As the adage goes, when we don’t progress, we regress — remaining in the same place simply isn’t a possibility for healthcare leaders or organizations.
As executive coaches working with healthcare leaders across the country, we interact with diverse professionals representing a range of personalities and leadership styles. While every healthcare leader was, undoubtedly, thrown by the pandemic, we observed that those who demonstrated a growth mindset were more resilient and better positioned to lead effectively, both during the crisis and in the current period of ambiguity that followed.
Healthcare is rapidly shifting from traditional models and predictable roadmaps for success to new, more complex and dynamic models requiring agility and the ability to embrace ambiguity. In our experience, it’s increasingly clear that today’s leaders need an expanded set of leadership competencies to navigate the current landscape successfully. Among these key competencies is Growth Orientation.
In this post — the fifth installment in our Leadership Competencies series — we’ll explore how to nurture your own growth orientation as a leader. (We’ll follow up with how to develop a growth orientation culture in your teams and organization in Part 2, coming soon.)
Growth vs Fixed Mindsets
What does a growth-oriented leader look like?
Put simply, leaders with a strong growth orientation display three common traits or habits:
- They’re curious with a growth mindset and always expanding their leadership capacity and competency.
- They continuously build a culture of growth and provide opportunities so teams and individuals can also develop themselves.
- They prioritize their health and wellbeing to maintain their effectiveness and resilience.
For added clarity, it helps to contrast growth and fixed mindsets, which come down to how people perceive their abilities: People with a fixed mindset believe their talents and abilities are fixed, with inherently stable and unchangeable traits. Those with a growth mindset believe talents and abilities can be developed over time.
“In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work — brains and talent are just a starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment.“
Carol Dweck, PhD
Author, Mindset
Professor of Psychology, Stanford
Leaders with a fixed mindset can feel stuck and frustrated when things that worked well in the past stop working. Despite good intentions, they often demonstrate demotivating behaviors, create a culture of fear, and work conditions that lead to employee burnout and hurt performance.
In contrast, growth-minded leaders are more willing to shift from past strategies to try different approaches, recognizing that new challenges call for new skills, behaviors, and strategies.
They are curious, seeing opportunity in ambiguity. They look for ways to help team members grow and foster interdependence, collaboration and innovation to meet challenges and capitalize on opportunities together. In all, they seek to learn and work to continuously improve themselves and their teams.
Self-Limiting Beliefs
Assessing the stories we tell ourselves
“Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t — you’re right.”
Henry Ford
Like all belief systems, mindsets can come from messages we get from others (e.g., family members, teachers, managers and others) and from the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves. Some may have been with us since childhood.
Leaders with self-limiting beliefs have a fixed mindset because deep down, they believe they have reached the limit of their talents and abilities. A person with a fixed mindset might say something like, “I’m not a good public speaker, so I can’t lead the organization.” A person with a growth mindset might say instead, “I believe I can lead the organization. I’m not the most comfortable public speaker yet but I can learn and will actively seek opportunities to practice.”
The good news is that yes, it is possible to develop a growth mindset through self-awareness, intention and practice. Researchers agree.
Developing a Growth Mindset
Starting today, you can begin replacing self-limiting beliefs with a growth mindset by practicing the following:
▷ Build self awareness.
Self-awareness is a leadership super power. Understanding your personal strengths, preferences, motivations, emotions, values, how you view growth and change (and why) are valuable first steps. Assessment tools and self-reflection can help shed light on this.
▷ Get more comfortable with uncertainty and change.
Acknowledge that things aren’t going back to what they were before. Explore your beliefs about uncertainty and change, where they came from, and how you can stretch outside those beliefs if they are limiting. Experiment, seek out different perspectives, explore new ideas and opportunities.
Consider what things you might be holding onto that used to contribute to your success but may no longer be serving you well, personally and professionally. What can you do to intentionally disrupt a habit, routine, or process that no longer serves you well? Small successes can help build confidence and momentum to take on bigger changes.
▷ Practice humility and vulnerability.
Consider how you could intentionally shift from behaviors like knowing, needing to have answers, craving control, working in hierarchy, and telling others what to do, to being curious, seeking input, engaging others, tapping into their talents and interests, fostering interdependence, cultivating creativity and shared goals.
Acknowledge your mistakes, recognizing your positive efforts and asking yourself: “What did I/we learn and how can I/we build on that?”
Consider how you could intentionally shift from behaviors like knowing, needing to have answers, craving control, working in hierarchy, and telling others what to do, to being curious, seeking input, engaging others, tapping into their talents and interests, fostering interdependence, cultivating creativity and shared goals.
Acknowledge your mistakes, recognizing your positive efforts and asking yourself: “What did I/we learn and how can I/we build on that?”
▷ Stay open.
According to design thinking experts, the longer and closer you are to a particular way of doing things, the harder it is to see possibilities for change beyond incremental improvement. With that in mind, you might find it useful to intentionally seek practices designed to expose you to information and perspectives that expand your sense of what’s possible. Organizations often say “there are no sacred cows” — that is, off-limits topics or practices. But in reality, some sacred cows might be invisible and no longer recognizable by those who’ve come to believe things are the way they have to be. Widening your perspective will make it easier to spot potential blind spots.
There are many ways to stay open. Literature review, networking in and outside the industry, conferences and site visits are some options available to you. The goal is to find practices that match your learning style, with the intention of prying open the “calipers” of what’s possible and feeding innovation.
▷ Stick with it.
It’s normal to experience difficulties as you’re growing and stretching your abilities. Sticking with a new skill, behavior or interest is important for your growth, especially when it becomes challenging. Have grace with yourself and notice the progress you are making. Pushing through obstacles and persisting through difficulties will help you build resilience, confidence, and inspire others.
In a follow-up post, we’ll explore growth orientation from an organizational perspective, and practical ways you can cultivate a growth mindset culture in your teams and organization.
Until then, we encourage you to choose one thing you could do differently to shape or strengthen a growth mindset. We also invite you to contact us with any questions. An executive coach can be a valuable resource and partner on your journey.
ABOUT THE LEADERSHIP COMPETENCIES SERIES
These are turbulent times in healthcare. Today’s leaders need an expanded set of competencies to manage growing ambiguity, uncertainty, and risk. MEDI’s new blog series is a masterclass in Leadership Competencies we’ve found most critical for driving meaningful transformation in 2023 and beyond.
Series shortcuts:
- Emotional Intelligence
- Social Intelligence
- Connection
- Complexity Fit
- Teams Thinking
- Growth Orientation, Individual (Part 1) – you’re here!
- Growth Orientation, Organizational (Part 2) – coming soon
- Strategic Ability – coming soon
- Virtual Leadership – coming soon
