The One Skill that Helped Me Grow in My Career
What do new employees need to succeed in today’s workplaces? A growth mindset. People with a growth mindset, on the other hand, tend to believe that their abilities can be built and developed over time. So how can one develop it?
Job and life advice for young professionals. See more from Ascend here.
You’ve bagged two job offers. They have roughly equivalent salary and benefits. The first one is that of a marketing assistant. You’ve done this before, and you have the requisite skills to do it well. The second is a similar position but comes with additional responsibilities of managing a few social media channels, which you know less about. You’ll need to invest time and energy into learning something you may not be comfortable with and push yourself out of your comfort zone.
Which one do you pick?
Your choice will depend on your mindset.
In her book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, author Carol Dweck identifies two ways of thinking: We either have a fixed mindset or a growth mindset. People with a fixed mindset tend to believe that they are born with certain abilities and that those abilities determine what they are capable of achieving. People with a growth mindset, on the other hand, tend to believe that their abilities can be built and developed over time. They often set higher expectations for themselves — even when faced with challenges, mistakes, and failures.
To thrive, especially today, as a new employee, you really need to have growth mindset, and if you already have one, you need to keep developing it. Your success in the workforce will depend on how willing you are to keep an open mind, stay curious, develop new skills, and approach difficult tasks.
So let me ask again: Knowing this, would you choose the first offer (and keep a fixed mindset)? Or would you choose the second offer (and push yourself to grow?)
The transition from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset isn’t easy. It happens over a period of time and is largely determined by your ability to learn from both your successes and your failures.
How can you start? Here are a few tips that have worked for me throughout my life and career.
For my undergraduate degree, I studied science and majored in physics. One semester, I failed in a few subjects. It was a mistake, and it was embarrassing. Initially, I didn’t handle it so well. I blamed my grades on everything else but me. This is often what happens when you have a fixed mindset. You criticize the circumstances (“My teacher was terrible.”) or become defensive and self-deprecating (“I’m just not cut out to do this kind of work.”).
It took me time to realize that by reacting that way, I was ultimately disempowering myself. When you blame others for your own failures, you deny yourself the chance to fix them.
I began, instead, to use my failures for introspection.
I wrote down the obstacles that had kept me from getting the grades I wanted:
After much deliberation, I realized that I had failed not because I was intellectually less capable, but because I had been distracted and my focus had wavered.
I asked myself: Knowing this, how can I concentrate on the right things? How can I strengthen my understanding of these subjects? How can I remedy the situation and change the impact of failure?
First, I changed the narrative I was telling myself: I wasn’t incapable. I didn’t fail. I just learned what not to do.
That in itself gave way to the bigger picture. I spent a considerable amount of time reprioritizing my life. Then I scheduled focused periods of time to study the concepts I found most challenging. I was not shy about reaching out to my peers and professors for help when I had doubts. I practiced and revised. Slowly, I began to value learning over getting good grades, and I made it through my program.
The next time you fail, don’t make the same mistake I did. Use the experience to learn about yourself and craft a better approach for achieving your goal.
I started my career as a divisional accountant at a public-sector insurance company. I had great bosses who were invested in my development. Over time, I was asked to fill in as the lead for the legal, information technology, and accounts departments. My bosses entrusted me with tasks I had no prior experience in.
Did I jump at the opportunities and face them head on? No! Not at first. I’ll admit, I deliberated for a couple of days. Then I asked myself, “How many people get this kind of an opportunity at this point in their career?”
When I weighed my options, I realized that my chance of failing was zero if I didn’t try at all, as was my chance of succeeding and moving up in the organization. I asked myself, “If you do fail, then what’s the worst that could happen?” I turned back to the narrative that got me through college: It would not mean I was incapable. It would teach me what not to do.
That seemed like a learning opportunity.
I mustered up the courage to dive into the unknown. Instead of evaluating the situation through a negative lens (“I might fail.” “I will look silly.” “People will think I’m a loser.”), I shifted my outlook (“How will I succeed?” “What do I need to make smart decisions?” “How can I come out a winner?”).
The fact that my manager had faith in me was my biggest motivator. I saw the larger purpose of how this would prepare me for bigger roles down the line. Even though I didn’t have all the skills, I was confident that if I put my heart to it, I could learn them.
A growth mindset shines through when you’re able to replace the word failing with learning.
After I took on the leadership role for the accounts department, the junior accounts clerk, who performed routine data entry tasks like invoices and billing, suddenly took ill. We couldn’t find a replacement for him in time and the month end was drawing closer, which meant books had to be tallied and accounts needed to be closed.
If I approached this situation with a fixed mindset, I would’ve have been stuck. I said to myself, “This is going to take patience and hard work, but I’m going to figure it out.”
I spent time with experts in the department learning the basics, asking questions, however simple they seemed. I learned what a ledger is. I learned what debit and credit meant. I learned how to prepare a balance sheet. We closed and submitted the accounts on time, but more importantly, I was able to expand my abilities and gain a deeper understanding of the work my team was doing day-to-day.
When you are just starting out, everything will seem new. No one comes with all the expertise. But the best way through an unknown situation is going through it, rather than avoiding it or feeling let down by it. That being said, know that having a growth mindset doesn’t mean that you can do anything. It means you are comfortable acknowledging that all of us are capable of growth and improvement.
So don’t give up on an opportunity because you feel you don’t have the skills to succeed at it. Those skills can be learned. If you’ve been avoiding working on that project report because it requires a lot of analysis, pick it up and get started. If you’ve been missing networking events because you feel you’re not good at small talk, attend one. The first few might be uncomfortable, but over time, you’ll get better at it. Like Henry Ford put it, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t — you’re right.”
The One Skill that Helped Me Grow in My Career
Research & References of The One Skill that Helped Me Grow in My Career|A&C Accounting And Tax Services
Source
0 Comments