Are You Uncoachable?
A growth mindset is the most important quality in personal development
When leaders are asked about the most important qualities they seek in new team members, one of the top attributes is humility, or a growth mindset. This signifies that the team member can leverage their existing skills and talent while being wise enough to understand ongoing learning and growth is essential for achieving success.
When I coach managers, one of the primary challenges they struggle with is an employee who has a closed mindset. No matter how the manager seeks to coach or mentor them, the employee is completely closed to learning a new way of being or doing things.
Without realizing it, these employees limit their capacity for success because they aren’t open to examining themselves and seeing themselves, others, or a situation from a different perspective.
Executive coach Brenda Steinberg believes there are seven core characteristics of those who are coachable and will see greater success by working with a coach:
Tolerance for discomfort
Openness to experimentation
Ability to look beyond the rational
Willingness to take responsibility
Capacity for forgiveness
Self-discipline
Ability to ask for support
Ironically, working with a coach can help you develop all seven of these characteristics. But it all starts with the willingness to grow and learn.
In his book Conscious Leadership, John Mackey makes a profound observation that could explain why some people don’t have a growth mindset:
“Becoming more conscious may sound great, but it’s often quite an uncomfortable experience. Discomfort can be a hallmark of growth, so it’s something that aspiring conscious leaders must learn to tolerate.”
It’s true, growth means we’ll be pushed out of our comfort zone. But the more we’re willing to be brave and face our shadows, we can become truly conscious leaders with potential for transformative impact. As the saying goes, no pain, no gain.
But you don’t have to go through the uncomfortable aspects of the growth experience alone. Mackey encourages his readers to work with a coach or join a peer group to help them overcome the discomfort of personal growth. Working with a trusted coach, or joining a mastermind group of peers, is an excellent way to help you expand your growth mindset and work through the discomfort of stretching towards your goals.
Basketball coach Clark Kellogg has an excellent challenge for those who are ready to embrace the growth mindset: “Take control of your own development. That’s your property…how you grow, who you become. You have to be intentional about owning that.”
This week, evaluate your growth mindset. What goals do you want to achieve, but your fear of discomfort or failure is holding you back? How ready are you to work with a coach? How ready are you to be intentional about owning your growth?
When you know you’re ready, send me a note. I’m excited to begin the incredible coaching journey with you.
Work happy. Live happy. BE happy.
Meredith
P.S. Want to keep up with the latest on the future of work, conscious leadership, and building strong teams while you’re on the go? Check out my Subscriber-only podcast. You can listen to this newsletter and support my work!
The way we work and build teams is rapidly changing. Leaders often feel unprepared to navigate the transition. As a conscious leadership coach, consultant and communicator, Meredith helps leaders and their teams create new ways of working and relating so they can prepare for the future by consciously co-creating it.
Contact her to develop your conscious leadership and transform your organization into the workplace of the future.
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