Think of a chessboard and the pieces on it. The knights, riding out to face the battle without fear or favour. The bishops, determining the direction of the strategy with their unexpected diagonal movements. The king? A mere figurehead, but we won't tell him if you don't, because naturally it's the queen who is truly the bee all (pardon the pun) and end all of the board. Then there are the pawns. Are they cannon fodder, sulkily accepting their lot, or are they simply waiting to take on their next role as a knight in game two?

As in a game of chess, the ability to succeed as an organisation, irrespective of sector or industry, depends less on the talent pool than on the state of mind of all the players. Pawn or prince, attitude will determine performance in all employment levels of a corporation or business.

What's with the attitude?

I often get asked why attitude matters. My usual response is, ‘Have you ever worked [or lived] with someone who has an “attitude”. How did that make you feel generally? And, most importantly, how did it impact your ability to focus on your work?’

In her book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Carol Dweck describes mindset as the single quality that separates those who succeed the most from those who don't. This is why our attitude matters. It has nothing to do with intelligence. Have you ever attended a school reunion and discovered that it wasn't necessarily the ‘clever’ kids who had achieved the most or enjoyed the greatest commercial or personal kudos?

Success has far more to do with ‘fluid’ intelligence, tenacity and belief.

Our attitude or mindset is not something we are born with. It evolves gradually, refined by our experiences and who we spend our time with. Naturally, our earliest attitude formation is highly influenced by our parents or caregivers, how they interact with us and others, their values, beliefs and behaviours.

Dweck's research reveals how our use of language when praising our kids can have a profound impact on attitudinal development. Subtle differences in intonation, wording and phrasing can lead a child at age two to form a belief about how good they are likely to be at maths when starting school at age seven. This, in turn, will impact on future career choices and can lead to a gap in gender equity within certain industries and sectors.

For example; boys are more likely to be praised for their effort: ‘Well done for trying so hard!’ Girls are praised for ability: ‘Good girl, you are so clever!’

The problem is that praising for intelligence can set a child up for limiting self-beliefs that they carry across childhood and into adult life. Being praised for being clever induces a short-lasting feeling of pride, which leads to the thinking that intelligence is what matters. Therefore, to be respected or successful, you must always show you are smart. This can then lead to situations where a child with a reputation for being ‘smart’ becomes risk-averse, as they don't want to be revealed as being dumb or stupid.

Conversely, being told by a teacher or parent that ‘you'll never amount to anything!’ can either motivate the growth mindset of ‘I'll show you, you are so wrong!’ or the fixed mindset of ‘I'm thick, I can't do maths, it's not for me’.

Mindset over matter

The modern workplace requires leaders and their teams to manipulate the information they hold in a way that will prove most useful to them and to their stakeholders. The world is a furious and uncertain place. Business must, if not constantly boom, then at least grow and prosper over time. If you can't see how or where to use certain data or ideas to make this happen, or you feel threatened by others who do get the big picture, you will quickly be left behind.

Since 2010, Dweck and others have been conducting research into whether companies as a whole held a growth or fixed mindset, and the impact this had on their employees. Based on staff statements from seven Fortune 1000 companies, they found that each company appeared to have a consensus around mindset, and it affected the way their employees performed:

… employees at companies with a fixed mindset often said that just a small handful of “star” workers were highly valued. The employees who reported this were less committed than employees at growth-mindset companies and didn't think the company had their back. They worried about failing and so pursued fewer innovative projects. They regularly kept secrets, cut corners, and cheated to try to get ahead.

Conversely, those in growth-minded companies saw the world somewhat differently:

• 47 per cent were more likely to state their colleagues are trustworthy
• 34 per cent were more likely to feel a strong sense of ownership and commitment to their company
• 65 per cent were more likely to say the company supports risk taking
• 49 per cent were more likely to say the company fosters innovation.

It appears that an organisation with a growth mindset holds a powerful tool for building allegiance, loyalty, trust and business growth.

The million-dollar question that will reveal a great deal about your own current attitude is this:

I'm open-minded, but . . .

How open-minded are you? We like to think we are very liberal in our thought processes and theoretical views, but unfortunately our thinking doesn't always match these beliefs. Humans are complex, with levels of internal biases, both conscious and subconscious, that strongly influence how we react or respond in a given situation.

For example, you hear on the news that the managing director of a large company has just stepped down following allegations of fraud. Be honest with yourself. Is your response along the lines of, ‘That rat! How did a [lots of rude words] like him get to be in such a position of authority and control? He deserves to go to jail for a very long time’.

