unlocking the power of growth mindsets - … · 2016-08-31 · unlocking the power of growth...

Professor Laura Kray

Unlocking the Power of Growth Mindsets

For Individuals, Teams, and Organizations

2 Laura Kray, University of California (c)

Pressing concerns for 21st century workplaces

•  How to realize the potential of a diverse workforce?

•  How to foster high performance in individuals and teams?

•  How to create a culture that attracts, develops, and retains top performers?


Collaboration is key

•  Diversity of knowledge and perspectives ― Larger storehouse of

information for problem solving. ― Stimulating thinking processes

that would not have otherwise developed.

•  Power of parallel processing ― Distribute subtasks

simultaneously rather than sequentially.

― Faster moving, more agile organizations

Laura Kray, University of California (c)


Captainitis

Copilot: Let’s check the ice on those top wings again, since we’ve been sitting here for a while.

Captain: No. I think we get to go in a minute. Copilot: That [instrument reading] doesn’t seem

right, does it? Uh, that’s not right. Captain: Yes, it is… Copilot: Ah, maybe it is. [Plane faltering.] Copilot: Larry, we’re going down! Captain: I know it. [Plane crashes, killing all.]


Symptoms of captainitis

Leaders

• Assuming all problem solving responsibilities

• Desire to remain in unilateral control

• Failure to ask for and be open to input from team members

• Overconfidence and arrogance

Team members • Opting out of

responsibilities • Failing to provide important

information to move forward on a decision

•  Low confidence in ability to contribute

• Overly deferential


Miracle on the Hudson: Captain Sullenberger, “My plane.”

Co-pilot, “Your plane.”

Lesson: There is a time and a place for hierarchy


An archival analysis of 30,625 Himalayan mountain climbers from 56 countries on 5,104 expeditions found that hierarchy both elevated and killed in the Himalayas: Expeditions from more hierarchical countries had more climbers reach the summit, but also more climbers die along the way. Importantly, we established the role of group processes by showing that these effects occurred only for group, but not solo, expeditions. These findings were robust to controlling for environmental factors, risk preferences, expedition-level characteristics, country-level characteristics, and other cultural values. Overall, this research demonstrates that endorsing cultural values related to hierarchy can simultaneously improve and undermine group performance.


Pros and cons of hierarchy

+ Clearly defines roles that facilitate rapid coordination

+ Better integration of information

+ Creates patterns of deference that reduce conflict

- Limit low ranking individuals from voicing opinions and concerns

- Reduce feelings of psychological safety -Impair group communication


Two types of teams

•  Designed to facilitate reliable execution of established procedures.

•  Effective when solutions for getting the job done exist and are well-understood.

•  Requires clarity.

•  Designed to challenge, reframe, or expand the realm of possibilities.

•  Needed in situations in which knowledge about success is limited or poorly understood.

•  Requires safety.

EXECUTION TEAMS: LEARNING TEAMS:


A failure to collaborate

11


Evidence for a Collective Intelligence Factor in the Performance of Human Groups •  Anita Williams Woolley,1. Christopher F. Chabris,2.3 Alex

Pentland,3.4 Nada Hashmi,3.5 Thomas W.Malone3.5

•  Psychologists have repeatedly shown that a single statistical factor often called “general intelligence” emerges from the correlation among people’s performance on a wide variety of cognitive tasks. But no one has systematically examined whether a similar kind of “collective intelligence” exists for groups of people. In two studies with 699 people, working in groups of two to five, we find converging evidence of a general collective intelligence factor that explains a group’s performance on a wide variety of tasks. This “C factor” is not strongly correlated with the average or maximum individual intelligence of group members but is correlated with the average social sensitivity of group members, the equality in distribution of conversational turn-taking, and the proportion of females in the group.



Predictors of collective intelligence

•  Social perceptiveness of group members ―  Paying attention to what is going on around you, often group members’

nonverbal cues indicating agreement or disagreement

•  Equal distribution of conversational turn-taking ―  Sharing airtime so that a diverse set of ideas has a chance to emerge



Who claims airtime?

•  In 5-person team, 2 people speak 70% of the time •  In 6-person team, 3 people speak 70% of the time •  In 8-person team, 3 people speak 67% of the time



The competence bias

•  People who are high in the personality trait of dominance: ― Appear assertive, forceful, and

self-assured ― Claim a disproportionate share

of airtime ― Are perceived by others as

influential ― Are likely to emerge as group

leaders ― Are no more accurate in their

judgments than less dominant group members



How to foster collaboration?

•  Collaboration hinges on mindsets, or the lens through which we see the world. ― Mindsets are deeply rooted and yet rarely examined assumptions

about human nature. ― Mindsets dictate performance goals. ― Mindsets guide our interactions with others, either inviting or

inhibiting information sharing and learning.



What’s your talent mindset?

•  Add up your responses to 10 items. •  Generally speaking, scores below 25

indicate fixed mindset and scores above 25 indicate growth mindset

•  Most people readily endorse one mindset or the other.

