by Anja van Beek
One thing we know for certain is that we can’t solve today’s challenges with yesterday’s wisdom. We need to choose a growth mindset. What I have seen in my coaching practice is that if we don’t stretch ourselves, we are often nudged by some external event to be stretched to grow. But what does this mean? How do you embrace a growth mindset?
Reframe and look at “failure” in a different light
This requires us to look for the lesson in any interaction. Instead of saying “I have failed” you say, “I’m not there yet, and I have learned this lesson in this process”. Acknowledge what you have achieved even if it is just saying “I’m still working toward achieving this”. To build a growth mindset we need to be agile. This implies we need to be nimble and fluid in the challenges we face. We adapt to change by experimenting and seeing what is working and what needs tweaking. It is a continuous cycle of trying something, assessing the impact, and adjusting where needed and repeating.
As women, we can be unnecessarily cruel with ourselves. We often are lenient with other people, yet, we expect “to be perfect” ourselves. This can be a big blind spot, putting needless pressure on ourselves. This awareness is vital when building new capabilities… a good starting point is to have grace and kindness towards yourself and not from a place of judgement and “I need to be better”. Focus on your strengths and build on them instead of focusing on weaknesses. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying we should ignore our weaknesses; I want to emphasize that we get a better yield when we build on our natural talents.
How well do you know yourself?
It can be helpful to complete an assessment to understand yourself better and why you react in certain ways; there are many options available. A simple exercise is to track what daily activities you love -- those where you get lost in time are a good indication of your natural talents. Having a thinking partner, either a sister, good friend or coach, can support you with this journey. If we want to grow, we need to have an end goal in mind. Be specific on what you want to achieve, by when are you planning to achieve this and how are you going to measure success? Consider what is the first step and remain in action. When building new habits, a tip is to allow yourself “it is fine to skip a day”. It is also good to use the days that didn’t go so well as data points and insights of what needs adjustment.
Dream big of who you want to be, what you want to achieve and then have the drive and discipline to make this a reality. Baby steps and you will be amazed what you can achieve. We are what we repeatedly do.
Anja van Beek is a Talent Strategist, Leadership Expert and Coach. This ex-Sage HR Director founded her own consulting and coaching business in 2017. She now partners and consults with leaders and HR teams on all people-related aspects with a specific focus on adopting an agile mindset integrating agile principles and practices. Anja is a leadership coach and an expert in supporting teams to remain relevant and thrive in the future of work. She is a facilitator focusing on leadership development, mentoring and change management. In her career she establishes the HR department and was HR director when the company won the acclaimed Deloitte Best Company to Work For, three times. Anja is a regular thought leader on prominent HR and business news outlets; guest speaker on 702 & Cape Talk’s World of Work feature. She is an International speaker and a confirmed speaker at ATD 2020, world’s largest, most comprehensive event for talent development and learning professionals, talking about the Future of Work and Agile Leadership. Anja has a BComm (Hons) degree in Industrial Relations, she has an international ICF accredited coaching qualification and is a Neurozone Practitioner. In 2018 Anja became one of the first worldwide to be authorised as an Agile Talent professional and authorised instructor.
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