Or do you think, ‘Well, fair shake of the sauce bottle, he's probably going to the big house. Still, you never know. Innocent till proved guilty after all! At least he's done the right thing and stepped aside while the allegations are dealt with’.

I think you know what I am going to tell you, apart from ‘that's some pretty spectacular vernacular’. If you are closed-minded, your perspective will be the black and white: ‘It's open and shut — send him down, your Honour’. An open mindset will give the benefit of the doubt until all the facts are in.

Workplace perspective

We've all heard of the saying ‘people who live in glass houses …’, so let's translate that to the smeared perspex of the workplace cubicle. Mindset in business is a massive part of our own success story — and can impact hugely on that of others.

• How do you view the young man with the impressive CV who turns up to an interview dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, compared with the other young interviewee who has a less impressive CV but is smartly turned out in a new suit?
• What about that annoying person in a meeting who clearly likes the sound of their own voice and constantly drowns out any other viewpoint? How are you going to react when your boss advises you they are to be your project buddy for the next three months?

Keeping an open mind helps us to look at the bigger picture, rather than being bogged down in the minutiae and the drama. It also means we may actually notice the value in someone whom we don't necessarily find personally appealing, but who has work skills that are useful to the organisation and to us as leaders. This is about using our mindset to future-proof our own success stories — and that means being brainy in terms of attitude.

Having the capacity as a manager or leader to keep an open mind to all possibilities is vital to ensure that the best decision is made in a given set of circumstances.

It can be hard to admit to, let alone challenge, our own limiting beliefs, but what about dealing with others who operate from a fixed mindset?

‘It won't work.’

‘It's hopeless.’

‘Already tried that, mate.’

‘I can't be bothered.’

‘Who cares?’

Exposure to new ideas, new concepts and new people can be threatening to our brain and the status quo. Giving ourselves permission to try something new, simply changing our perspective, opens us up to a world of possibility. What this means is that when things go wrong — and let's face it, they often do — it's our choice of response that matters.

As Maya Angelou said, ‘You may not control all the events that happen to you but you can decide not to be reduced by them’.

High-performance thinking means developing the skillset required to manage our lives well, not just when life is sunny and bright, but also in tougher times when difficult decisions have to be made or endured.

The power of belief

‘Whether you think you can, or think you can't, you're right.’

Henry Ford

The self-fulfilling prophecy is alive and kicking. The strength of our beliefs really does make a difference to how well we perform, whether in an exam or in our work.

Our personal success is also fuelled by the beliefs of those around us. In the media it's not uncommon to hear comments from a coach or sports commentator about the next ‘rising star’. But how much impact does this external belief system really have?

As it turns out, a lot.

This was shown in a study carried out back in the 1960s by Rosenthal and Jacobson. Teachers at an elementary school were advised that some of their students had been determined through IQ tests to be ‘spurters’ and would perform better than their classmates over the course of the year. This was untrue; there was no such difference between the kids. But the results showed that those students whose teachers now had higher expectations for their performance did indeed get better academic results.

The implication here is that how your boss views you, and how you believe your boss views you, will influence your performance. It shouldn't come as a shock to learn that if you feel nurtured, supported and believed in, your confidence is higher and your performance rises. Similarly, a leader who sees their own behaviour being rewarded by employee participation will engage in those behaviours that perpetuate mutual trust and respect.

Leadership programs depend on this. Identifying those seen as having leadership potential will elevate those individuals' career prospects much more quickly than if they are not recognised in this way.

There is a caveat here, and it goes back to the ‘you're such a smart girl’ scenario. Rewarding intelligence rather than effort will inhibit us from developing our true potential. Why?

This not infrequently shows up where a candidate is selected for a particular role based on previous performance and experience. The employer's expectation is that their new employee, whose CV reads so well, will step up to the challenge and perform beyond expectations. But if the candidate is fearful they will be shown up for getting something wrong, they will often underperform.

This is incredibly frustrating both for them and of course for their employer who had such high hopes. It can be a particular problem for a closed-mindset employee who fails to recognise they are underperforming and sees only that they are working to the tasks set.

Have you met a Geoff, someone who appears to have so much talent and potential, yet never realises their promise?

A fixed mindset and lack of self-belief can miss so much.

One of the more quirky research findings on the difference between a fixed and a growth mindset is that when we are praised more for our intelligence we are three times more likely to lie about our performance!

Being praised too highly for mental performance not only reduces future performance, it increases cheating and makes people less adaptive to proposed change in the work environment. Perhaps we should be less surprised when academic fraud is discovered. In the academic world intelligence remains very highly valued.

