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How To Develop A Beginner’s Mindset: A Critical Trait In Business Today

Forbes Human Resources Council

Anne Krog Iversen built, implemented and manages corporate mindfulness as Co-Founder, Chief DNA, People and Culture Officer at TimeXtender.

John and Elisabeth, both corporate people executives, decided to explore how to open up their company and rid it of departmental-silo thinking, as they believed doing so would enhance creativity and flexibility. Mike, a global marketing executive from the company, overheard them talking and offered to share his ideas from his years of experience. John was uninterested and responded by saying “great” and continued on with his own talk stream. Elisabeth, on the other hand, was very curious and thought this was an opportunity to learn and bring in more perspectives from the organization and asked Mike to share what he had learned.

Two different approaches to the same interpersonal scenario: John was exhibiting closed-mindedness, while Elisabeth was reacting with the principles of a beginner’s mindset and curiosity.

So, what is a beginner’s mindset and how can it help you become more successful at business?

A beginner’s mindset entails approaching a situation as though you are a beginner, regardless of your experience. By being open-minded and listening to others without pre-judgment, you can obtain knowledge and creative, innovative solutions from those who also have great insights and wisdom that you may find valuable. 

Business and life are both ever-changing, and the colleague you know might just have an excellent perspective to share that can help you develop a creative solution to the challenge you’re facing — despite the knowledge and experience you have acquired over time. To have a beginner’s mindset, it all starts with having a passion for being curious.

Most of us know or have interacted with someone who knows a lot about a particular topic or many subjects, but is still inquisitive. While we consider this person to be highly intelligent, and often well-read, we have noticed that they ask a lot of questions about work projects or the topic that you introduced for discussion. They’re confident and fully engaged when asking questions and, frankly, they ask very good questions: meaningful, engaging and with a purpose. We leave a conversation with someone like this feeling energized and important from their interest shown and the dynamic give-and-take, but we also realize that our partner in dialogue is compassionate. We’ve also developed a connection and relationship with another person. Let’s imagine for a moment how teams and businesses could improve their relations and decision-making if they were built on this mindset.

Developing the skill set of having a beginner’s mind and being curious is very important in these challenging times we’re facing. In the technology industry, innovation is always a key driver in sustaining the business over the long run. At TimeXtender, we consistently look for creative ways to strengthen our company, work culture and innovative environment, and curiosity is one factor that helps us succeed. To consider this more, this article in Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning lays out a nice examination of the value and importance of being curious.

To make this happen at your company, it’s important to have a work environment built on trust, awareness and openness, where everyone feels free to speak their minds, ask questions and share ideas. This begins by putting egos aside, being transparent and working together toward a common, greater purpose.

Asking good questions is a great start, but only part of the equation. As we know from Dr. Stephen Covey’s teachings about the habits of highly effective people, we must seek first to understand, then to be understood. In other words, listen with the purpose of truly understanding what the sender is communicating rather than focusing on your next response. When your mind is formulating what to say when there’s a break in the action, you’re not really listening. With that habit in play, you can participate in more meaningful dialogue and knowledge ascertainment.

Having a beginner’s mind and curiosity can be learned by teaching ourselves how to be in the present moment. Specifically, we can practice and train at work and at home with mindfulness meditation exercises. We are born with a natural curiosity trait, however, while growing up, many of us unlearn this ability and take the perspective that “curiosity killed the cat.” This resistance can be overcome, allowing you to make room for curiosity and free-flowing creativity.

By practicing meditation, breathing and visualization to clear our minds and to focus on the present, we can begin to imagine various circumstances where a beginner’s mind based on curiosity could do us well. Taking breaks with silence can help us reset, refocus and connect our minds.

In one session, we might work on letting go of old perspectives to train our minds to focus on the present moment and awareness of the world around us. To reinforce, we can go for a walk and concentrate on existing nature that surrounds us — a tree that you pass, a flower or a sound. This type of exercise can strengthen your focus and awareness to train you to be curious about your surroundings.

In another session, we can practice having a beginner’s mindset by aiming to remove all judgment and pre-conceived notions, like a young child who listens closely and is eager to learn. In this exercise, we focus on displaying a hunger for learning rather than already having an understanding; we concentrate on not responding with statements, but rather, asking questions using “why,” “how” or “what” to discover more about the topic at hand.

Ironically, having great knowledge about an issue can be a detriment to obtaining even more knowledge — rigidity and close-mindedness limit our ability to grow even further. With curiosity, you can open up your mind to a whole other world of knowledge not previously known. And with mindfulness meditation and the exercises outlined, you can begin to help build that type of approach and outlook for both business and life’s endeavors.  


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