How to Easily Avoid Common Mistakes from an InsideOut Mindset

InsideOut Mindset™ = The belief that everyone is capable of greater performance and that includes the ability to be a phenomenal learner.

The InsideOut Mindset™ is at the heart of GROW Coaching. If you didn’t believe your people were capable of more, you wouldn’t invest in their improvement. Coaching with an InsideOut Mindset™ is fundamental to drawing higher performance out of employees. It’s hard to shift your mindset, but even when you manage to make the shift, it’s not an end-all, be-all, one-size-fits-all solution.

It’s no surprise that we’re committed to the InsideOut Mindset™. Our HR Director, Julie Morrow, identifies some potential benefits of embracing the InsideOut Mindset™ and shares her solutions to address common mindset mistakes.

4 Benefits of an InsideOut Mindset™

When an organization has bought in to the InsideOut Mindset™, 4 things happen that remove the obstacles and roadblocks that we call interference:

1. Both the manager and the employee believe they can achieve greater performance.

2. Employees feel safe to explore new ways to improve their performance after being asked a series of questions that bring out their own ideas and solutions, instead of their manager directing how they will increase their performance.

3. Managers may sometimes offer another perspective, but in the end, the next steps are driven by the employee.

4. Failures and missteps serve as key learning opportunities and progress continues.

Removing obstacles and roadblocks frees up employees to focus on the things that bring the greatest results. This leads to highly engaged and empowered employees, increased productivity, better retention and of course, greater overall performance for both the employee and the company.

Watch Out for These 2 Mindset Mistakes

An InsideOut Mindset™ can be powerfully effective at improving performance. But there are a few things to be cautious of. Here are the two common things people get wrong about an InsideOut Mindset™.

1. They forget the knowledge component.

The Performance Wheel is a way to illustrate with four key elements of performance. It highlights Faith, Fire, and Focus as essential elements of performance, but that doesn’t mean you can forget the outside rim of the Performance Wheel. Knowledge and competency are still critical. It’s very difficult for a performer to achieve “greater performance” if haven’t already developed a knowledge or capability.

If the employee is in a role that isn’t suited to their knowledge and strengths, an InsideOut Mindset™ won’t lead them to greater performance.

 InsideOut Coaching™ is designed to reduce interference that detracts from capacity. Remember: Performance = Capacity (or Knowledge) – Interference = (P=K-I)

2. They don’t know when to call it quits.

If you allow unlimited time for performance improvement without seeing progress (in either performance or knowledge) then failures will keep adding up. This will leave both the employee and the manager more frustrated than before without spurring greater performance.

Not everyone can be great at everything. The idea behind the InsideOut Mindset™ is to bring out the greatness that is already in an individual and develop additional competencies that align with their innate abilities. But it still takes effort from everyone involved.

How to Avoid the Mistakes

These potential mistakes don’t have to signal the end of the road. Five simple fixes can keep your coaching mindset helpful for every employee.

1. Be very clear on the roles, responsibilities, and expectations of the position before you even begin the hiring process.

2. Thoroughly vet the candidates for the knowledge, skills, and abilities that align with the position you are filling. An InsideOut Mindset™ won’t change the skills of the candidate. It will only augment them.

3. Double-check your onboarding process. Keep in mind that even though the employee has the knowledge, skills, and abilities for their role within the company, they don’t come into the organization knowing the nuances of the company or their position. Set them up for success with a comprehensive onboarding process in addition to regular coaching conversations.

4. Once hired, regular coaching conversations will continue the momentum of great performance and immediately address any performance gaps.

5. Align coaching conversations around organizational objectives that will drive success and increase employee ownership. Fostering ownership encourages employees to go above and beyond—to develop better solutions and contribute something of even greater value to the company objectives that drive real business results.

The key to retention (and performance) is continued growth and learning. Build that growth into every employee’s developmental plan. With an InsideOut Mindset™ that unleashes an employee’s potential through their Faith, Fire, and Focus, the sky is the limit.