Are leaders born or are they made? This is an essential question for organizations to answer. All teams need leaders, but the approach to finding these leaders will vary greatly depending on what you believe. 

An organization that believes leaders are born will invest heavily in recruiting top leadership talent to fill leadership vacancies. However, it can be expensive to bring in outside talent. There is a financial cost, time spent during recruiting, hiring, and onboarding. There will also be significant time spent familiarizing external hires with the culture, values, and operations of the team they will lead. Hiring leaders from outside can be detrimental to those within the organization who are deprived of a growth opportunity. Morale and engagement can suffer, leading to retention issues when team members do not have the opportunity to develop. 

Born with it?… not so fast

But is there really an alternative? Can leadership be learned? After 15 years developing nearly 100 university students into leadership positions within the IT department, I’m confident that leaders can be made. It simply requires the right mindset. 

I learned this myself from the work of Stanford Psychologist Carol Dweck whose research highlights the importance of having what she calls a “growth mindset”. Dweck defines a growth mindset as the belief that one’s abilities and intelligence can be developed and improved through hard work, persistence, and learning from mistakes. This is in contrast to a fixed mindset, where one believes that their abilities and intelligence are predetermined or unchangeable. Simply put it’s the difference between “I did poorly on my math test, I’m so bad at math” and “I did poorly on my math test but if I work hard and learn from my mistakes I can do better next time”. 

Fixed minded leaders become stagnant, don’t find ways to improve, and are less likely to learn from their mistakes. “I always make poor decisions”, “I’m a terrible communicator”, “I’m simply not the best leader.” Organizations with a fixed mindset will also neglect developing talent from within their teams, leaving countless potential untapped. The alternative is a simple concept: believe that you and others can improve skills through hard work and learning from mistakes. If this belief is true then anyone willing to put in the work can become a leader which provides a lot more flexibility for organizations. Is a simple idea we hold about ourselves powerful enough to influence our success? Dweck’s research has shown that it is.

If you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right

Individuals with a growth mindset share numerous benefits according to the research findings. These individuals are more resilient and thus more likely to overcome obstacles or effectively learn from feedback and mistakes. Growth minded leaders are thus better able to navigate change and organizational hardships. Additionally, individuals with a growth mindset exhibit greater motivation to learn and achieve their goals. They are more effective at developing learning strategies, setting goals, and seeking out help. 

Developing a Growth Mindset

So how do we develop a growth mindset? Practice the following for yourself and your organization and you will be on your way to adopting a growth mindset:

1. Face friction – don’t shy away from challenges, instead view them as an opportunity to learn and grow
2. Embrace effort – hard work is a tool for progress, not a signal of lacking ability
3. Persist – you will make mistakes, suffer setbacks, and fail… keep going!
4. “…yet” – Instead of saying “I don’t know how to do this” say “I don’t know how to do this yet”
5. Seek feedback – gather the information needed to improve
6. Make mistakes – when mistakes are an accepted part of the learning path, we are more willing to acknowledge and grow from them

If you and your organization are able to integrate these ideas into your leadership development approach, in time, you will see results. A growth minded culture will have a positive impact on employee morale and engagement. In turn this helps drive the success of an organization. With these tools for creating a growth mindset you will be able to unlock the leadership potential within yourself or within your team members.