The benefits of a growth mindset have been shown to include:

• better academic and sporting performance
• higher levels of motivation to tackle more difficult tasks
• greater satisfaction from ‘having a go’
• more rewarding relationships
• even being a better parent.

For the individual: becoming brain type ‘be positive’

The first thing is to determine if you are operating with a growth or fixed mindset. This will involve tuning in to your internal dialogue when faced with a problem or challenge.

Check in first at Hotel Reality

Listen to your thoughts or voice when you respond to a challenge. Be aware also that you may think differently in different circumstances and on different days, depending on how tired or stressed you are.

Maybe you've had a bad start to your day. Maybe you overslept, or you forgot to bring to work the important file you spent several hours working on the previous night. Your boss is grouchy, and in your rush to sort things out you knock your coffee cup over your laptop.

If you have a fixed mindset, your internal dialogue may begin with a few choice expletives, blaming others — your boss, the traffic that added to your lateness and caused the spilt coffee. You may be telling yourself it's always like this when you are under the pump. You berate yourself for your stupidity in forgetting that file.

With a growth mindset, you may be grateful that spilling that coffee didn't damage your laptop. You know you can easily nip home to grab the file. You understand your boss is grouchy because he is under pressure to deliver the monthly targets and because he is worried about his elderly mother, who recently had a stroke and is unlikely to be able to return to her home after she leaves hospital.

Know your choices

Remember, you don't have to buy into the negative. If you really want to wallow in self-pity or anger when things haven't gone your way, that's okay, so long as you are aware that you can ‘flip’ to look at things differently when you choose to. You may find exercising on a treadmill boring and hard work. But what if instead of dreading the time you will spend on it, you look at the benefit that being fitter will bring to your life?

So often it is not so much the challenges we face that are the issue, but how we choose to respond to them. I am certain you know of people who have faced adversity and survived, and even come through with a smile on their face and full of gratitude.

As a medical practitioner, I have spent a lot of time over the years helping people come to terms with a difficult diagnosis, and the disappointment and fear it triggers. What has been very apparent is the enormous role attitude plays in determining an outcome. It is humbling to see how a young mother facing imminent death prepares her family to cope and continue to live after she dies. Witnessing how a person comes to terms with loss of a limb or disfigurement can help us to keep our own difficulties in perspective. Seeing a person living with a positive attitude makes it a lot easier to choose a more optimistic outlook for ourselves.

Watch your language

If you hear yourself saying, ‘I just can't do that’, change it to, ‘I'll give it a go’, or, ‘Last time I made a complete dog's breakfast of it, but I've been practising and I think I've cracked the code’. Instead of telling yourself you are a failure for not getting the promotion you wanted, think, ‘I wasn't the person they were looking for today, but I'll get a chance another time’.

This is not about false hope or fake optimism, but about keeping things in perspective. Change your language to reflect your ability to turn things around.

Possibility thinking gives you the prospect of a different outcome another time. You haven't got there yet, but with continued perseverance you may. One of the key attributes needed to cope with ongoing change is giving yourself permission to not always succeed right away. As our world gets busier and faster, giving yourself permission to keep on trying makes it easier to adjust.

Having a massively plastic brain means you can continue to learn new things, process new information, acquire new skills and embed new habits across your lifespan.

Keep practising!

Look for opportunities to stretch your capabilities. Focus on continually learning and getting better. Reflect on what didn't work and what you could do differently next time. Remember, it's the effort you put in that pays the dividends and makes you feel good about your achievements.

For the organisation: keeping the door ajar

Good leaders and managers adopt an open-door policy and are seen to be accessible to staff.

Develop a framework for positive and honest feedback

Hearing out complaints and grievances without judgement or ridicule boosts open conversations. Enquiring how the employee would address the issue invites dialogue.

• ‘How can we help you to do better?’
• ‘What is it you are looking for in the next step of your career?’
• ‘How can we support you?’

Accepting failure as a lesson to learn from, and aiming to do better as a result next time, rather than as a red stamp ‘fail’, encourages staff to look for better solutions or alternatives.

Praising effort by staff, regardless of outcome, matters

Coming second (not losing, coming second — re-language it!) in a grand final is never a good feeling, but the coach or manager who rewards the team effort for what was achieved throughout the season will inspire the team to greater success next year.

Ask what your staff finds exciting or motivating about their work

And look for opportunities to encourage that enthusiasm. Look to provide employees with a bit of a stretch that they can aspire to, and reward their efforts.

Avoid micromanagement

Give individuals the chance to show for themselves what they are capable of.

Build brain awareness about mindset in the organisation

Teaching people how they can empower themselves through understanding how the human brain works, works!