Team Workshop
Overview: The Team learns about the two types of mindset and find examples for each one.
Goal: Becoming aware of the two mindsets and where they influence everyday life.
Remember : People in a fixed mindset believe that they are either good in something or not. Therefore, they believe that they can’t accomplish something that is out of the reach of their knowledge or abilities. Those with a growth mindset believe that these abilities can be learned and developed to solve even difficult problems. A growth mindset can therefore contribute to greater achievement and increased effort.
Important: It’s not about which mindset is better, but rather about being aware of your own mindset and finding out which mindset is more helpful in which situation. Everybody has experienced both mindsets in their live and this workshop is to became more aware of them.
Example
People with a fixed mindset often hesitate to try to do anything that they don’t know they’re good at already. So everyday mindset examples might be when you were afraid of trying something new or hesitated to leave your comfort zone.
Emphasize that everyone of us uses a fixed mindset sometimes and that there’s nothing wrong with that. There are no right or wrong answers and ideas for this exercise.
Example
If you have a growth mindset, you never think you’re too old or too smart or too “anything else” to learn something new. So everyday mindset examples might be when you learned something new, got constructive criticism or when you failed but learned from your mistakes.
Questions
Did you notice a pattern of situations in which you rather have a growth or a fixed mindset?
What circumstances in your (work)life foster each kind of mindset?
In which situations we experience as a team a fixed mindset is fine and in which situations a growth mindset is more helpful?
In situations where a growth mindset is helpful, how can we support each other to strengthen everyone’s growth mindset?
Example
“We all came up with examples of situations in which we rather have a fixed mindset, as well as situations in which we rather have a growth mindset. We analysed how this can affect us as a team and how we can support each other to reach the mindset that is needed to get the most out of our teamwork. Here is how we want to support each other in the future: …”
If people can’t come up with examples on their own, let the team discuss them together or let one person explain the concept in their own words.
Emphasize again that it is totally normal to have many situation in which your mindset is rather fixed. It is relaxing for the brain to not constantly question “the position” you found in life. So it is not about changing anyone by 180 degrees. It’s about observing oneself and being aware of situations in which the own mindset might hold you back so you can do something about it.
The questions provided here are just examples. You can discuss any questions that come up in the team. Especially the question on how the team members can support each other might be challenging. If the members want to support each others growth mindset, here are some suggestions:
Encourage each other to learn from fuckups. Celebrate if you do.
When someone asks you for help, encourage the person to try it by himself/herself first before helping or teach the person how to do it, so he or she can do it on his/her own the next time.
Remind each other to try some things for the first time now and then.
Come up with reminders you can place in your work space to encourage growth mindset.
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