The Mindset Advantage

Mindset underlies everything. Action, choice, thought, feeling, relating, success, satisfaction and positive regard all arise from and are impacted by, our mindset. In its impact on our action and choice, mindset largely determines the results we experience by that action, as individuals, teams and organisations. (I talk about this more in a previous video blog).

Illustrated most simply, success is most basically impacted by whether our mindset is, “we can,” or, “we can’t.” If you think, “I can,” you likely will. If you think, “I can’t,” clearly you won’t. Athletes often attribute victory to the one who had the most mental strength. Basically the one who, with the aid of a sport psychologist, had the power over their mindset to illuminate their path to success and victory.

In this way mindset impacts results and success in everything:

• Tied to training success, mindset is essential. If we believe we can implement new skills, we likely will. If we believe we can’t, we likely won’t. A person who walks away, albeit thoroughly trained, with a mindset of, “I can’t do this,” or, “It’ll never work,” will be no more likely to succeed at their newly acquired skills than if they’d never been trained in the first place. Yet, how many training organisations do a check on participant’s mindsets?

• Taken further, success in any new skill set requires its own mindset. For example, being an effective leader requires a leadership mindset; meeting the targets of a successful sales person requires a sales mindset; and providing exemplary customer service requires CSRs to have a customer service mindset. Supportive mindsets necessary for success in each of these skill areas are as important, if not more important, to success with the skill than the external skill training acquired. How many training organisations ensure their clients have the mindset to succeed in the area in which they are skill training?

• In Change Facilitation, mindset determines our response to change, in general and in particular. If we have a mindset of viewing change as undesirable, scary or even a threat, we’ll likely resist and work against it, if not sabotage. Conversely, if we believe that change is advantageous, we’ll likely welcome, if not embrace, any change and promote and lead it. Yet again, mindset is the essential difference between success and failure but how many change facilitators and facilitation organisations are sufficiently concerned about, facilitate and monitor closely this crucial element?

• Organisational Culture is essentially the sum of the mindsets of those engaged in it, starting most influentially with the mindsets of those at the top. To shift culture to a state of high performance, customer service, or proactive, ‘can do’ culture, requires, foremost, organisation-wide mindsets to support it. The success of any cultural change initiative will be defined and delimited by the organisation wide mindset that is necessary to support it. Without the right mindsets in place, any change effort will be temporary at best, with people going through the motions in an effort ‘to keep them happy.’ And, as so often happens, people are left with cynical mindsets wondering, “Why did we do that?” ensuring any subsequent change initiative will be even harder, if not impossible.

For permanent improvement/culture change, a permanent shift in mindset is required. It must be the objective. Without the shift in mindset to support it, any change or improvement will be temporary at best, with people, teams and cultures reverting or gravitating back to the delimiting dictates of their unchanged mindsets.

Mark Huston
Senior Transformation Consultant

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For more information on Mindset’s workshops, visit our website where you can download individual overviews for each of the courses we currently offer. Alternatively, submit an online enquiry with the word “Workshops” in the Comments to organise an Organisational Benefit Analysis.

Self Deception can be a hard habit to break

A very good friend reminded me the other day we lie to ourselves far more than we ever lie to anyone else. Self-deception can be a hard habit to break. You’ve probably experienced the feeling of things moving in the right direction and you’re feeling good about certain triumphs, then, suddenly, BAM!!! Up comes one roadblock after another. You hear your inner voice saying, “Not again,” or, “Why does this always happen to me…?” Sound familiar?

The truth is, it doesn’t just happen to you. It happens to everyone at various times. The difference lies in how you approach it. With some people you don’t notice that they are working through roadblocks because they seem as enthusiastic and determined as ever. While others are feeling deflated and flicking it into the ‘too hard basket’. Maybe it’s time to look inside and see what’s going on in your mind. What deceptive little tricks is your mind playing on you?

Everything starts with a thought. Thought → Action → Outcome which, when taken a little deeper, says our reality is as simple as Be → Do → Have. Simple yet powerful information that tells us the results and outcomes we reap begin with the thoughts and energy we sew. So, how do we become aware of what our thought process is? How do we know which Mindset we’re in?

Let’s use a simple example to assess your Mindset. Imagine you’re in a situation where you see a person exhibiting certain behaviours that don’t fit those you deem acceptable. You may perceive them to be overbearing, loud and dominating. Or maybe they hold a belief or values systems that differs from your own. Does your inner judge quietly condemn the person? Does your facial expression (whilst contained) hold signs of dismay or disgust? Or perhaps you try and put yourself in that person’s shoes and offer explanations for their behaviour.

That displays a Fixed Mindset. A person whose beliefs tell them, ‘they are the way they are,’ and there’s precious little they can do to change it. As a result they are likely to avoid challenges and obstacles, give up easily and avoid negative feedback. The consequences of this are they don’t change or improve much with time. They don’t reach their potential and their beliefs feed on themselves.