•  Both mindsets are equally common. •  Mindsets are not related to ability or

education levels.



Fixed mindset

•  Belief that abilities are relatively rigid

•  “People either “have it” or they don’t”

•  Aim to demonstrate competence ― Prone to covering up mistakes ― Taking credit for others’ work ― Vengeful, ego-driven, hierarchical



Growth mindset

•  Belief that abilities are relatively flexible

•  “People can learn” •  Aim to develop competence

― Self-effacing, team player ― Good at learning from mistakes ― Shares credit with others ― Forgiving



Growth mindsets predict

•  Collaboration •  Problem solving •  Investment in preparation •  Negotiating effectiveness •  Ethical standards •  Mentoring of employees

― Feedback ― Encouragement



Leaders’ mindsets influence psychological safety •  Psychological safety is a willingness and ability to speak up

with ideas, questions, and concerns within a dynamic and uncertain business context


Case study: Cardiac surgery



Learning in teams •  The task:

―  Implement new minimally-invasive procedure for performing heart surgery

•  Team members: ― Surgeon, surgeon’s assistant, scrub nurse, cardiac anesthesiologist,

per fusionist

•  Performance measures: ― Efficiency: procedure time ―  Improvement over time



Team mindsets

•  Experienced surgeon •  Research hospital with

prestigious reputation •  Leader separate from

the team ― Played no role in

selection of team ― Described task as a

“plug-in procedure”

•  Young surgeon •  Regional hospital with

modest reputation •  Leader part of the team

― Selected team members based on expertise

― Described task as “team innovation project”

FIXED MINDSET TEAM GROWTH MINDSET TEAM


Comparing two teams’ performance

3

4

5

6

7

0 5 10 15 20

Pro

ced

ure

Tim

e (H

rs)

Number of Procedures

Growth

Fixed


Surgeon’s comments about their team

•  “It was not a matter of training myself. It was a matter of training my team.”

•  “Once I get the team set up, I never look up. It’s they who have to make sure that everything is flowing.”

•  “The ability of the surgeon to allow himself to become a partner, not a dictator, is critical.”

•  “You really do have to change what you’re doing based on a suggestion from someone else on the team.”

FIXED MINDSETS GROWTH MINDSETS


Observations about psychological safety

•  People feel ready and able to speak up at work when a clear rationale exists in their own minds for why their input is needed.

•  It is extremely helpful if a leader asks for input in a clear and genuine manner.

•  The balance of consequences must be positive: ― Likely to be interpreted as an

opportunity for learning rather than a sign of disrespect.



What mindsets define

•  What is success? ― Proving yourself versus

learning ― Talent versus hard work

•  What is failure? ― Learning from versus

covering up mistakes ― Correcting versus denying

deficiencies

•  Is effort good or bad? ― Preparing versus winging it ― Overcoming obstacles

versus giving up



Mindsets operates at three levels


•  INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE •  TEAM DYNAMICS

•  ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE


Organizational mindsets

•  There is a lot of cheating, taking shortcuts, and cutting corners around here.

•  Around here, people often hide information and keep secrets.

•  My employer genuinely supports risk-taking and will support me even if I fail

•  My employer encourages people to be innovative—creativity is welcomed.

•  When people make mistakes, my employer sees the learning that results as ‘value added’



Benefits of growth mindsets

•  Higher employee job satisfaction, trust in employer, and ownership over work

•  Higher performance ratings by supervisor

•  More positive organizational culture ― Collaborative ― Ethical ―  Innovative



Fostering growth mindsets

•  Be collaborative ― Ask questions, seek feedback, and debate ― Be prepared to confront brutal answers

and to look failure in the face

•  Profit from your mistakes ― Develop a system to tracking

development over time ― Model learning by telling growth stories

•  Develop growth-oriented teams ― Guide others, don’t judge ― Select for growth mindsets and passion,

not just natural talent and pedigree ― Reward teamwork



Monitor your internal dialogue

•  You don’t have the talent •  You’ve gone and exposed

your weakness •  It’s not my fault

•  If I can’t do it now, I will learn with time and effort

•  Most successful people had failures along the way

•  If I don’t take responsibility, I can’t fix it



The bottom line on mindsets

•  Embrace growth mindsets, don’t needlessly pay for fixed mindsets

•  Regardless of what is objectively true, embracing the belief that excellence is a product of hard work and persistence predicts positive outcomes



Case study: Magna Metals •  A manufacturing organization on the brink of failure who shifted

from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset. ― What evidence do you see for fixed mindsets giving way to growth

mindsets? ― What were the critical transformative steps? ― What role did collaborative teams play in this shift? ― What effect did this shift have on performance?



Key takeaways

•  Growth mindsets are the key to: ― More effective collaboration ― Psychological safety ― Higher team member satisfaction ― More innovation

•  Stomp out fixed mindsets in: ― Yourself ― Your team members ― Your organization


unlocking the power of growth mindsets - … · 2016-08-31 · unlocking the power of growth...

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