5 Tips to Help People New to the InsideOut Mindset

What do you get when you add up your very first desk on your very first day as an intern at your very first company? For me, my very first work panic attack.

Immediately I started thinking “I don’t think I can do this, I’m barely qualified and have no real experience. I have no idea what I’m doing!”

Since I didn’t want to be known as the new employee who needed their handheld all day long, I really tried to limit the number of questions I was asking. Lucky for me, my company practiced an InsideOut coaching mindset which gave me the confidence to push through my uncertainties and ended up saving my career before it even started.

Making a rapid shift from the Outside-In mindset used in school or training (or even a previous job) to an InsideOut coaching mindset can be difficult. Here are five tips to help this transition.

Disclaimer: These tips don’t come from a coaching professional. They come from a more reliable source—a 22-year-old intern at InsideOut Development.

1. Explain the differences. An InsideOut Mindset™ focuses on two-way conversations that help employees act on what they already know (as opposed to an Outside-In mindset which results in directive knowledge-transfer conversations). Whether coming from school or from a different company culture, there are going to be a lot of differences that may seem somewhat frustrating if we’re not aware of them. Start by telling us that when we ask you a question that you will not be giving the answer right away. Explain that when you help us find the answers ourselves, that we will grow and learn a lot quicker.

2. Show us how to coach. We shouldn’t come away from one-on-ones thinking that managers have some “secret sauce” that allows only them to do the coaching. Coaching is most effective when both sides understand the process, so walk through the GROW Model with us and show us how we can coach ourselves to solve problems—and even coach our peers.

3. Personalize each interaction. Each new employee has a very different background, skill-set and way of thinking. Each of us will need help in vastly different areas to create a really effective InsideOut Mindset™. Getting to know us on an individual basis will help you personally tailor your coaching—compounding your impact.

4. Give us opportunities. An InsideOut Mindset™ will probably be very new to us and may even be a little uncomfortable. Fostering that InsideOut mentality is so much easier when we have an opportunity to succeed or fail on our own. We’ll figure it out.
   *Pro tip: good managers will give opportunities to succeed or fail to their employees, great managers will help them know how to learn from these successes and failures.

5. Implement an effective coaching culture. It has often been said that “it takes a village to raise a child,” and this could not be more true when “raising” your new employees. The most effective thing you can do to help us succeed is to create a genuine culture of coaching throughout the company. A coaching culture will help us assimilate the principles you are trying to teach and will embed a InsideOut Mindset™ into the way we problem-solve and hold everyday conversations. 

Want to grade how your company’s coaching culture is going? Take this quiz to find out!

When I was starting this new job and had to adjust to an InsideOut Mindset™, it was very hard, but working for a company with an InsideOut coaching culture made all the difference. Keeping these tips in mind when you have a new employee will help them become an active part of your culture in no time!