“The mind, the mind, the mind... That is the beginning and end of it all. The quality of one’s life depends on nothing but the mind”, said so, Prince Gautama Buddha. A mind filled with purity of thoughts will see purity around and that which is filled with impurities, will only see the dark and ugly side of life. The choice is ours to make. What is fed to the mind, results in actions that are either positive or negative. If the food of the lion is served to lamb, it will not make a lion out of the lamb. The lamb’s inherent characteristics will remain and retain originality, even if it decides to partake of the meat. That is nature’s handwork and hence cannot be altered. However, the human mind is possessed; it is up to divinity, with immense potential, to change and alter trails depending again on what it is made to grow upon.
In the environment of business and economy, each individual, has the advantage of choosing between different mindsets, like in all other areas of life. We mostly behave according to the thoughts we possess. Similarly, a manager is where his thoughts are.
It is the responsibility of the manager to help, guide and mentor his team, enabling the joint discovery of what their own expectations are. A manager has to firstly build a class of followers before creating leaders. A conscientious manager makes a decision between darkness and light. Both are aplenty. The ability to change the lens of thought to suit the requirements is an ability a manager is expected, in the least, to possess. No manager can pretend to be Robinson Crusoe; he can’t be alone and lonely. He has to interact with teams to see that they are in conformity with the demands of the corporate.
A known leadership speaker remarked, ‘In teamwork, silence is not golden, it is deadly’. Engage with people to help them create for themselves a stable mindset that would lead towards positivity in life. We always have a choice. And the choice is about everything in life. No one should ever forget. Nobody can take this ability to select and choose away from any being. Consequently, we can choose either to have a positive mindset or a defensive mindset. In choosing, we have to be mindful that each decision has an outcome - a different, unique and distinctive behavioral response, giving impetus to certain traits, and obviously results.
There are managers who believe in themselves so passionately that they know-it-all, to the nth degree; they refuse to listen to anybody, except their own selves. A band of merry men who are self-centered ego–maniacs, who will never miss an opportunity to creating a negative mindset, not merely for themselves, but also for the teams that they lead. Most will do what they see their leaders do. A manager, by default, is in the grand position to influence the framing of mindsets.
This leads to whether the influence is to create a productive mindset or a defensive mindset. I have, in my personal experience, seen that great enrichment takes place when the mindset is attuned towards productivity. To be able to have a productive mindset, each member will need to demonstrate to their own-selves, by raising questions like, ‘Am I missing on some significant input from my team that I am unable to see from my vantage point?’ As managers, we cannot afford to not distinguish the quality of thought that emerges from the base of the pyramid, in comparison to the view that is formed at the top of the pyramid. The view of the same thing / aspect will always be different.
Managers with foresight will always take to themselves to discover what they are missing? They invariably seek an alternate thought or view to enable better-reasoned and logical decision-making. Every time a manager turns to his team for feedback or guidance, he has begun to mentor and coach them. It is now a two-way street; not merely handouts from the ego-centric manager to execute, with no participation, to either say ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
In the evolution and creation of a productive mindset, there is great learning to be obtained; and the opportunity of learning to mutual advantage. When we decide to share a thought, plan or (even) a dream, we convey to the recipient our willingness to hear another point of view. This view can either be in harmony or in conflict with yours, but in both situations there is learning.
To share your views with an audience requires courage. The fear of non-acceptance sometimes grips so badly, that many “initiatives and discoveries” remain buried under the epitaph of ‘untold union’. A productive mindset will be fearless; it harbors no rigidity and hence is malleable and willing to change and respond with different behavioral traits that suit the time and circumstance.
Against, and opposite to, a productive mindset is the domineering giant of ‘defensive mindset’. A manager or any individual possessed of this trait will have on their sleeve every possible excuse for not sharing or taking responsibility for the decision done or taken. For every initiative of theirs, they would firstly identity the by-lanes and escape routes. Before boarding the flight of decision making, they would ensure that all parachutes are in working condition.
Defensive frame of mind is more along the path that has as its sign post: ‘I am obviously right, I am never wrong’; or even better, ‘I am not only right but the best of the best well-intentioned person abounding the corporate corridors’. This camouflage can lead to disastrous results for, both, the individuals as well as the organization. Decisions taken under the farcical banner of ‘well-intentioned actions’ can boomerang; but when they do so, it usually is late for any corrective action to take place.
Managers who operate with an inbuilt defensive mindset mechanism are not growth-oriented. They fear failure. They don’t drive, because accident can happen. To justify their inertia-oriented defensive approach, they script the lack of action in the guise of ‘well-intended approach’. Let sleeping dogs lie is their armory of operation.
My view of any given thing is the best view - to support this thought, enough false reasoning is done and placed before the executioners. They invariably push forward in action and, the consequent, extremely poor decision making.
The purpose of defensive framing is to get others to do what you think is right, thereby limiting learning opportunities or real change. In a different cultural setting, I had a younger colleague who would never participate and spell out the inner thought, but was always quick to be critical. As a supervisor, I would sometimes do the same (i.e. be possessed of defensive frame of mind and not share at all) out of intent to point out this habit.
In my everyday life, I keep in harmony the divergent approaches of productive and defensive mindsets. It is extremely difficult to bring colleagues from the defensive mindset to the productive mindset. Listening to others, encouraging expression of thought and limiting defensive mechanism is an uphill task for any enlightened individual. A productive mindset environment is always in harmony with its surroundings.
Leaders must remain consistent in their productive approach towards business growth. Only weeds grow in stagnant waters. By design, leaders always surround themselves with people who have a productive and positive mindset. There are always many reasons not to do so, yet the productive mind-set says, why not? That is the difference between the two approaches of life and living. Attitude will always determine your altitude on the organizational hierarchy chart.
The writer is a freelance columnist
