The mindset that sets great coaches apart from the rest

Some managers are great at coaching their employees, and some aren’t so good. What’s the difference?

One big distinction between the two groups lies in the way they think about human potential. Successful coaches believe, consciously or unconsciously, that people have the capacity to grow. The less successful, by contrast, don’t believe this — at least, not much.

The research on this comes from Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck, a pioneer in the field of human potential and growth.

Fixed vs. growth

Dweck discovered that two belief systems influence the behavior of managers. She called these “fixed” mindset and “growth” mindset:

• A fixed mindset is the belief that people’s abilities and talents are relatively static and cannot be improved in any meaningful way.
• A growth mindset is the belief that innate talents are just a starting point – and that people can improve and grow over time if they work at it.

The fixed mindset dramatically increases the odds that you’ll fail as a coach. In one study, researchers surveyed managers and their employees in several companies. Sure enough, fixed-mindset managers were far less likely to coach their people —  and their employees rated them as poor coaches.

Change is possible

In a follow-up study, the researchers wanted to see if they could change managers’ mindsets. They divided a group of fixed-mindset managers into two groups – a workshop group and a control group.

Managers in the workshop group were shown Dweck’s research, which proves that people can develop their talents through hard work. Managers in the control group attended a workshop on an unrelated topic.

Six weeks later, both groups were asked to participate in a coaching exercise with their employees. The managers who’d attended the growth workshop were much more engaged in the coaching process. They were also better coaches, offering more and higher-quality advice than the control group.

This research revealed that managers:

1. Can change from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset, and
2. Can create far more effective learning cultures when they believe that people can improve.

5 keys

Based on the research into growth and the growth mindset, here are five keys to success in coaching:

1. Adopt a growth mindset.

Research shows that if you believe you can help people improve, and act with confidence on that belief, people will in fact improve.

2. Show people you believe they can get better.

Back up your words of encouragement with actions. Invest your time in one-on-one coaching sessions where you offer corrective and supportive feedback, and conduct group sessions where your efforts are enhanced by peer learning.

3. Celebrate successes.

What better way to validate a growth mindset than by tracking and celebrating progress towards a goal?

4. Expect setbacks.

Struggle is an inevitable part of learning. People will make mistakes. They’ll fail to hit developmental goals. They’ll learn new behaviors only to regress to old ones. Coaches with a growth mindset anticipate obstacles and take advantage of setbacks – creating “teachable moments” where people can learn from mistakes.

5. Model the way.

Great coaches acknowledge that they’re on a learning journey as well. They admit their own mistakes and ask how they, and others, can learn from them. When coaches model the growth mindset, it becomes contagious and results in a strong learning culture.

This blog entry is adapted from the Rapid Learning module “Coaching: Your Mindset Makes All the Difference.” If you’re a Rapid Learning customer, you can watch the video here. If you’re not, but would like to see this video (or any of our other programs), request a demo and we’ll get you access.

The blog post and Rapid Learning video module are based on the following book and scholarly article:

Dweck, C. (2007). Mindset: The new psychology of success. New York, NY: Random House.

Heslin, P.A., et al. (2006). Keen to help? Managers’ implicit person theories and their subsequent employee coaching. Personnel Psychology, 59(4), 871-902.