Tools4MyGrowth - Pilot Introduction
Spoiler alert
There is a lot here.
There is work involved.
Some thinking, and some doing.
And, you are responsible for your results.
But.
The work is all about you. Your goals. Your values. Your skills. Your decisions. Your ability to help others. Your relationships. Your future. Your LIFE opportunities. Your growth.
So, it’s fun, meaningful, and worth the effort.
Welcome.
What is Growth
The dictionary defines growth as … “development from a lower or simpler to a higher or more complex form; evolution; getting better.”
The "Vision" statement above suggests we are each responsible for our growth. For working to improve our performance. For getting better. And for evolving so we can achieve important goals throughout our life.
What does Personal Growth look like?
Personally, I see growth as a lifelong effort to improve my performance in Living, Learning, Working or Playing (LLWP) situations.
In each new situation I find it helpful to imagine a “growth ladder”. The steps represent the process that can take me from where I am to where I want to be. I just have to climb them.
What does Personal Growth feel like?
Starting out on a new growth ladder can be scary. You aren’t sure you have the courage to start and the strength to continue. You worry about failure. You wonder if it might be safer to stay with what was, and not risk trying for more.
But as you master each step in your growth ladder you change.
You feel different. You are relieved, encouraged, happy, inspired. You are pleased with your effort. You are more confident you can take the next step.
You see things differently. Your perspective is broader. Your discrimination's sharper. You see possibilities, and threats, that weren’t visible on lower steps of your ladder. You see people who fear change, who stop climbing and accept what is. You see others who are growing, who provide role models.
You are different. You have new experiences you can build on and share with others. You have new skills you can apply to other situations. You know you are capable of more.
People treat you differently. They see your changes. Some praise you, some want to be around you, some try and hold you back. You can see their commitment to their growth by the way they react to yours.
You evolve. You have opened new opportunities for yourself. You are a model for those stuck on lower rungs. You motivate some to try to step higher on their ladders. You scare others who want to keep things as they were.
Growth enriches your life and your ability to help others.
Who is Responsible for your Growth?
This is the key question we each have to answer.
The research suggests the answer is determined in part by your MINDSET.
Definition: an established set of attitudes, a philosophy of life.
Here are 3 research snippets that answer the question: who is responsible for our growth?
Dweck – To grow - you need to develop a Growth Mindset and take responsibility for your growth.
I was getting physical therapy to recover from a hip replacement. I asked the therapist why some patients recovered quickly and went back to their normal life, and others never fully recovered. He said, in his experience, if the surgery went well, the patient’s mindset determined their recovery. He referred me to a book by Carol Dweck on Mindsets.
She studied how people think about growth. She finds two groups of people.
The Fixed Mindset group believes: their abilities are fixed and can’t be changed; their given talent determines their success; there is a plan for them, and things will work out.
The Growth Mindset group believes: their abilities can be developed through hard work; they have to work to succeed; they must make their own plans, and their efforts will determine their outcomes.
Dweck’s research suggests that the view we adopt for our self profoundly affects the way we lead our life. It determines whether we become the person we want to be and accomplish the things we value.
Her work suggests that to grow we need to stop being dependent on others. We need to take responsibility for managing our growth.
Here is a tool that Dweck uses to help you look at your mindset.
On each of the 9 variables in the table, rate your view from 1 to 5.
Click the Mindset table to see if full size. And/or, hold the ctrl key down and scroll the mouse wheel to get the right size.
Add up your score for the 9 variables.
If your score is under 18, you think like people with View A – a Fixed Mindset.
If your score is over 35 you think like people with View B – a Growth Mindset.
If your score is between 19 and 34 you have a mixed view.
What is your mindset?
Jahoda – To grow - you have to actively work to maintain your positive mental health
One of my first Ph.D. program assignments was to review Dr. Marie Jahoda’s work on Positive Mental Health and growth.
My take away was that positive mental health is achieved by actively learning and using the physical, intellectual and emotional skills needed to achieve constructive goals. You have to actively work towards your goals. You can’t just sit back and do nothing and claim to be healthy just because you aren’t in a mental hospital.
Jahoda’s work suggests we are each responsible for actively pursuing our own growth. For identifying and climbing our individual growth ladders that get us from where we are to where we want to be. For evolving into our potential. For getting better.
Lakhiani – To grow – you need to spend time every day focusing on becoming a better human being.
His most important takeaway has nothing to do with sleep habits or performance tricks. One instructor, Rao, sums it up:
The world’s most successful people invest a little bit in their personal growth every day.
More important than ‘success’ or ‘failure’ in any endeavor is whether a person grows in the effort.
Truly successful persons make a conscious, deliberate commitment to personal growth.
Lakhiani’s takeaways:
- Evolving is about the layering on of wisdom.
- Trying to perfectly learn something new in one sitting is a risky proposition, since most people forget half of anything they’ve just learned within an hour, unless they implement it immediately.
- Read 10 pages of a book per day, instead of devouring it in a single sitting. Eventually, its ideas will begin to build up and become part of your everyday life.
