets think failures are a dead end, while those with growth mindsets look for lessons to help them succeed in the future.
• Effort: Someone with a fixed mindset might only do what it takes to be successful, while someone with a growth mindset thinks effort is a path to mastery.

Gitlin pointed out that growth and fixed mindsets exist on a spectrum. People might gravitate toward one or the other, depending on the situation. What’s important, she said, is that people can work to identify their thinking patterns. Without that knowledge, it’s impossible to change behaviors.

Leadership, Teams and Growth Mindsets

A fixed mindset can hold back leaders from bringing out the best in their employees. That’s because those leaders find it hard to identify positive change in their team members, tend to take credit for all accomplishments, maintain strict hierarchical structures to protect their power, and consider coaching to be an afterthought.

Gitlin says leaders with growth mindsets are more likely to be effective. That’s because they:

• Surround themselves with groups of talented and diverse people
• Admit their mistakes
• Ask for feedback
• Provide appropriate feedback
• Look for opportunities to improve
• Reward people’s efforts, not just their successes
• Coach employees
• Place a high value on learning
• Encourage middle performers
• Assign stretch goals to high performers

A growth mindset can improve team performance by fostering more open and transparent communication, which leads to higher levels of collaboration. Leaders with growth mindsets should encourage their employees to take risks (within reason, of course!) and look for creative solutions.

Growth Mindset Questions

Gitlin said the following questions might help you discover ways to improve your growth mindset:

• What did I learn today?
• What mistake did I make that taught me something?
• Is my current learning strategy working? If not, how can I change it?
• What did I try hard today?
• What habits must I develop to continue the gains I’ve achieved?
• What can I learn from this?
• What steps can I take to help me succeed?
• Do I know the outcome or goal I’m after?

Making It Real: Gitlin’s Experience

Gitlin said that she became interested in growth mindsets because of her own experience in earning her PhD. She was discouraged about how long it was taking until she shifted her thinking: Instead of telling herself she wasn’t done, she told herself she wasn’t done yet. That one word changed her entire frame of reference, she said, because it helped her focus properly on the process, not the outcome.

She completed her PhD in 2019.

What got Gitlin thinking about growth mindsets? She said she learned about the concept from multiple sources, but one of the most influential was a research project done several years ago. Researchers gave 10-year-olds problems that were considered too hard for their age group. The children with growth mindsets enjoyed the challenge and learned from their mistakes. But the children with fixed mindsets tried to cheat, felt like failures and even looked for people who did worse so they could feel superior.

The most important thing for people to know is that fixed mindsets aren’t, in fact, fixed. They can be changed by people who identify unhelpful thinking styles and are willing to change it.

“Challenge your inner saboteur,” Gitlin said. “Reframe that voice in your head.”