I learn, then I grow

Positive and growth-oriented attitude – is it trained or is there already a propensity in each of us to have an expansive and non-blocking vision of development, learning, performance?

The growth mindset  is used as terminology to describe an open and expansive attitude to learning and development. 

It’s a unique way of seeing challenges and setbacks. Those with this growth mindset believe that, even if they face difficulties, their abilities are not immutable. Someone with this mindset  considers that, with work, their abilities can improve over time. And it develops a set of systematic behaviors that reveal a distinctive attitude towards challenges.

One may tend to think that this characteristic is found in younger professionals, but reality does not always demonstrate this.

Maria and Miguel: two fictional stories, three decades apart at birth. The social contexts and experiences differ between the two, but what distinguishes them most is their attitude.

Maria, 27 years old with a degree in Basic Education, the eldest of four children from an upper-middle class family, inserted in a culturally rich environment. He finished his degree and started working in his field of study in the same year. He was soon faced with the challenges of a role in a crisis of social recognition, but above all with the latent doubt regarding his professional motivation. He found a job opportunity in his family's wine and food production company, where he began to perform administrative functions, with progressively more opportunities. Maria was in a privileged position for learning and the possibility of growth. After three years of working in this company, she shows a slow evolution in performance, constant dissatisfaction - despite the training, exposure, support from managers and colleagues and the possibility of development that the different projects to which she was assigned presented her._11100000 -0000-0000-0000-000000000111_

Miguel, 63 years old, the oldest of 6 brothers, comes from a poor family in the interior of the country. He often says that he has been working for as long as he can remember. Miguel has two degrees (one in management, the other in computer engineering), two postgraduate degrees, a master's degree and a doctorate. Father of 3 children, almost a grandfather, with a rich professional CV, today he works for a technology company in the area of cybersecurity and continues to set aside daily study time for the subjects he is interested in. He is the oldest employee in the company, the most knowledgeable and the one that young people turn to to adapt to the work processes and practical technical knowledge of the area. He is frequently called upon to participate in transversal projects and his technical opinion is collected on the most varied topics.

From the monitoring of these two professionals, three striking differences were found and are suitable for a growth attitude.

• Face the brutality of challenges. To develop a growth mindset, you need to face and face challenges. More than getting around them, you need to peel them piece by piece and work on them in stages; with resilience and focus.

Maria ran away. Miguel always said “present”.

• Win or Lose – everything is learning. Learning from failure is central to development. From the most insignificant failures, to those with the greatest impact: you need to have the discipline to learn from the mistakes that arise. 

Miguel keeps a record of “ do’s ” and “ don’ts ” of all relevant projects where he was involved. Maria repeats her small mistakes, as if experience and repetition brought her nothing new.

• Make learning a routine of life, full of new things. We have to feed the restless curiosity of learning and try different methods.

Miguel reads for 1 hour every day, is writing a book and teaches.

Maria feels tired and doesn't feel like reading in her free time; and postpones choosing the new training that the company provides every year.

So many sixty-year-old Migueis will give lessons to young Marias today.

Growth attitude and mindset will make us what only we want. It doesn’t have to depend on context, age or opportunity.

Development is, first and foremost, a personal process. Before being an attribute of the company or institution, the desire to learn is cultivated individually and, in many cases, it is a process; a way of life.

May Miguel's story serve as an inspiration - that of the young man from the borders who decided to start learning at the age of 10... and who never wanted to stop.