Do you notice small things?
Do you see emerging patterns before others do?
Are you able to explain and help people see and understand your ideas?
Whether you are working with innovation, customers or safety, noticing small, unusual things that suggest opportunity or danger is a crucial skill.
Growth Mindset provides a framework where these weak signals can become sparks for new thinking and action. It is only possible to notice weak signals when we are in the right state of mind. The Growth Mindset pinciples provide a guide for the right conditions where people notice weak signals, share them with others, get curious about what they mean, reject ones that are noise, explore ones that are promising or dangerous, and take innovate action.
For weak signals to become sparks for action or innovation, we need to move from one person’s crazy observation to data that a group of people can work on. Growth Mindset informs us on how to create the right behaviors and relationships to accelerate this discovery process. Preventing accidents and innovating have some important similarities when it comes to this process.
Do we take the person who observes the weak signal seriously?
Do we help them improve the clarity of their thinking or do we dismiss them?
The next step is to turn a spark into a fire of change. As we discover the significance of an idea, it becomes increasingly important to manage how the idea evolves and matures in the team and organization.
For discovery to become successul delivery, it must survive the heavy filtering that takes place of ideas and data that disrupt status quo, that is, your current ways of seeing and solving problems. Many sparks are exthinguished before they start a fire.
Growth Mindset provides a method for the critical and constructive dialogues necessary to mobilise more people and organizational ressources to realize the potential of the innovative or safety improving idea.