Growth Mindset in Educational and Organizational Contexts

Matt Labrecque

Mindset• Fixed Mindset

• Growth Mindset?• -> More beneficial

• Effective approach for improving academic performance

(Dweck, 2006; Yeager & Walton, 2011)

Academic Mindset Intervention• Goal -> Increase GPAs and academic well-being of student residents

over a year-long term• Determine the utility of the intervention with a university aged

sample

(Paunesku et al., 2015)

• n = 93; mostly first-year students (~85%)

Methods • In-person info session/online follow-up data collection

• Three-step intervention• 1) Reading • Experimental vs. Control

• 2) Summary • 3) Letter

• GPA/Well-being

Anticipated Findings• Study is in progress

• More improvement in GPA and Well-being in the experimental group than in the control group• Intervention will be provided to all students moving into residence

Mindset in Organizational Psychology• Possessing a growth mindset is just as valuable in the workplace as it is

in education

• Useful for practitioners, employees, managers, coaches, and organizations as a whole

Growth Mindset in Organizations• Good to Great organizations -> have leaders with a growth mindset

• Level 5 executives have a growth mindset

(Collins, 2001; Dweck 2017)

Growth Mindset in Managers• Growth Mindset predicts:

• Manager awareness to both improvements and decline in employee performance

• Managers’ perceived fairness in dealing with their employees

(Heslin et al., 2005; Heslin & VandeWalle, 2008)

Encouraging Growth Mindset in Managers

• Coaching/leadership development

• Organizational practices

(Heslin, 2010)

Growth Mindset in Employees• Employee engagement

• Motivation for development• View of effort• Psychological presence• Interpretation of setbacks

(Heslin, 2010)

Encouraging Growth Mindset in Employees

• Labelling

• Feedback

(Heslin, 2010)

Final Thoughts• Growth Mindset ought to be encouraged as much as possible

• In education

• In the workplace

• More research is needed in organizational contexts

References• Collins, J. C. (2001). Good to great: Why some companies make the leap... and others don't. Random House.• Dweck, C. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. New York, NY: Random House.• Dweck, C. (2017). Mindset-updated edition: Changing the way you think to fulfil your potential. Hachette

UK.• Heslin, P. A. (2010). Mindsets and employee engagement: Theoretical linkages and intervention

opportunities. The Handbook of Employee Engagement. Cheltenham, England: Edwin Elgar, 216-26.• Heslin, P. A., & VandeWalle, D. (2008). Managers' implicit assumptions about personnel. Current Directions in

Psychological Science, 17(3), 219-223.• Heslin, P. A., Latham, G. P., & VandeWalle, D. (2005). The effect of implicit person theory on performance

appraisals. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90(5), 842.• Paunesku, D., Walton, G. M., Romero, C., Smith, E. N., Yeager, D. S., & Dweck, C. S. (2015). Mind-set

interventions are a scalable treatment for academic underachievement. Psychological Science, 0956797615571017.

• Yeager, D. S., & Walton, G. M. (2011). Social-psychological interventions in education: They’re not magic. Review of Educational Research, 81(2), 267-301.