Fixed vs Growth Mindset: How to Spot, Encourage, and Apply a Growth Mindset at Work
The difference between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset can quietly shape the culture of your team, the success of your projects, and your personal development. A growth mindset isn’t about blind optimism; it’s about believing skills and intelligence can be developed through effort, feedback, and perseverance. A fixed mindset assumes your abilities are set in stone.
Understanding the signs, encouraging growth behaviours, and applying this mindset practically in the workplace can lead to better performance and engagement.
Spotting the Signs: In Yourself and Others
The first step is to recognise where you or your team sit on the mindset spectrum.
Fixed mindset signs:
Resistance to feedback, often taking it personally.
Avoiding challenges for fear of failure.
Blaming external factors rather than taking ownership.
Believing that talent alone leads to success.
Saying things like “I’m just not good at this” or “That’s not my strength.”
Growth mindset signs:
Seeking out feedback as a way to improve.
Embracing new challenges as opportunities to learn.
Taking ownership of mistakes and looking for lessons.
Valuing effort over being seen as “naturally” talented.
Saying things like “What can I learn from this?” or “I haven’t mastered it yet.”
Look for patterns, not one-off comments. People can show both mindsets in different contexts.
How to Encourage a Growth Mindset
Culture and leadership play a significant role. Here’s how you can help encourage it:
Normalise mistakes – Create psychological safety by openly discussing learnings from failures.
Model it – Show vulnerability and talk about your learning curve.
Reward effort and strategy, not just outcomes – Praise how someone approaches a problem, not just the final result.
Encourage curiosity – Allow time and space for exploration and learning outside immediate tasks.
Use inclusive language – Replace “you’re a natural” with “you worked hard to get there”.
You don’t need a company-wide initiative to start doing these things in your 1:1s or team meetings.
Applying It Practically
A growth mindset can be baked into everyday work practices:
During performance reviews: Ask, “What have you learned this year?” and “What would you do differently?”
In goal setting: Encourage stretch goals that push skills and include learning objectives.
In meetings: Ask, “What assumptions are we making?” or “What could we try differently next time?”
In feedback sessions: Frame criticism constructively, focusing on progress and development.
It’s about shifting the focus from being right to getting better.
The Way to Spot a Lack of Growth Mindset
The clearest red flag is defensiveness around feedback. If someone consistently resists input, avoids accountability, or dismisses suggestions, they may operate from a fixed mindset. This is especially limiting in leadership roles, where adaptability and self-awareness are crucial.
Listen for responses like:
“That’s just how I work.”
“That won’t work here.”
“I’ve always done it this way.”
These are signs of protecting one’s ego rather than evolving with the role or environment.
Tips to Reframe Fixed Thinking
If you catch yourself or a team member falling into fixed patterns, here are practical ways to reframe:
Fixed: “I’m terrible at presenting.” Reframed: “I haven’t had much practice presenting yet. What can I do to get better?”
Fixed: “This team will never get it.” Reframed: “What can I do differently to help this team succeed?”
Fixed: “I failed.” Reframed: “What did I learn, and what can I do next time?”
Encourage people to add “yet” to limiting beliefs (“I can’t do this yet”) - a slight linguistic shift that opens the door to growth.
Why Bother?
A growth mindset isn’t about pretending everything is possible - it’s about being willing to try, learn, and adapt.
It’s a quiet but powerful force that, when nurtured, can transform the evolution of individuals, teams, and organisations.
To encourage it, you don’t need to overhaul your entire leadership style. Spot the signs, start the conversations, and lead by example. Growth, after all, starts with mindset.
Reference: Carol Dweck, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success.