Growth Mindset - Not Just for Kids!

I've read and analyzed Shirley Jackson's The Lottery many times and have reflected on how damaging a fixed mindset can actually be. Yes, Jackson takes it to the extreme in her short story where a member of the community is stoned to death every year because that had been the way for so long. The main leader in the community, Old Man Warner, refers to those who have changed practice as a "pack of young fools" (Jackson). If you ask me, I'd take a pack of fools over the chance of getting stoned to death any day.

How does this relate to education? How many of us have heard someone resist change and justify resistance by insisting things be done they way they have always been done. If it's not broken, don't fix it? But, when you think about it, how do we know if it is broken or not? Should we just assume that everything can be improved? Does it have to be broken to be fixed?

I think back to one of my practicum in teacher's college. There were many SmartBoards throughout the school, but most of them were still in the box. Many in this school had a fixed mindset when it came to technology. I was told when I asked about the SmartBoards that the students had been learning fine without them. Why change practice? Why fix what isn't broken? It became quite clear that this school was filled with Old Man Warners.

Growth vs. Fixed Mindset

Perhaps one of the most frustrating situations a leader can be in is when they go head to head with an Old Many Warner. Old Man Warners lurk in every school. How do we address this fixed mindset in our colleagues? I've been to numerous profession developments addressing fixed and growth mindset in students, but what about in our colleagues? Carol Dweck, one of the leading researchers in the field of motivation and mindset, argues that teaching a growth mindset creates motivation, increases productivity, and enhances relationships. How do we encourage this kind of positive mindset in our colleagues who have had a closed mindset for so long? Dweck argues that there are four steps to changing from a fixed to a growth mindset:

1. Learn to hear your fixed mindset "voice"
2. Recognize that you have a choice
3. Respond with a growth mindset voice
4. Take the growth mindset action

Pretty straight forward if you realize that YOU need to change. But, how do you guide someone to that realization? According to Heggert in Developing a Growth Mindset in Teachers and Staff, in order to encourage change, a leader must do the following:

• Model a growth mindset;
• Create space for new ideas;
• Build time for self-reflection;
• Provide feedback to encourage growth.

It becomes obvious quite quickly, growth mindset can't be taught, but it can be learned. If you take those points above into consideration, it becomes very apparent that in order to encourage a growth mindset in staff, you must demonstrate the mindset yourself. Basically, you must walk the walk.

Leadership and Mindset

When we think about it, isn't that just transformational leadership in action? Leading through doing, leading by example. In that case, wouldn't it be good enough for the school leader to have a growth mindset and let it rub off on others? Hard to say. How much exposure is necessary? I think back to Longfield School in Darlington. Their educational leader, Keith, had a growth mindset. Some bought in, others didn't and left. Are there always casualties when to comes to encouraging the growth mindset. Will some people just never change? If that's the case, as leaders, I guess that is something we are just going to have to get used to.

Briggs, S. (2015). 25 Ways to develop a growth mindset. informED. 

Dweck, C. (2010). Mindset. 

Heggert, K. (2015). Developing a growth mindset in teachers and staff. Edutopia. 

Jackson, S., Oates, J., and Jackson, S. (2010). The Lottery in Novels and stories. New York, N.Y.: Library of America.