6.9 Growth Mindset

The term 'growth mindset' was initiated by Dweck(2007) and she wrote a nice opinion piece about it in the Harvard Business Review in 2016 to clarify what it is and what it is not.

To summarize her 2016 points, 'individuals who believe their talents can be developed (through hard work, good strategies, and input from others) have a growth mindset.' She notes, that there is no such thing as a pure growth mindset, that people with a growth mindset worry more about learning than looking 'smart'. And that people often confuse a growth mindset with being flexible or open-minded or with having a positive outlook. Everyone is a mix of open/fixed and the mix continually evolves. It is about outcomes and it is not just about effort. It is about learning, progress, and the processes that yield these things. That the lofty ideas need to be backed by policies, support, resources, not just lip-service. The organizations and situations reward lessons learned, even mistakes. We suggest that you read her whole article, it is short and to the point.



It is about being able to take risks, seeking help from others, trying new strategies, learning and leveraging setbacks to move forward. In Dweck's research, the outcome, the bottom line follows from deeply engaging in these processes.

These are in fact not new ideas or new observations. They have been said before and have been made part of cultures and processes. For example, in the 1980's Honda had a stated philosophy of 99 failures, 1 success and where rewards and acknowledgements were given to lessons learned and mistakes better understood. It is imbedded in lean processes and in cultures of innovation. You can find the principles in various continuous improvement concepts since the early 1900's; the ability and support to try, to learn, and not to be punished by failure. It is about learning and reflecting from the experiences, using organizational knowledge and others' insights to guide change. There have been lots of quotes about learning and growth from exporing, taking risks, making mistakes and reflecting. Dweck did a great job renewing interest in these principles, doing research on the topic, and disseminating her findings. She has provided deeper insights and concepts into the individual and organizational dynamics. She gave it a nice name and focus! This is important.

Here are some thoughts about developing, cultivating a growth mindset in students...

• The students need to understand that the concept is not just words or magical. It is understanding what needs to be done, the work, and process that is needed (see Dweck above).
• To buy in, the students will need to value it, see the value of it, experience the value of it. So, a growth mindset experiential learning exercise (or two) will likely be needed.
• Throughout the term, references, examples, and linkages to the ideas and processes associated with a growth mindset need to be routinely served up, to reinforce the key elements. Reflections and debriefings are good for this.
• You can use constructive failure methods to put it into practice. Ways of improving the process, change. Doing again, reflecting on the change, value of using the changed process. Explicitly discuss the process and how things progressed, and why.
• You can teach them about continuous improvement and the processes that surround the learning. You can have them experience and practice. This could be specific exercises, outside of the constructive failure exercises. It could be applying what was learned in the constructive failure lesson to another 'topic', or situation.
• You have to try to create a culture or overall philosophy that everything can grow, change, improve and that the journey is never done. We have seen a difference in how practices that focus on growth mindsets are different in Japan and North America for example. What one culture tolerates and sees as 'good enough', the 'end of the line' is not what the other culture sees, expects, or is happy with.
• It is about expectations about what can be changed, improved, and what are the possible facilitators and constraints; and how to deal with them.
• Students need to see themselves as something that is not 'done yet', that can be improved. Problem is, they might not have baselines, benchmarks to know reasonable, feasible targets. They might not know if they are done or not, or how to improve.
• Students need to be taught to first be self-aware and how to see themselves and their processes. Do they understand possible weaknesses and strengths? Do they see what can be, what could be? What to be satisfied with, what to accept as status quo?
• Students need to feel comfortable with opening up, not being defensive by constructive comments; self made or by others. It is not shaming or hating if it is a valid observation, done in a fair way with the right intent. Some people will be very sensitive to any and all comments about self-improvement. Not sure what to do
• Students need to know that you should never be satisfied by best practice and that best practices and expectations are always evolving.

Barriers and challenges...

• Someone might have a growth mindset in situation A, but have a fixed mindset the same day in situation B.
• Why change, why put the effort into even trying? If there is upside, why bother? Neutral is not good either. Trying and learning from the trying (not just trying) needs an upside.
• There has to be infrastructure and resources. Putting a 'growth' idea might actually require other people's time, additional resources.
• There has to be a time element. It is not possible to usually think about growth when you are buried, going flat out on the treadmill. Growth activities take time and effort. Do not expect to get them for free or without effort. If you are expecting students to understand and develop a growth mindset, this has to be supported in real ways with respect to course load, etc.
• If the 'growth' concepts are not managed, they can be too ambitious, unrealistic, and so forth. If the 'growth' activity is not in the realm of feasible, the failure will be frustrating and too many of these will kill the buzz.
• A growth mindset is a form of cognitive skill and expertise and it is not developed in a single term, year, or program. You can start the student on the journey, but other courses throughout the program, every term, must pile on and provide coaching and nurturing. If you start in first year and feed it each term, by senior year, you see some real results. Do not expect any change without the practice, incentive structure, reflection, and explicit coaching.
• Any examples used and exercises created should be relatable and mean something to the student. Without being relatable, the value equation is questionable. If the value is not experienced, you will not change habits and behavior.
• It is not always possible for a student to develop a growth mindset when you want them to, in the context you are expectings. In some cases, a growth mindset might be impossible for a student.

Further reading

• Dweck, C. (2016). Mindset: The new psychology of success. (Updated edition) Ballantine Books.
• Yeager, D., & Dweck, C. (2020). What can be learned from growth mindset controversies? The American Psychologist, 75(9), 1269–1284. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000794