In his trusted work in reconciliation, mediation, and conflict resolution, Dr. Vern Neufeld-Redekop refers to an idea in his \u2018third-party-neutral\u2019 approach called \u201cthe adjacent possible\u201d, an option for breakthrough that only comes when we allow divergent voices and ideas to be presented together, and give space for emergent possibilities to reveal themselves [1]. It takes work, but enables growth. In my years of performance coaching, at the point a leader would get stuck thinking about options to get to their goal, it was not uncommon for me to ask, \u201cwhat else could you do?\u201d If the answer was, \u201cI don\u2019t know\u201d, I would move on to unknown possibilities with a follow up question like, \u201cWhat if you knew the answer? What would it be?\u201d It\u2019s extraordinary to see what emerged from this open space to consider new possible options \u00a0just by creating space for it [2]. These practices are necessary, it seems, because of something going on at a deeper level within our mindset.<\/p>\n
The book Mindset<\/em> by Dr. Carol Dweck is a book about two mindsets: a fixed mindset, where intelligence is static, or a growth mindset, where intelligence can be developed. Dweck\u2019s research shows how our understanding of both failure and effort are altered by moving to a growth mindset. A fixed mindset about one\u2019s gifts or abilities can produce a limitation of effort within known area of gifting and terror when they wain. Her findings reveal that \u201cthe fixed mindset makes people into non learners\u201d [3] But a growth mindset allows one to believe that \u201cit\u2019s impossible to foresee what can be accomplished with years of passion, toil and training\u201d [4].<\/p>\n What I like about this is that it gives language to something implied in Jan F. Meyer\u2019s and Ray Land\u2019s work Overcoming Barriers to Student Understanding. <\/em>They unpack the idea of a threshold concept as \u201cakin to a portal opening up to a new and previously inaccessible way of thinking about something\u201d [5]. Here is a clue as to why fixed mindsets are still held. \u00a0In our era of data-overload, it becomes a mechanism to combat the insecurity that inevitably accompanies growth beyond known abilities or factors. It is unsettling, Meyer and Land point out, that \u201cnew knowledge forever changes a previously outlook\u201d [6]. Dweck adds, \u201cit’s especially not easy to replace it with a mindset that tells you to embrace all the things that have felt threatening: challenge, struggle, criticism, setbacks\u201d [7]. The blockage in our minds is real.<\/p>\n I look at how I was raised. My early academic track record revealed how stuck I was, how I didn\u2019t fit in with the prescribed academic program. I lived with immense insecurity and a strong fear of being wrong or being criticized, all the way up to the second year of my Undergrad. I had a fixed mindset about academics. In music, on the other hand, when I was forced into piano lessons, I cheated my way to Grade 5 Royal Conservatory (sorry, Hedy) by memorizing the music, embracing a growth mindset to cultivate my musicality beyond what was fixed, allowing \u201cmy creativity [to] develop\u201d playing a variety of rhythm instruments [8]. I had to work through what Dweck highlights in \u201chaving different mindsets in different areas\u201d [9]. \u00a0Over time, I allowed more of the growth mindset to be applied to most of the areas of my life. How fitting then, to not merely discover this for myself, but to find fulfilment in my work of reconciliation, peace building, and global mission collaboration. It\u2019s a world of facilitating and coaching others to try and think beyond the frame, explore what else is possible, and invite growth to benefit all.<\/p>\n __________<\/p>\n [1] This was released to me in a video call this Spring, while Dr. Neufeld-Redekop was participating with a collaborative PRN, Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, and Canadian Council of Churches series of conversations supporting understanding and dialogue between Ukrainian & Russian Christian leaders in the Canadian context. Here is more info on Vern. Website, n.d. https:\/\/www.cicr-icrc.ca\/team\/vern-neufeld-redekop.<\/p>\n [2] John Whitmore, <\/span>Coaching for Performance\u202f: GROWing Human Potential and Purpose\u202f: The Principles and Practice of Coaching and Leadership, <\/span><\/em>(3rd ed.) London, UK: Nicholas Brealey, 2002, 82.<\/span><\/p>\n [3] Dweck, Carol. <\/span>Mindset : Changing the way you think to fulfil your potential<\/span><\/em>,<\/em> (Revised edition), UK: Robinson, 2017, <\/span>18.<\/p>\n [4] Mindset, <\/em>21.<\/p>\n [5] Jan F. Meyer & Land, Ray, Overcoming Barriers to Student Understanding: Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge<\/em>, (1st ed.), UK: Routledge, 2006, 3.<\/span><\/p>\n [6] They argue that \u201cmastery of a threshold concept is an irreversible process. The new understanding that a learner has \u2018interferes\u2019 with their earlier outlook, and will colour their opinions and understanding of both new and previously acquired material. Threshold concepts are, in a sense, epistemological floodgates; once opened they cannot simply be \u2018undone\u2019\u201d. Overcoming Barriers,<\/em> 175.<\/span><\/p>\n [7] Mindset, 235<\/em><\/p>\n [8] Mindset, <\/em>47.<\/p>\n [9] Mindset, <\/em>ibid.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In his trusted work in reconciliation, mediation, and conflict resolution, Dr. Vern Neufeld-Redekop refers to an idea in his \u2018third-party-neutral\u2019 approach called \u201cthe adjacent possible\u201d, an option for breakthrough that only comes when we allow divergent voices and ideas to be presented together, and give space for emergent possibilities to reveal themselves [1]. It takes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":203,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2969,2328],"class_list":["post-39305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dlgp3","tag-dweck","cohort-dlgp03"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/203"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39305"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39305\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39331,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39305\/revisions\/39331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}