Post 7 - Believing or Doing? The Truth About Growth Mindset and Real Improvement

Post #7 in New series: How Leaders Actually Get Better. This 12-post sprint is about building adaptive capacity: uncomfortable challenges, quick debriefs, real feedback, and psychological safety so stretch ≠ stress. Each post = one move you can use each week. Ready for learning that sticks? Let’s go!

🤔 Why Your “Growth Mindset” Isn’t Working (Yet)

The phrase “Believe you can grow” is everywhere. It’s part of the modern corporate and educational lexicon, promising that a simple shift in attitude can unlock massive potential. This is often called having a growth mindset.

But here’s the uncomfortable truth backed by large-scale research (meta-analyses): simply believing you can grow only leads to small, average improvements in achievement.

A positive mindset is a wonderful catalyst—it gets you off the starting block. But if you want to win the race, the mindset alone won’t get you across the finish line. The real engine of performance change is in the context and the quality of your practice.

The fundamental shift we need to make is from a vague Slogan to a concrete Strategy.

🛠️ The 3 Actions That Actually Drive Growth

If we stop focusing on internal belief and start focusing on external processes, we can design environments where growth is inevitable. For team leaders, teachers, and ambitious individuals, this means prioritizing three core strategies:

1. Prioritize Revision Opportunities: The “Do-Over” Protocol

In real life, the most critical learning happens after the mistake. If a project gets a “C” and is shelved forever, the learning is lost. You must formalize the chance to fix, correct, and reapply knowledge.

Actionable Tips for Leaders:

Implement a “Beta” Phase: Formally label the first internal submission of any major work (reports, designs, code) as v0.9 or a Draft. The expectation is that this version must be substantially revised based on critique.
Track Revision as a Metric: Don’t just celebrate success; reward and track how effectively a team member incorporates difficult feedback and improves a work product from one version to the next.
Use a “Learning Log”: After a project, ask team members to document the single biggest mistake and what they revised in their strategy for the future.

2. Provide Specific, Actionable Feedback: The “GPS for Improvement”

“Great job!” or “Be more strategic” is useless feedback. People need a roadmap (a GPS) that points out the exact spot where a correction is needed and gives clear instructions on how to make it.

Actionable Tips for Leaders:

Use the “3-Part Feedback Formula”: Frame all feedback with: 1) Observation (What I saw). 2) Impact (Why it matters). 3) Actionable Step (How to fix it next time).
Focus on the Process, Not the Person: Always frame criticism around the work product or the strategy used. For example, replace “You’re bad at prioritization” with “The prioritization process you used on this task led to X outcome.”
Deliver Feedback in the Moment: The learning connection is strongest when feedback is delivered immediately, not saved up for a distant annual review.

3. Introduce Real Stretch Assignments: The “Heavy Lifting” Challenge

You can’t build new muscles practicing what you already know. Growth requires challenges that force you to develop new strategies, skills, and resources.

Actionable Tips for Leaders:

Define Stretch with Risk: A true stretch assignment should have a 30-40% chance of failure—otherwise, it’s just another task. These must be safe to fail (i.e., not mission-critical), but challenging enough to demand new learning.
Rotate Leadership Roles: Give junior team members the opportunity to lead a major meeting or a non-critical initiative. The difficulty of organizing and communicating is a massive growth builder.
Encourage “Skill Swaps”: Assign an expert in Topic A to lead a project that is primarily Topic B. This forces them to leverage new skills and get out of their comfort zone.

🗓️ How to Hold People Accountable for Growth: The Quarterly Review

If your reviews only focus on hitting targets, you’re missing the point. Shift your accountability meeting to focus on adaptive learning and strategy revision using this structure:

Part 1: The Learning Log Review (15 min)

This section focuses on the team member’s self-awareness of their learning journey.

Key Question: “What was the single most valuable mistake you made this quarter, and what new standard operating procedure did you create to prevent it from happening again?”
Goal: Analyze how their initial strategy changed after encountering difficulty.

Part 2: Feedback Incorporation Assessment (15 min)

This section assesses the team member’s ability to receive, internalize, and act upon specific direction.

Key Activity: The manager presents the team member with a specific piece of past feedback and the final revised work product.
Key Question: “Talk me through your revision process. Did you only fix the minimum required, or did you apply that lesson to other sections of the document as well?”
Goal: Give feedback only on the quality of the revision and their adaptability.

Part 3: The Stretch Goal Blueprint (15 min)

Look forward, defining a growth plan built on specific, demanding assignments.

Key Activity: Jointly select one major stretch assignment for the next quarter.
Goal: Define the success metric to include learning and process, not just the final outcome. For example: “Success will be measured by delivering the project on time, and by creating a new, documented communication template for stakeholders.”

💡 Final Takeaway

You don’t need a motivational poster to achieve growth. You need a better process. Stop focusing on simply believing you can grow, and start designing opportunities that require growth through revision, specific feedback, and real stretch. That’s what changes performance.