As CEO, you need executive leaders with functional knowledge and skills. You count on them to have a level of subject matter expertise, an ability to build strong teams, and be able to make decisions based on what’s best for the overall company. Have you considered whether your executive team has the right mindset to lead transformation?

Could the way your executive leaders think and the way you talk to them influence the success of your transformation? I’m not talking strictly about a can-do attitude, although that’s part of it. Continuing research shows a major contributor to successful transformation, both individually, and organizationally, is a growth mindset*. A mindset that stems from life-long learning, self-awareness, dwelling in possibility, an approach to continuous improvement, and a willingness to challenge oneself and others to think differently.

Famed Stanford psychologist, Carol Dweck, has studied the difference between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset in students, athletes, and business leaders for three decades and is now focusing on how a growth mindset directly impacts business.**

Leading through an organizational transformation requires a willingness to think and act differently to produce a different outcome. In our work with CEOs and executive leaders, here are some indicators of growth mindset executive teams we’ve seen. Growth mindset teams:

• Recognize they don’t have all the answers. They seek out new information and ideas.
• Do not fear failing. They practice, model, adjust, try again.
• Foster and develop a continuous improvement culture.
• Have a sense of curiosity – what if we approached things differently?
• Are able to acknowledge limiting beliefs and break through them.
• Understand organizational transformation comes from personal transformation.

 
Want to build the right mindset with your executive team?  The Bailey Group can help you go further, faster. www.thebaileygroup.com.

*Carol Dweck coined the phrases fixed mindset and growth mindset in her 2006 book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success.

**November 2014 HBR article, “How Companies Can Profit from a Growth Mindset.”