Mindset Vs Skillset

Let me start by telling you a story about Rahul who is a manager in an Organization. Prem (an average performer) and Preeti (a high performer) are his team members. Rahul has observed that both Prem and Preeti have opportunities for improvement. He has a conversation with Preeti, creates a development plan, assigns relevant trainings and asks her to sign up for the trainings agreed on the development plan. He similarly has a conversation with Prem, creates a development plan, assigns relevant training and asks him to sign up for those trainings agreed on development plan. During the course of the year, he observes that both Preeti and Prem have not improved in their development areas despite undergoing the relevant trainings. Promptly in the next meeting with HR, Rahul enquires about the effectiveness of the training programs offered by the Talent Development team and asks the training team to put together metrics to measure their effectiveness. HR and Rahul have a debate over how and who should be measuring the effectiveness.

What is wrong with the above scenario? Like all good managers, Rahul has observed development areas of his team members and worked with training team to offer relevant trainings. He was frustrated that the trainings have not yielded the desired results and wants the training team to fix the problem. But, what could Rahul have done differently?

Rahul, like most people, focused on Skillsets and ignored the critical piece of Mindset. When he assigned training programs to Prem and Preeti, he assumed that they are completely onboard with him on the need for change and hence are ready to acquire the skills to improve in their specific areas of development. They could have learnt new skills in the training programs but without the right mindset, there is no motivation in them to apply these learning at the workplace. Hence, there is no observable behavior change on the floor.

In the absence of mindset, Skillset is of no use. We all know the story of Elephants who are tied with strong bonds/chains when they are young. They try very hard to escape but are not successful. They quickly resign themselves to the fact that escape is not possible and even when they grow up and are tied with thin rope, they continue to believe that they cannot escape. A classic case where they have the required strength (skill) to break away; but due to mind block (mindset), they still remain in captive.

We have heard multiple stories where people have great skills but without the right mindset, they continue to fail.  Skillset building is primarily focused on improving effectiveness of people in certain area and can be led by the training team. However, Mindset is primarily focused on paradigm change in the thought process and has to be led by the Manager.

So, how could Rahul work with Prem and Preeti to change their mindset? Following are few steps that Rahul can take to influence the mindset of his team members.

Manager as a Coach: In order to influence Mindset, it is critical for Rahul to play the role of a Coach. As a Coach, it is important to recognize that the conversation is about Prem/Preeti and not about his own experience or expertise. He also has to ensure that he has a trusted relationship with his team members (they sincerely believe that Rahul has their best interests in mind).

Exploratory style: Rahul has to follow exploratory style by asking series of questions that would allow Prem/Preeti to explore their underlying beliefs/mental models. He has to recognize that everyone is different and that there are no right answers. It is also very important that these answers come from Prem/Preeti and not by Rahul providing answers/solutions to them. Prem/Preeti will have a buy-in only when the solutions are arrived by them. While this step looks simple, it requires manager to dramatically change his/her approach to conversations with their team members, which means a change in the mindset of the manager. Once manager is open to change the conversation style, he/she can attend classes on coaching to better explore this area.

Series of conversations: Rahul has to recognize that the whole process would happen through a series of conversations and not in just one meeting. It is important not to rush through the process but lead the conversation at the pace comfortable for Prem or Preeti. While this process looks inordinately long, you would be surprised how less time this would take. Frequent short conversations are more effective than one long conversation and from an end to end perspective, would consume less time for the desired change.

Buy-In: Once Prem/Preeti arrives at a solution, Rahul has to get them to put down action steps that they would be undertaking over next 6-12 months. These could include the trainings offered by the training team but he should not impose them. He should instead offer them as suggestions that Prem/Preeti could consider.

Follow up: In today’s fast paced world, it is very easy to fall off from the path that we set ourselves on. Hence, as a manager, Rahul has to continue to follow up with Prem/Preeti on their action plans. He should provide positive feedback whenever he sees an improvement in their developmental area. Positive feedback acts as a great reinforce to the team and would invigorate them to pursue the action plans more diligently.

Change in Mindset arrived through the above process is sustainable and is portable across jobs/roles. Such a change would enable Prem/Preeti to sign up for training programs much more enthusiastically as they know what to achieve out of these programs, enhances their participation during the program and bring back the learning to implement in their workplace. Rahul, as a manager, would be able to observe the change (higher effectiveness) on the floor as Prem/Preeti would now have both the Mindset and the Skillset.

The reason why I have constantly used two names Prem and Preeti together is to emphasize on the point that the process does not change whether the associate is a high performer or an average performer. We can still go through the same steps to influence the Mindset. Rahul is also undergoing a change from being a manager who gives instructions to a coach who works in collaboration with his team members and lets them find the answers.

If we examine the top talent in any Organization, we see the following traits: They bring in lot of energy, deliver results, willing to take challenging assignments, operate outside of their comfort zone but more importantly, they are always willing to learn, willing to see things from different perspective. This is all about Mindset. If as Managers, we are able to influence the mindset of our team members, we could develop a high performing team that could surpass all expectations.

So, are you willing to change your Mindset to influence the Mindset of your team?