Developing a growth mindset (helpful when dealing with tough news)
April 30, 2025
Being delivered a blow, such as losing your job is really tough. You’re likely to experience a range of emotions, which are normal, but can make it difficult to move forward. Developing a ‘growth mindset’ is a great way to help in these situations. We’ll explain here what we mean when we say growth mindset.
Whether you lose your job because of redundancy, termination or for other reasons, it normally comes as a complete shock (and that includes people who had some inkling of possible change). It can turn your world upside down. Not only the significant loss of income, but this sometimes raises questions about our self-worth. Many of us define ourselves by what we do in our work. We calibrate who we are and our self-worth by the things we accomplish, or do not accomplish. So the first thing we need to do is stop and breathe, share the news with someone you trust, and give yourself some time to just absorb what happened.
Your focus is then on your own future (what happened is in the past, and unless you are taking legal action, it’s best seen as the past). For your future think about acceptance, reframing and moving forward. In Carol Dweck’s book, ‘Mindset’ she suggest that when you suffer a setback you need to be of a mindset that will take risks, confront challenges and keep ‘working at it’- she calls this a growth mindset. A fixed mindset will limit your options (i.e I am limited by what I know I can do and am not likely to learn new things).
Try the following:
- Give yourself time to breathe and clear your mind. Take a walk, do some exercise, talk to someone.
- Do something for yourself, preferably in the company of someone you care about, no matter what it is.
- Imagine the future, know there will be one, and think how it may be even better than the current.
- How you get there will become part of your plan (more on this in another blog). First imagine your vision and let your next steps be governed by your future aspirations, not your past experiences.
- Develop a daily mantra, maybe on a post-it notes somewhere visible – ‘I’ll survive, maybe this is a good thing, I will be equipped to move forward’
So with a growth mindset acceptance becomes easier, aspirations for the future surface and moving on becomes an exciting prospect.
Remember: Tell yourself something like this daily; I’ll survive, in fact maybe this is a good thing. Wow, actually I feel a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. What am I going to do next? I can work that out. I feel I’ve got a new sense of purpose; I can look to the future with a renewed energy.
When things are going well it’s relatively easy being a business leader. It’s in a crisis that leaders show what they are really made of. In times of dislocation leaders have to make critical choices that can affect people as well as business continuity. It is unlikely that many of us (maybe with the exception of Bill Gates) saw the Covid-19 pandemic coming, yet we are expected to stay calm and chart a smooth course through these choppy times, whilst creating certainty for customers and employees at the same time. As a corporate leader you have to operate on two distinct levels- addressing your customers’ and your peoples’ needs. While doing this in a crisis you will be much more inclined to protect yourself and your business by addressing short term challenges such as cash preservation and cost reductions (usually involving headcount reductions). This can have a significant impact on your reputation and how you show up for your respective audiences. How you handle your messaging is as important as the message itself. Those key stakeholders (customers and staff) will decide how the company’s brand is perceived, based on these messages, and your subsequent actions. How do you protect your reputation in these challenging times, as an empathetic and responsible business leader, and protect the company’s brand when you have to make tough decisions, particularly on headcount, in order to protect business? To ensure your brand remains intact you will need to preserve the short-term health of your business, critically look at organizational structure and ensure you have the right skills to deliver to your customer’s needs, as they may change in the short term. People are often the biggest overhead and how you address this will be closely watched. Consider unpaid leave first, starting with senior management and cascade if necessary. Pay cuts are often second -again limit these to senior people, reassign roles if possible and appropriate; as a last resort some people will have to be made redundant – ensure you have expert outplacement support for those leaving and consider the feelings of those remaining. Carefully plan your messaging around each of these stages, including others to test how your messages land. In your messaging consider the following; Be authentic Actively engage everyone Communicate respectfully Tell it like it is – be clear to limit misunderstanding Understand what should be made public and what should remain private With swift, appropriate action and well communicated messaging you can protect your brand and reputation as well as provide support for your people and your business.
10 important career questions to ask yourself Let’s look at some numbers. Over the course of a full career we will work roughly 480 months, or 1,920 five-day weeks, which is 9,600 days! We’ll hope you agree, it’s pretty important to be in the right career or have a portfolio of great jobs during that time. It’s important to stop and reflect on where we are every once in a while, so here we’ve simply listed ten questions that we believe will allow you to do that. Regardless of your current situation, whether you are actively thinking, or looking to make changes, or you’ve been made redundant, grab a pen, or a device and start thinking/writing and take stock of where you are: Why do you work? List all of the reasons you work. When you started working what was your dream job? How, if at all, has that changed? What are you most proud to have achieved in relation to your job/career so far? Why are you proud? Write a list of all the things that you absolutely love doing and that give you energy What are you motivated by in relation to work? What gives a boost work? A clear sense of purpose, personal development, achieving, being in charge, connections with others etc Describe your network. Start thinking about all the people you know. Can you easily call on a wide range of people to help you out? Pick the three most important people from your career so far. How would they describe you? If you are thinking of career change, or have had one forced on you. How much risk are you prepared to take to find the right job or career? To push beyond your normal boundaries and to think creatively about approaches to your search. Who can help you? How much effort are you prepared to put into finding the right next step? How much of a priority is it for you and how important is the next step? What three things do you want a potential employer to hear or read about you from your resume/CV or from other people? How will you make sure that happens? What’s the first step you need to take to get the next great career or job move? Most of us work for a large part of our lives so to find a job or career that you enjoy makes a huge difference. Think about one or two actions you might take to steer yourself in the right direction. It’s easy to become paralyzed by thinking too hard about ‘what if this? or what if that?’ and before you know it five years have gone and you’re doing the same thing. There is nothing to say you can’t explore new avenues and a few mistakes along the way can prove to be extremely valuable in cementing what you really want to do.
