Mindset Gap: Development Group Positioning Paper
Culture and Behavioural Context
Organisational culture encompasses values and behaviours that contribute to the unique social and psychological environment of a business.
Organisational culture influences the way people interact, the context within which knowledge and value are created, the resistance they will have towards specific changes and ultimately the way they share, (or the way they do not share), knowledge.
Culture includes the organisational vision, values, norms, systems, symbols, language, assumptions, environment, location, beliefs and habits.
Ultimately culture can be boiled down to the aggregation of individual behaviours within an organisation. Appropriate action is dependent on individuals taking responsibility for the way they act in a range of different and sometimes difficult circumstances. Enhancing collective mental toughness, self-awareness and emotional intelligence are at the cornerstone of developing personal responsibility for these behaviours. Training and practice can enhance these personal attributes as with any skillsets. Training budget allocation to these mindset skills varies from little to none in comparison with functional skill sets, and yet culture remains one of the most discussed aspects in business discourse. The Mindset Development Group offers a range of unique insights on how culture can be developed from the bottom up by enhancing individual mindsets.
Generic work-life challenges
Generally, we have been trained in the functional skills, processes and equipped with the knowledge to do our work. So why do we often fail to reach our full potential? We call this the knowing vs doing gap.
While we know what to do and how to do, we fail to execute consistently or effectively as required. This gap is the result of an unaligned mindset.
Five generic mindset challenges represent potential roadblocks associated with the knowing v doing gap.
Distraction Challenge
We lack the focus on the key activities that make success happen.
Current organisational culture fused with ‘always on’ technology means there are many reasons to be distracted and so we default into more comfortable but less productive tasks.
Conversation challenge
Hierarchy, self-confidence, lack of empathy work together to inhibit our ability to engage in effective communications. This results in issues being fudged and a failure to develop or qualify the full range of options.
Motivation challenge
We don’t necessarily understand what motivates people and tend to think it’s about money. The reality is that intrinsic motivators such as purpose, autonomy and mastery are potent and result in fulfilled and productive people.
Setback challenge
Are we able to bounce back from the well-intentioned mistakes and setbacks we will encounter or do we retreat into displacement activities* and comfort zones?
Confidence challenge
Our confidence can be flaky and transient. We can be a victim of imposter syndrome** limiting our ability to maximise our true potential. Alternatively, miss apportioned confidence can manifest itself as arrogance, bluster and belligerence.
* An unnecessary activity that we do because we are trying to delay doing a more difficult, challenging or unpleasant one.
**Impostor syndrome is a psychological pattern in which an individual doubts their accomplishments and capabilities and has a persistent internalised fear of being exposed as a “fraud”.
Closing the knowing vs doing gap
Until recently, the mental attributes of focus, resilience, motivation, confidence, and empathy were thought to be fixed by our genes. Modern neuroscience has disproved this and whatever our start points, these attributes can be enhanced through training.
Most professionals have been trained in traditional skills, process and methodology.
A knowing vs doing gap exists. We know what to do. We know how to do it. However, we don’t do the doing consistently or as effectively as needed.
This gap is one of mindset. The purpose of the ‘mindset development group ‘is to maximise achievement with a tool kit to enhance the mental side of work, engendering focus, resilience, motivation and self-confidence, driving proactive performance.
The mindset development group programme has been developed using evidence-based concepts in psychologies, behavioural economics and neuroscience.
The investment allows leaders to leave a legacy of self-determination, self-efficacy and mental wellbeing that bring enormous value to the delegates both in and outside the workplace.
The approach has built an excellent reputation for delivering measurable results and has case studies with many companies such vmware, BT Okta, Dell EMC, CA Technologies as well as SME’s in a range of different sectors and business dynamics.
The mindset development group programme is made up of a two-day workshop, post-workshop resources and 1-2-1 coaching for leaders.
We would welcome offering a proof of concept by either/or a 1-hour taster session to a group of key stakeholders or attendance at one of our public workshops.
Programme outcomes:
- Enabling people to manage their own wellbeing
- Enhanced collaboration
- Talent retention
- Creation of conditions that enable people to thrive
- Inclusive decision making
- Ownership of personal and professional development
- Personal responsibility for our own behaviour
