When I first began coaching execs nearly 30 years ago, few organizations had experience with coaches and coaching. Some clients, unfamiliar with the coaching process, told me that they didn't want me "messing around" with their personality. They didn't believe a person could develop her personality, and were not at all certain that they wanted to engage in that process. Skills were one thing, but personality change was another.
To a significant degree, those attitudes remain with us.
Why is that? It is that issue which Carol Dweck's research has resolved.
The answer: How you think about growth determines what you do.
In a previous post, I shared Prof. Dweck's quiz on abilities. In this post from her book, you'll get the chance to identify your mindset about your personality and character.
In the following quiz, decide whether your mostly agree or mostly disagree with each one.
- You are a certain kind of person, and there is not much that can be done to really change that.
- No matter what kind of person you are, you can always change substantially.
- You can do things differently, but the important parts of who you are can't really be changed.
- You can always change basic things about the kind of person you are.
Here, questions 1 and 3 are the fixed-mindset questions and questions 2 and 4 are the growth mindset. Which did you agree with more?
Did it differ from your intelligence mindset? (See my previous post to take the intelligence quiz.) Your "intelligence mindset" comes into play when situations involve mental abiity.
Your "personality mindset" comes into play in situations that involve your personal qualities--for example, how dependable, cooperative, caring, or socially skilled you are. The fixed mindset makes you concerned with how you'll be judged; the growth mindset makes you concerned with improving.
Studies show that the characteristic of warmth and the abilities of competence are the two most influential relationships between people. What Dweck's research emphasizes is that you can develop both warmth and competence beyond where you are now if you have a growth mindset.
The new message is that you can change your mindset and grow.
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