A growth mindset sets a mission statement to achieve a goal or objective-oriented plan. It can be applied in a variety of settings for a variety of purposes. The purpose of this plan is to address several need areas for the University Press student newspaper, the Lamar University Department of Communications and for the College of Fine Arts and Communication.
The growth mindset plan incorporates initiatives by individuals and collaborative groups to expand and scale-up knowledge and skill development of enrolled students, recruitment and retention of enrolled students and to provide additional learning opportunities to students and professionals with more options in content delivery and user and instructor interface.
Carol Dweck wrote in the Harvard Business Review, “What Having a ‘Growth Mindset’ Actually Means (https://hbr.org/2016/01/what-having-a-growth-mindset-actually-means – January 13, 2016) that “scholars are deeply gratified when their ideas catch on. And they are even more gratified when their ideas make a difference — improving motivation, innovation, or productivity, for example. But popularity has a price: people sometimes distort ideas, and therefore fail to reap their benefits.”
She said (2016) individuals who believe their talents can be developed (through hard work, good strategies, and input from others) have a growth mindset. They tend to achieve more than those with a more fixed mindset (those who believe their talents are innate gifts). This is because they worry less about looking smart and they put more energy into learning. When entire companies embrace a growth mindset, (Dweck, Harvard Business Review, November 2014) their employees report feeling far more empowered and committed; they also receive far greater organizational support for collaboration and innovation. In contrast, she said people at primarily fixed-mindset companies report more of only one thing: cheating and deception among employees, presumably to gain an advantage in the talent race.
This is similar to my role in my position at Lamar University and the University Press, but to act in the role of disruptor to add and enhance operations, instruction, outreach and innovation. My approach is to simultaneously address Dweck’s Four Steps at once by combining personal and professional directives in collaboration of small groups within the current organizational framework of the university, to observe and spur disruption and facilitate action plans and initiatives. In addition, my role is to incorporate and implement a growth mindset to these groups, to document and report outcomes, facilitate the initiatives of all stakeholders and adapt, modify, complete and evaluate defined goals and objectives.
For example, career connections of alumni and students has had a historical pattern within the LU Department of Communications as being inconsistent, not well-marketed to students and not having a direct relationship to the recruitment and retention of enrolled students as reported by faculty, staff, alumni, and students from a series of informal interviews and surveys compiled over 20 years. To address this, the by-product of formal conversations with the College of Fine Arts and Communication Dean Derina Holtzhausen was a call to action issued to the same college stakeholders in Fall 2015.
I had participated in previous events as an invited guest to present career development to students in past years, so I reached out to the Department Chair, alumni, fellow staff and faculty, the Career & Professional Development office and the Alumni office, formally and informally. A small team came together incorporating members from each group (Jenna Powell–Career Development office, Jacqueline Hays – Lamar English Instructor and UP alum, Natalie Tindall –Communications Department Chair and Derina Holtzhausen – Dean, College of Fine Arts and Communication). In retrospect, most of the responses from the college faculty and staff were with a fixed mindsets – “This has been done before,” “I don’t want to do it, I’m busy,” or “I didn’t work before, why would it work now?” The fixed mindsets I think emphasized individual mindsets over the growth mindset potential for students and innovating the institution and because the majority of the faculty and staff come from primarily academic backgrounds and not of professional industry. The goal is to change the mindset of individuals and that of the institutional resources.
The result, so far, of this initiative will manifest on Wednesday, October 26 at Noon on the 8th floor of the Gray Library with the University Press presents “UPLift: Career Portraits in Modern Media and Communications” (http://www.lamar.edu/news-and-events/news/2016/09/university-press-hosts-uplift-career-portraits-in-modern-media-and-communications.html) a lecture series to connect UP alumni working in industry and discussing topics critical to career preparation and development focusing on professional branding or social media. In addition, to the lecture, alumni will visit individual classes to engage faculty and students with special topics in their course. This project will be videoed and different versions will be edited for research and reference and archived on the UP website and the Communications Department website.
The event is open to public and will incorporate campus stakeholders and local professionals as well. The objective is to have this as an annual speakers event during homecoming week to capitalize on campus promotional activities and alumni visiting campus. Already, alumni response has been very favorable and oriented toward a growth mindset with offers to speak and participate in future events. One way to expand inclusion to other college and departmental stakeholders is that additional spring session could be added but sponsored or hosted by some other entity within the college utilizing strategies developed with UPLift.
A focus group will convene off-campus that evening at 6 p.m. at the Art Studio, Inc., 720 Franklin in downtown Beaumont to record participant observations and comments
I’ve decided to address Dweck’s Four Step with this simultaneous approach in this situation because when dealing with individuals or organizations a growth mindset plan has to be tailored. Classrooms and students have to have tailored plans as well. Growth mindset provides a guide and roadmap to achievement and success, but the specifics, methodology and approach is going to have to be adaptable and flexible. The intent of any plan is that is must embrace a growth mindset as well. I think a cumulative approach is doable and it allows tailoring of the initiative at any stage within any component at any time. It is confrontational and disruptive in nature that is consistent with the action plan’s directive.
The method to communicate “yet” is direct engagement and the inclusion of stakeholders and it’s a work in progress. To put it in a communications framework, it relates to sales pitches of overcoming objections to serve students over an individual’s desires. To address this plan, is to engage it daily and weekly, as needed, with interpersonal and group communication via email, texts, social media posting and meetings.
The impact of this course on me is a two-for-one approach. So far, and completely coincidentally, the goals of the course align with the mission objective I was recruited to participate in. The challenge is to lead without being over-bearing and to develop initiatives that are sustainable and to the benefit of students and that incorporates stakeholder in a variety and revolving set of leadership responsibilities.
I think some additional challenges to confront comes from another part of Dweck’s Harvard Business Review January 2016 article is to self-evaluate to attempt to avoid false growth mindsets, false praise and rewards, and the false idea that just saying something makes it true. The plan can’t just be lip service. Goals, actions and objectives have to be measured, reported and acted upon by stakeholders.
I refer again to Flavell’s concept of metacognition (Flavell 1979) for self-evaluation because the concept assists the feedback narrative of achievement, inclusion and success. It is a component that has to be incorporated into any mindset growth plan whether it is individually or group directed. I haven’t come across any research that contradicts feedback, and Dweck, while not expressly saying so does, repeatedly, allude to the very idea of metacognition and self-evaluation.
Dweck states (2016), “Even if we correct these misconceptions, it’s still not easy to attain a growth mindset. One reason why is we all have our own fixed-mindset triggers. When we face challenges, receive criticism, or fare poorly compared with others, we can easily fall into insecurity or defensiveness, a response that inhibits growth. Our work environments, too, can be full of fixed-mindset triggers. A company that plays the talent game makes it harder for people to practice growth-mindset thinking and behavior, such as sharing information, collaborating, innovating, seeking feedback, or admitting errors.
“To remain in a growth zone, we must identify and work with these triggers. Many managers and executives have benefited from learning to recognize when their fixed-mindset “persona” shows up and what it says to make them feel threatened or defensive. Most importantly, over time they have learned to talk back to it, persuading it to collaborate with them as they pursue challenging goals.”
She hits the nail on the head in summarizing the situation I am facing with my current directive. It will be hard work with many challenges, seen and unseen, but I think Lamar has much more to gain by embracing growth mindset concepts and the processes of putting them into place. The benefit to the university and as Dweck (2016) said, “It gives them a richer sense of who they are, what they stand for, and how they want to move forward.”