One of the most unpleasant tasks of leadership is letting people go. Even when it’s in the best interests of the company, you may still feel guilty, particularly when it’s a redundancy. So how should you prepare for, and deliver the news, and what else should you take into consideration? Nobody got promoted because their strength was firing people well. However, reputations can be damaged if people aren’t treated in a dignified way. You are very much in the spotlight when firing people, particularly redundancies, and your leadership shadow is cast wide as people watch for fallout, and to see how you communicate difficult messages with wider communities. A company’s reputation and your personal brand can be helped or hindered during these times. Preparing and delivering the news Remember it’s not about you. Many people get nervous and anxious about delivering this news and tend to focus on themselves, rather than the person who will receive the news. Reactions are unknown, but can range from anger, shock, grief, guilt to relief and acceptance- all of which require a skilled emotional response in leaders. Plan well Prepare for the questions you’d like to know the answers to, if you were in the other seat. Plan what you will say to those left behind. Immediately news will get out that someone has been made redundant, people start wondering what that means for them. Have your wider communication plan prepared. The conversation Break the news in the first sentence. Be crystal clear about why you are doing this and be prepared to share even if it seems obvious. Don’t go it alone. Legally and practically deliver news with another person in the room, ideally your HR partner. Practice what you are going to say and don‘t shy away from delivering the news yourself. Keep to the point, avoid being side-tracked. Follow up – agree a time to follow up, even if they don’t want to. Just to make sure you cover any outstanding issues and to check in how they are. They may say nothing in the meeting as they may experience an emotional hijack, so give space to digest and return. Bungled terminations usually stem from a lack of preparation, confidence, or acting without thinking. A small amount of preparation goes a long way in maintaining your leadership reputation and your employer brand, as well as the self-esteem of the person losing their job.
Mentally and emotionally it’s tough when changes such as Covid-19 hit us. We don’t necessarily have control over what’s happening in the wider world, but we do have a choice about how we personally respond. Framing the situation as positively as possible will be better for our mental health and outlook. In this post, we talk about how to support ourselves and stay emotionally resilient in this time of fear and social isolation. Some people initially respond positively to being able to work from home and be removed from the world around them, especially if they’re sensitive to picking up others’ anxieties at difficult times like this. Some like the flexibility of no commute, the lack of business attire, and more freedom to manage themselves. These positive feelings can be replaced over time with feelings of being imprisoned, stressed, isolated, depressed, anxious and demotivated. It’s even harder for people who also have children or others to care for. With social media swirling around, the distraction of the negative press can also bear heavily on some. Maintain structure to your day . It’s important to maintain a sense of normality and keep a boundary between work and home. For example get up at the same time each day, have a proper lunch break, go out for a walk if possible and shut down your computer at your usual finishing time. Move . It’s easy to lose hours of each day sitting at a dining table with the only movement going back and forward from the fridge! Incorporate some exercise (stretching, yoga, a walk, dancing) each day for the sake of your wellbeing. There’s heaps of research to demonstrate the benefits, and many free online workouts available if you are in any form of quarantine. Build in social contact . People can start to feel very isolated and down very quickly without contact with others. Make time to have a call with a friend or family at least once a day. Zoom, skype, call, message, whatever works for you. Check in to see how others are coping. Find something you can do for the community . Sometimes it’s hard to know what to do. Keep an eye out for people needing support. It might be a phonecall, an offer to volunteer one of your skills, or support for a small business in your area – buying a voucher, not asking for that refund. Find something that allows you to feel connected to the greater good. Social Media and News . Find a source you like, trust and can easily relate to and stick to following that one source for information. We are being bombarded with very conflicting advice, over which we have no control. Limit what you read or consume to ensure the news isn’t overwhelming. Manage your emotions to stay resilient . Becoming frustrated, feeling imprisoned, missing contact with colleagues; all of these things are normal responses. Try to catch yourself before you spiral into negative thought patterns by writing down ten things you’re grateful for. This can shift your mood very quickly. Remind yourself of your strengths . When things are tough it’s worth taking a bit of time out to remind what you’re really good at and thinking about how those things can help you. For example if you’re a naturally calm person this will help you and your loved ones, perhaps you’re determined, creative, positive. Focusing on your strengths will help you stay resilient. One thing we do know is that this is a temporary state, and whilst we don’t know when Covid-19 will pass, we know it will. In the meantime Think about what you can control – emotions, information, personal distance, hygiene, consumption Think about what you can’t control, and can influence – how family and friends respond, things related to work, what others do or say Everything else goes into a box for now, to be closed and taped up… don’t give it your time or attention!!