To Grow or Not To Grow- That is the Question
It was one of my first denominational ministerial classes. We were nervous, uncertain, and in a healthy fear of what our ministerial journey will take us. The course was pastoral administration. A very well seasoned scholar and pastor was sharing with us what we should expect if we were ever assigned to a pastorate. As the question and answer session came around our teacher was asked the question what is the biggest expectation that we should have upon arrival from a new congregation. His answer was eight deadly words; “we have never done it like this before.”
These famous words are synonymous with a fixed mindset, one of two methodologies Carol Dweck unpacks in her book Mindset. Dweck, a professor of Psychology at Stanford University, is considered a premier researcher on mindset and motivation. She suggests fixed mindsets are attached to fear and avoidance while a growth mindset embraces challenges as an opportunity for learning, and the return on investment includes resilience and success. People with a growth mindset don’t just seek challenge, they thrive on it. [1]
One analogy that resonated with me was Dweck’s analysis of college basketball coaches Bobby Knight and John Wooden. Knight was a great coach but emotionally erratic and was known more for his explosive outbursts than X’s and O’s. While he attained much success throughout his coaching career, it was marred by the criticism that he turned away many because of a failed mindset. Wooden, on the contrary, was able to have greater success, but much was attributed to his positive mindset—getting maximum results from his athletes.
I can relate to this analogy on a personal level because throughout my basketball career, there were great coaches who I could not reach a level of excellence or comfort because of their approach, which was not just detrimental to myself but our team as a whole. While they remain steadfast in their coaching style, despite having a talented team we never excelled past mediocrity simply because he failed to adapt his coaching style. A fixed mindset was the culprit. Dweck was spot on because she uncovered some common misconceptions concerning the growth mindset. She says:
#1) The first important thing to remember here is that process includes more than just effort.[2] Effort is often assumed as the litmus for a new mindset but it is a false allusion. Dweck debunks this perspectives by underscoring effort is required but more is demanded. I can think of many instances of people, places and things who have made a genuine effort, but their efforts fell flat because they refused take the second step.
#2) The importance of trying new strategies when the one they’re using isn’t working” [3} It is important to know the difference between history and destiny. Even more is when it comes to the realization that there will be points in life where we come to the crossroads and must make the painful discovery. What got me here may not be the same thing to get me there. There is an old saying that insanity is doing the same thing over and over but expecting the same result.
Recently, I heard this interesting fact at a summer retreat I attended for my chaplaincy as a leadership expert was facilitating a lecture/ workshop. He said the two biggest institutions which are the most resistant to change are higher education and the church. That hit home as I am entrenched in both my leadership capacities. How many institutions and churches have become stifled and stagnated simply because it refused to authentically embrace a correct growth mindset?
Climate, culture, and calamity in society have become the drivers for a growth mindset. We all were forced to make adaptive change and reuse of things simply because of COVID. Sadly, many individuals are patiently waiting and looking for a return to normalcy instead of embracing a new normal.
Mindset is a great follow-up to last week’s reading, Leading through Disruption by Andrew Liveris. As Liveris and his elite cohort looked at corporations and business models that were in existence, they reached two similar conclusions:
1) The current economic model has been broken and can’t be fixed.
2) A model that business should be motivated by profit is a method– that no longer works.
Liveris would go on to list a four-D Model, to sum up corporate responses (fixed mindset) to the disruption: denial, defiance, debate, and dialogue. [4]
My NPO is centered on the growing absence of young adults in inner-city churches in my city. As my research and workshops reveal, much of young adult apathy and absence is attributed to the fixed mindset of the church, congregation, and leadership.
While I found Dweck’s writing highly credible, critics have countered that a growth mindset does not always translate into positive performance. While I don’t believe any or all strategies have a 100% success rate, I can strongly lean into Dweck’s perspective and apply it in my context.
Speaking of my context, do you remember those famous last 8 words I was warned of as a new pastor? True to form I encountered them. To my congregation’s credit, they overcame their years of fears, prior pastoral hurt and lived theology and adapted to embrace a growth mindset. The results are tangible, and some are not. However, I can certainly commend them on the qualitative growth which sometimes is greater than the quantitative which has been a debatable fixed growth metric utilized in the church for far too long.
[1] Carol Dweck, Mindset: Changing the Way You Think to Fulfil Your Potential, (London: Robinson, 2017). 21
[2} Dweck, Mindset, 115.
{3} Dweck, Mindset, 115
[4] Andrew Liveris,. Leading through Disruption: A Changemaker’s Guide to Twenty-First Century Leadership. (New York, NY: HarperCollins Leadership, 2023).164
About the Author
Daren Jaime
16 responses to “To Grow or Not To Grow- That is the Question”
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HI Daren, Great post. I remember having conversations with people from my church during COVID. Many refused to think that something good or even better could come out of the changes that need to take place.