So, how would someone with a Growth Mindset approach this situation? Well, they’d probably just talk to the person in question, or ask them about it! From their point of view, that person is an opportunity waiting to be discovered and learned from. They will confront a challenging person or challenging behaviours/views with the mindset of, ‘I may not understand this person’s motivations or actions right now but I’m going to find out what this person has to offer and try to understand their perspective.’ Through this positive exploration, people with Growth Mindsets improve and create a positive feedback loop that encourages them to keep learning and improving. Got a mirror handy?

Listening to and understanding that inner voice provides opportunity to understand where your Mindset sits. If your Mindset is focused on failure (even if it is avoidance) you are already potentially well on the path to failure. Listen to whether it’s telling you, “This is the way things are/aren’t,” or whether it’s exploring new possibilities. Challenge your inner voice to see whether it is simply advising of potential risk and trying to keep you in your comfort zone, away from potential failure.

When we embrace challenges, new ideas and other people’s perspectives we’re allowing ourselves to grow. What was once seen as a roadblock is now an opportunity to do something even better, create something that may even make a difference.

Exercise for today… where is your head at? Is it helping or hindering your growth and ultimate success?

Suzanne Corliss
Senior Transformation Consultant
Mindset Group

Survive or Thrive... Your Choice

Although Australia was not hit by the GFC nearly as badly as the rest of the Western world, we still felt the effects. Commerce slowed down, and we had to fight harder for business we won. Revenue was good but not buoyant through most of 2010. For Mindset, our activity and profit sky-rocketed in the last quarter. It was like someone suddenly turned the tap on full again.

Why was this? We are very close to our clients. We are also active through a number of industry associations and have been dealing with CEOs from multiple industries and company sizes across the country every day. So we asked them. What’s changed for them?

The simple summary of their responses is that they were tired of being in ‘survival’ mode. They had shifted their mindset back to ‘thrive’ mode and with that simple gear-change became more positive in their outlook. They commented that with this change their staff had picked up on the mood and were more engaged, more motivated and more productive. Their workplaces are great successful places to be at again.

Such a simple thing to do.

If you are a CEO or MD, are you still stuck in ‘survival’ mode? Switching back to ‘thrive’ could change your business, and every day you delay the switch opens the door further for your already thriving competitors.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on whether your business is still in ‘survival; mode. If you’ve made the switch to ‘thrive’ mode, what was the catalyst for the change?

Aaron Dodd
Operations Director

A small change in mindset sees a big change in Don Holley

Welcome to my inaugural post on the new Mindset blog Changing Mindset! I’m really looking forward to getting involved with this forum – a lot of you would be familiar with my business partner, Aaron Dodd from Twitter and the many blog posts that he has written for Mindset. Well now you can look forward to the whole Mindset team sharing and contributing the latest news, insights, trends and observations from the work we do with our clients in transformation, talent and technology.

As a company Mindset has been fortunate enough to change individual, group and organisation mindsets, driving cultural change and improved results for our clients. 2011 is shaping up to be an amazing year and will challenge us all to be at our best to take advantage of the opportunities presented to us. Small, incremental changes to what you’re already doing have the potential to reap big results but making a difference starts with changing your mindset. Often the solution can be staring you right in the face.

Take a look at the two people in the photo above. At first glance, you may think they are different individuals and you would be partly right. In fact, that’s me on the left ten weeks ago, and then me again on the right after a small change in my mindset.

I have always known the value of exercise and frequented the gym regularly but while the majority of my meals were healthy, often meals would be rushed or in restaurants accompanied by some nice wine. I know there’s many a consultant or business person out there who can relate to that! So, the change required in my mindset was simple. 1) get up one hour earlier to ensure that I have time to exercise EVERY day, and 2) make meal preparation a priority to avoid rushed, unplanned meals on the go. I already had all the tools and knowledge I needed. What was missing was a small but obviously impactful change to my own mindset.

As this year draws to a close, it’s a good time to review what has worked for you, what hasn’t and any opportunities that you have to make changes in your work and private life. Some tips and self-reflection questions:

• Have self-belief – do I believe in my ability to make a difference?
• Have self-awareness- am I honest with myself and do I have people around me that will tell me if I’m not?
• Have the right mindset- am I focused on what I can do rather that what I can’t do?
• Have the right vision- do I picture a future state where I have achieved what I set out to do?
• Have the right strategy- am I doing the right things to make me effective?
• Have the right plan- can I make this work with everything else that is going on?
• Have the right team- how do I obtain the support that I need from others on this journey?
• Have the right focus- do I have clear goals to aim for?
• Have something to strive for – what will the reward be when I/we achieve our goals?
• Have the right measures -what will I do to keep me on track?

What stories have you got about a change in mindset that’s seen a big shift in your personal or work life? Have you got success stories from 2010? Or maybe you have a big plan for 2011? We’d love you to share it with us!

Don Holley
Managing Director