Is It Time To Change Your Mind About Mindsets?

By: Steve Cabrera
Submitted: 2007-01-17 15:05:12
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When people are passionate, inspired and committed in their work they produce great results. If this is not the case then you can be sure that your organisation is underperforming.

Passion, inspiration and commitment are a function of people’s mindsets. The usual perception is that a) people either have the right mindset or they don’t; or b) if they aren’t already passionate, inspired and committed in their job, the only practical way to change this is to change their job.

If this has been your view of how mindsets work, we have good news: People’s mindsets can change quickly - even in one conversation.

How can mindsets change quickly?

1) Mindsets are separate from the current situation

It’s a myth that mindsets are directly caused by the current situation. We often hear "I’d be more committed in this role if they gave us the budget we asked for", or "we can’t make the target in the current market environment". These views are limiting people’s potential, when it’s equally possible to have a different perspective on the same situation: "We can’t fund all the great ideas we have - we should focus only on the most important ones," or "any change in the market always surfaces new opportunities; we will create a new way to make the target."

2) The skills to change mindsets are different from the skills needed to change situations

Mindsets are fixed perspectives about a situation. The situation is a separate set of facts. The skills to alter people’s mindsets are things like listening, honouring and inquiring; the skills to alter the situation are things like information gathering, analysis and presentation. People usually try to affect mindsets with information, analysis and presentation - it doesn’t work. For example, the way to change people’s mindset about their budget is NOT to explain to them why the budget was cut - while this is essential, it is not enough. Mindsets (fixed perspectives) soften when they are listened to and honoured - not criticised or proved inaccurate. Once they are listened to, people are more open to other views, not the "right" or "better" ones, simply equally valid ones. When this is done skilfully, people always embrace a perspective that empowers everyone and is best for the organisation.

3) New mindsets are sustained through actions and results

When people embrace a new mindset, they always see new actions to take, consistent with their new view; these could be conversations to have, commitments to make, things to stop doing, etc. It’s crucial to take these actions quickly. These actions need to be cared for like a child taking his/her first steps - every effort needs to be taken to ensure that they are successful. Once there are enough steps taken and results produced, the new mindset is sustainable. The bonus is that your organisation sees objective results along the way.

It’s simple, but not easy!

If it’s so simple, why isn’t everyone doing this already? There are two main reasons for this:

1) The skill set to change mindsets is missing in business.

Until recently, the focus of most businesses has been managing financial performance through the skilful analysis and diligent implementation of effective business processes. Business leaders unwittingly apply the same skills of analysis and management to people. While this can affect what people do, it doesn’t impact people’s mindsets. In fact, it’s counterproductive to manage people in the same way as managing business processes (after all, the inventory system doesn’t have an opinion about what it does!).

2) It is personally uncomfortable

A crucial element in changing mindsets is the willingness to suspend your own beliefs about people and situations -- many people resist doing this. But you can’t change another’s mindset if you have a limiting mindset of your own. People who are skilful at changing mindsets consistently challenge their own mindsets so these are out of the way when they are coaching others. This is never a comfortable thing to do - and therefore rarely done.

Why bother with mindsets?

Mindsets are the key to unlocking the potential in your organisation. Limiting mindsets can be quickly shifted to empowering mindsets, and the impact of these shifts can be seen in objective results within a matter of months. The catch is, you need to be willing to abandon your own mindsets - in front of other people! Are you willing to do this? Do you have the courage to change your mind about your own mindsets?

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Article source: Expert Articles