To have a winning mindset, it sometimes requires time and effort as it involves changing ideas and assumptions that no longer serve us. The power of mindset is not just about talents, it mainly involves changing and improving. It also involves awareness and a ‘we’ attitude to create better environments for ourselves and for our organisations. The main traits to adopt a winning minset are: being aware of cognitive biases, cultivating a growth mindset and to improve our conversation intelligence.

1 – Being aware of cognitive biases

According to different authors in the field of behavioural economics, the human brain contains different cognitive biases and heuristics which clouds judgment and reasoning. The most common biases are the framing effect, anchoring, overconfidence, loss aversion and hindsight bias. These biases affect our decision-making progress leading to undesired outcomes.  

Many people  in the business sector are not even aware of the mental shortcuts generated by our brains so many cannot even distinguish between a subjective and an objective thought. For instance, overconfidence is something that is commonly heard in the business worldThe idea that a person considers their judgement as much more reliable than the objective accuracy of those judgements. In other words, thinking that statistics do not apply to you or to your business only to others is a common mistake. 

 2 – Cultivating a growth mindset

In her book Mindset, Professor Dweck explains why it’s not our abilities and talent that bring us success – but whether people approach their goals with a fixed or growth mindset. A fixed mindset mainly consists of believing that one person’s talents and abilities are fixed and unchangeable. On the other hand, a growth mindset is all about improving our abilities through practice.  

If we use this perspective to observe our organisations, we will soon notice that leaders with a fixed mindset believe they are superior to others and they must affirm that they are superior through words and actions. This, in turn, creates and reinforces an environment of distrust. On the contrary, leaders with a growth mindset make the effort to create a supporting environment where no person or role is either superior or inferior which increases levels of trust and cooperation. 

3 – Conversational intelligence

According to Judith Glaser, author of Conversational intelligence, conversations have three dimensions 

First dimension – Biochemical  

At this level, people are not communicating, their thinking gets clouded by assumptions, judgements and aggression. There is a lot of frustration and there in very poor listening. 

Second dimension – Relational  

This level is about sharing needs and aspirations with other who listen and are in a state of reciprocation. Ot is about connecting with others at a relational level. 

Third dimension – Co-creational  

This level is about co creating a new reality where both parties feel happy and satisfied. This goes beyond reaching goals or meeting needs. It is also more about engagement and influencing others at a transformational level. 

In conclusion, putting these ideas in practice will help you managing your organisation with the right mindset. However, if you need further assistance with integrating these ideas in your business, do not hesitate to book a consultation with us.