- The same tactic applies to any other method of self-improvement, whether you’re working on your communication skills or trying to change your personal habits.
- If you invest just 20 minutes a day, you cannot help but become better and better,”
My Takeaway from the 3 research snippets.
To grow we need to:
- develop a growth mindset,
- take responsibility for our growth efforts,
- and actively invest time every day trying to get better.
But these snippets don’t tell you how to do it.
To learn how to manage our growth, we turn to Carkhuff's work.
How do you manage your growth?
Carkhuff – The only meaning to life is Growth.
The Skills and Tools in these lessons come from decades of Carkhuff-inspired research and projects.
Dr. Carkhuff is one of our most cited Social Scientists. He dedicated his personal and professional efforts to:
- Exploring the performance of people in living, learning, working and playing situations.
- Understanding the skills and tools effective people use to manage growth opportunities.
- Acting by training others to use the skills and tools to improve their performance.
You can learn more about his work from these links:
- His research https://carkhuff.com/body-of-work/
- His thinking https://www.carkhuffgenerativitylibrary.com/
- Human Technology Inc., his consulting company I helped start http://www.humtech.com/
- Project results - Interpersonal Skills and Human Productivity, Robert R. Carkhuff, HRD Press.
As a person, he lives his work. He is successful in living, learning, working and playing (LLWP) situations: in sports as a player and coach; in academia as a professor, researcher and department head; in business as the founder of publishing, consulting and product development companies; in writing as an author whose works are translated into multiple languages; as a father and husband who raised an extended family; and as a constructive human being who helps others grow.
I am privileged to have earned my Ph.D. with him. To have participated in this work. And to have helped him establish Human Technology Inc. – his consulting service that put his research into practice.
Carkhuff's work gives us a practical set of skills and tools each of us can use to manage our personal growth paths.
Here is an every-day example you have seen, and probably used.
Picture a carpenter’s toolbox.
The toolbox contains carpentry tools to be used in different situations to accomplish different tasks.
First, Carpenter A designs an old-style colonial house and uses the tools in the toolbox to build it.
Later, Carpenter B designs a ranch house and uses the tools in the toolbox to build it.
The result - two different houses. Designed and built by two different people. Using the same tools.
Here we replace the carpenter’s toolbox with a growth toolbox. It provides one set of skills and tools, for different people to use, to achieve different growth goals.
The carpentry tools did not build the houses. The carpenters assumed the leadership, used the tools and built the house.
These growth tools will not build you. You have to assume the leadership, use the tools and manage your growth.
How the lessons are organized
Here is a simple diagram that shows the lessons, their number, and how they work together.
Note - to enlarge the diagram, you can click on it to see a pop-up image, or do a ctrl-mouse scroll to enlarge the page.
The 1st row deals with the type of person you want to be, the situations you face, and the results you achieve over your lifetime.
The 2nd row shows the skills and tools you need to manage your growth in each situation.
The 3rd row shows the interpersonal skills you need to communicate effectively in all your interactions, and help others manage their growth.
The 4th row shows the additional collaboration skills you need to build growing relationships.
Here is a simple overview of what each lesson covers.
The first group (1-8) gives you the skills and tools to manage your growth.
They help you:
1- Develop your Personal Brand – who you want to be in the LLWP situations you face.
2- Explore each new situation - and decide whether avoid it, handle it, or get more involved.
3- Specify the process you would be involved with - and decide how much to get involved.
4- Identify your growth opportunities: in this situation, for your future, and for your relationships.
5- Identify the reasons for your performance gaps - ones you own, ones the situation owns.
6- Manage your efforts to close the gaps.
7- Make growth-oriented personal decisions at each step in the process.
8- Monitor your performance over time, and identify next steps.
The next group (9-10) gives you the skills and tools to communicate effectively with others, and help them manage their growth.
They help you:
9- Develop the helping mindset, and the Interpersonal Communication skills you will need, to help others learn to manage their growth.
10- Develop your ability to Coach others to improve their performance.
The third group (11-12) provides the additional skills and tools to build growing relationships.
They help you:
11- Develop your ability to collaborate with others, build relationships, create mutual growth goals, and help each other achieve them.
12- Continually review the processes that support your relationship, and find ways to improve them.
Your Growth Skills - A Self Assessment
So ... Who are these lessons for?
My takeaway from the research is that your growth depends on your mindset, your skills, and your determination.
If you have a fixed mindset, and don’t think you are responsible for your growth, you don’t need to go any further. These lessons aren't for you.
If you want to develop a growth mindset, to take responsibility for managing your growth opportunities, to help others grow, and to build growing relationships, these lessons are for you.
Spoiler alert - a reminder
There is a lot here.
There is work involved.
Some thinking, and some doing.
And, you are responsible for your results.
But.
The work is all about you. Your goals. Your values. Your skills. Your decisions. Your ability to help others. Your relationships. Your future. Your LIFE opportunities. Your growth.
So, it’s fun, meaningful, and worth the effort.
Welcome.