10 Ways to Encourage a Growth Mindset

Ten Specific Ways to Nurture Your Growth Mindset

Here’s the deal. I talk a lot about the growth mindset, where any of us who are learning, growing, and gaining our success are really just proud of growing instead of knowing, becoming instead of having. The question is how we nurture it. I saw a post the other day about how to nurture your growth mindset, and I thought it was light, cute, and impactful. I want to take it and weave it into construction, including some of the specific things we can do.

Short answer: You can build a growth mindset on purpose. The ten habits are: focus on self-improvement, take on personal stretch challenges, know your learning style, treat problems as opportunities, be patient with yourself, find inspiration, believe in yourself, welcome feedback, focus on your daily process, and lead with a clear sense of purpose.

One: Focus on Self-Improvement

Believe you can always get better, and look for areas of your performance that can be developed. Assess yourself frequently, actively seek solutions based on your own evaluation, and create the time to assess yourself.

If wanting to improve yourself becomes almost like an addiction, it is a powerful thing. It will lead you to pay for and gain the training, or to take and implement the training, you need to advance in whatever part of life you want. That could be your work, your scheduling, your health, your mental health, or your physiology. Always be focused on self-improvement.

Two: Look for Personal Challenges

This is a good one for me. Challenges should not just be for others. Set yourself daily and weekly objectives related to your own day-to-day routines and rhythms, and every now and then, when appropriate, accept a personal challenge.

I like what Brandon Montero says when he talks about opportunities for growth. That feeling in your stomach where it is awkward, hard, difficult, or scary is the exact moment. That is the opportunity. The caveat is that you should not push yourself into what might be called the danger, panic, or trauma zone. A stretch goal or a stretch activity is the target.

Here are some examples of stretch challenges.

• Apologizing to someone.
• Forgiving someone.
• Doing an interview.
• Having a hard conversation where you give feedback.
• Taking on an assignment that is just a bit outside of your comfort zone.

Seek after those personal challenges, and you will encourage your growth mindset.

Three: Know Your Learning Style

Growth and development are much more enjoyable and efficient if we know which approach leads us to the highest benefit. There are multiple approaches to learning. Make sure you know what works for you and what does not.

Some people focus on visual, auditory, or kinesthetic. Some focus on whether they learn in a specific way or a contextual way, or whether they are thinking or feeling. Play around with these personality styles and learning styles, and do a little internet research. If you can start to grow in the way you like best, even if it is just from observation, that is really powerful.

Four: Recognize Problems as Opportunities

Failures and mistakes are as much an opportunity to grow as success, and in some ways more powerful. How you see these moments is hugely important in building yourself for the next phase of personal development. Do not get down about them.

I once worked with an assistant superintendent who used to say, these are not problems, these are opportunities. Every time he talked about something, he would say, here is an opportunity. I really like that. You can call mistakes, failures, hardships, or difficult things problems, but if you start to recognize them as opportunities, it can be really powerful.

Five: Be Patient With the Timeline and Yourself

A realistic attitude about your time scale, and how long it will take you to learn something, will stop frustration. Learning, personal growth, and acquiring skills are a marathon and not a sprint. It requires time and a nurturing mindset.

On a construction project, a superintendent may need time to learn how to coordinate trades effectively, anticipate scheduling conflicts, and improve daily planning. Each project provides opportunities to build experience and develop better judgment.

Experience is a powerful force in growth, and by definition it can only be built over time. It cannot be rushed. So be patient with yourself.

Six: Find a Way to Get Inspired

Look at others, both near and far, and take inspiration from how they operate and what they achieve. Listen and learn from those you respect. We all need inspiration, so be clear about what inspires you to improve.

For me personally, I love Tony Robbins. Those events get me dancing, yelling, screaming, hooting, hollering, and working in teams. I am inspired by that. Every now and then I need that boost, so I go do something that inspires me.

Seven: Believe in Yourself

Believe that through your efforts and learning, you will improve and you will get personal benefits. Also believe that you will improve the environment for those you lead by improving yourself. For a superintendent or foreman, this might mean learning from a scheduling mistake, improving how you communicate with a trade partner, or finding a better way to prepare the crew for the next day’s work. That means having a vision and a purpose. In that way, your development is not just about yourself or a nice idea. It has a positive impact on others, and it becomes crucial.

Eight: Receive Feedback for Improvement

Feedback is a powerful source of improvement. Learn how to take it well, and learn how to give it too. Embrace feedback from others, individually or through something like a 360 review, where you hear from multiple people. Ask your foremen for feedback in the afternoon huddle.

Even when it is delivered right, feedback is sometimes not comfortable. It should not be ignored, because it will help you improve and grow.

Nine: Have a Process That Leads to Results

Focus on your day-to-day process to improve, and the results will follow. Break your day down into its activities and processes, and see where you can make small improvements. For a superintendent, this could mean looking at the daily routine from the morning plan and trade coordination to site walks and the afternoon huddle, and identifying where small process improvements can make the work flow more reliably. Results will follow those improvements, and the score will take care of itself. As you score yourself and evaluate how you are progressing, it will drive improvement.

Ten: Have a Sense of Purpose

Be clear about why you are leading. By making yourself and those around you improve, you can deliver with a sense of purpose. That gives you an inner drive to overcome challenges in pursuit of that purpose, through ongoing development of your own skills and capability.

If you really know where you want to go, and it is pulling you to improve, that is when improvement, a growth mindset, and learning become really powerful.

The Ten in One Place

There are specific ways to encourage your growth mindset, and it does not have to be some ambiguous thing.

• Focus on self-improvement.
• Look for personal challenges.
• Know your learning style.
• Recognize problems as opportunities.
• Be patient with the timeline and yourself.
• Find a way to get inspired.
• Believe in yourself.
• Receive feedback for improvement.
• Make sure you have a process that will lead to results.
• Make sure you have a sense of purpose.

If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow.

So here is the challenge. Pick one of the ten and put it into practice this week. If you are not sure where to start, choose a personal challenge that makes your stomach feel a little awkward, and stay out of the danger zone.

Bottom line: There are specific ways to encourage your growth mindset. It doesn’t have to be some ambiguous thing.

On we go.

FAQ

What does it mean to be proud of growing instead of knowing?

It means aligning your identity with becoming rather than having, so your sense of success comes from learning and growing instead of from already knowing everything.

Why does Jason say mistakes can be more powerful than success?

Because failures and mistakes are as much an opportunity to grow as success. How you see those moments is hugely important for your next phase of development, so the point is not to get down about them.

How do you choose a good personal challenge?

Look for a stretch goal, such as apologizing, forgiving, interviewing, giving feedback in a hard conversation, or taking an assignment slightly outside your comfort zone. The awkward feeling in your stomach is a sign of opportunity, but avoid pushing into the danger, panic, or trauma zone.

Why does Jason recommend focusing on process?

Because if you break your day into activities and look for small improvements, results will follow and the score will take care of itself.