In what ways did you help to cultivate a growth mindset for your congregation who said, “we have never done it like this before”?
Hi Kari! In many ways, I was able to introduce new ideas because of COVID. Shortening service, in-person announcements, and policies concerning home visitations, to name a few. A few were coming back, I was able to meet with a core group who passed it down the line to help facilitate the change.
Great post Daren, thanks. As you consider the church, how do you propose inviting people to consider adopting a growth mindset? Do you name it for what it is (fixed vs. growth) or do you create metaphors, or do something else?
Hey Debbie, Great question! Metaphors work and probably would be the way to go. In several instances, we have asked not to ask for permission but for forgiveness. When a building or media project has been completed, we then present it to the congregation, who appreciate it in its final and finished stage rather than question it and hinder the progress. This paved the way for getting on board for future things we wanted to do.
Hi Daren, Glyn went right where I was going but maybe as a precursor, do you have any thought on why churches and higher education places are the most resistent to change? The latter seems like an oxymoron because education by its very nature can inspire change in the student. perhaps maybe it refers to the institutions?
Hi Diane. I am not the expert, but from what I was told, many in. leadership have a fixed mindset due to academic achievement, with many being considered experts due to their years of study and experience. This leads to an I “know what is best” attitude. In Livar’s “Living Through Disruption,” which I read last week, he talked about Debate and Dialogue on the part of businesses as a form of resistance to change and growth. The church is guilty of holding on to tradition and lived theology. This has caused strife and stagnation in many churches due to lay or clerical leadership stifling the work.
Hi Daren, If you were coaching me on how to best begin developing a growth mindset in an organization where I lead from the side, what would you suggest?
Hey Julie, Great question. I believe people first have to see us as examples of growth. We have to demonstrate our openness to feedback and criticism, our willingness to take on challenges, and our resilience when facing setbacks.
We can try our best to offer suggestions when we can. Possibly suggest team brainstorming sessions and create opportunities for everyone to share their own lessons from both successes and failures. Speaking into a team’s life from the side should not be discounted. Praising growth and creating space for constructive feedback from the side is also helpful. When setbacks occur, being a coach who encourages others to know setbacks occur en route to growth is also advantageous.
Thanks, Darren. I too wonder about the fixed mindset culture of the church. It seems to unusual to worship a God who is all-powerful and yet be a people who cultivate and perpetuate a fixed mindset. What lies have we believed that need to be named and broken?
Graham, I love how you pose the question. We need to first overcome the lie that says we can do all things through Christ and then give our laundry list of reasons why we can’t do something.
Another lie is someone else’s success does not mean I am a failure. Fixed minds are guilty of this a lot. Age is also a huge factor. The young don’t know what they are talking about- and will hurt the church. The church traditionally promotes a fixed mindset based on years of experience and tradition. Sometimes, the growth mindset is an enemy, and we spend too much time getting buy-in and building consensus that we are either late to the party or have missed the mark. The last lie is we can’t allow fear to drive us. I heard from a senior leader during one meeting. If we do that, it will set the church back 25 years. Interestingly, the pastor’s church is predominantly a senior church with little to no youth and young adults.
Hi, Darren, thank you for the post. I am learning a lot from it. Your title reminded me of the TV show, “To be, or Not to Be.” In the later content you mentioned ‘adapt’ as bases for the ‘growth mindset,’ and I totally agree with that. Would you say that ‘adapt’ would be like a positive reaction to ‘climate, culture, and calamity’ in our society?
HI Noel Thanks. Adapt would be a good answer. I think those three things have forced us to look at how we must do things differently. Having a fixed mindset will have a lot of us left behind.
Hi Daren, I appreciated the way you tied your basketball career to this week’s mindset reading and the methods used by different coaches. I am curious to know if you have adopted any growth mindset or leadership styles your coaches used with your team and if you have retrofitted them to fit your current leadership position.
Hi, Elysee. Yes, I have. Being open and conversational was helpful as a player. I trusted my coach and played hard for him. Trying to connect with people is a leadership requirement now for me. I believe we have to connect before we can correct. So, as a leader, I attempt to connect. This paves the way for dialogue and better receptivity as we introduce new ideas or concepts that promote a growth mindset.
Daren, thank you for your post. Given your experiences with fixed mindsets in both educational and church contexts, what specific strategies or practices have you found to be most effective in encouraging individuals and congregations to shift from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset? Additionally, how do you address cultural resistance to change in this transition?
Hey Chad, Thanks, brother. One of the things I tried was implementing surveys. This allowed the congregation and leaders to share thoughts, and I could come back and say we heard you and promote a growth mindset response. This worked in several instances. Also, presenting outside sources who have accomplished a ministry idea or project similar to what we are pursuing has been helpful. Allowing them to share their work’s successes and failures has been a bridge to help us onboard a growth mindset concept.