In this month’s opening article of our industry newsletter, we invite you to ‘ask yourself’ whether you believe you have a fixed or a growth mindset.
During this short piece, we hope to identify the difference between the two mindsets, what we, as an industry, gain by understanding these mindsets and what benefits we can gain personally, to our business, and our clients.
Regardless of how we are all employed within the driver trainer industry, we can all benefit from rejecting a fixed mindset and embracing a growth mindset instead.
So, what is the difference between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset?
WHAT IS MEANS HAVING A FIXED MINDSET
People with a fixed mindset believe their basic qualities, like their intelligence or talent, are simply fixed traits. They spend their time documenting their intelligence or talent instead of developing them. They also believe that talent alone creates success—without effort.
WHAT IS MEANS HAVING A GROWTH MINDSET
People with a growth mindset believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work – brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment.
HOW DO PEOPLE SEE US AS AN INDUSTRY?
Having worked with various government departments and regulators throughout Australia over the last 15 years who have all had interactions with our driver trainer industry, we regularly receive feedback suggesting that our industry, unfortunately, demonstrates a fixed mindset.
We don’t need to think long and hard to know that this impression is far from ideal, especially for an industry that is supposed to be based on education!
It is for this reason that we have chosen this topic for discussion this month.
Now, we know that the above observation does not account for all the driver trainers and that many of us demonstrate a growth mindset and truly embrace improving what we do daily.
It is also easy to see, appreciate and understand that because so many of us work in isolation, a fixed mindset is easily achieved. Let’s face it, we are in charge of our work schedules, we are in charge of our students and their learning, and for some of us, we are in charge of our employees.
This creates a dilemma, as driver trainers we either recognise our shortcomings and work on improving them or create a world and workplace where we have no shortcomings. This dilemma can lead us to work hard to surround ourselves with an environment free of any challenges. We become reluctant to implement change or self-improvement, and as an individual or industry, we are susceptible to organisations not wanting to work with us and being left behind. This leaves us with the appearance to be unwilling to learn, demonstrate growth, be flexible and patient. It’s not a good look for us!
Over the next month or two, we invite you to explore the different mindsets, ask yourself the question ‘what mindset do I possess?’. We also encourage you to choose some sort of personal or professional development activity of any nature and become a better trainer and person for the exercise. 😊
For those original subscribers of this newsletter, you will know that we list both free and paid professional development opportunities throughout this newsletter, some from external resources like the TAC, others from ITS.
If you wish to learn more on this topic or would like to explore the opportunity to sit in on a professional development series on a different mindset and their effects on business, please email us at editorial@its.edu.au