Mindset does not fall from the sky

“If the coach says ‘You have the wrong mindset’, that’s an excuse for not doing their job properly.” - Richard Seidl

Today I would like to clear up one of the biggest bullshit bingo words in the business world: mindset.

Which brings us to the heart of the problem. I want to tell you what is right and wrong. And that’s the nonsense behind it.

But first things first. In a meeting of consultants and coaches at a client recently, an agile coach suddenly said: “My team has the wrong mindset. You can’t work with them.”. Oh. That’s harsh. And it highlights two problems in the “industry”:

Problem 1: The mindset is.

Exactly. The mindset is. No more and no less. But it is neither wrong nor right. We are all shaped by what we have experienced. Always and everywhere. One mechanism that works is the reality loop: We have an experience -> think our part -> use it to update our beliefs, etc. -> with these new glasses and filters, we look at the world around us -> and have experiences.

These and other loops criss-cross throughout the day. There is also feedback, significant emotional events and daily business.

And this mindset arises from the whole situation - this is how we look at the world.

We can talk about whether this is beneficial for a situation, for a project or for us - or whether it is more of a hindrance. But here, too, there is no black and white. Because the mindset has proven itself up to this point, otherwise we wouldn’t have it.

If we want to change it - ok. But accusing someone of wrongdoing is neither respectful nor helpful.

Problem 2: Walk the Talk

The second problem is even more striking for me. In the agile bubble, we always pretend to be super value-oriented: openness, feedback, tolerance, appreciation, communication, personal responsibility, etc. - When it all comes together, it becomes really agile…., at least as long as some coaches think so. Because for some, the fun quickly stops when things don’t go according to their ideas. When a team doesn’t develop as desired, when they have their own way of communicating. That’s when some coaches lose their openness, appreciation and personal responsibility.

And that then culminates in “You have the wrong mindset”. For me, there are too many dogmas behind this that are not agile at all. Because in agile there is no “this is the right way”.

Disclaimer: Of course, there are many other coaches out there and I don’t exclude myself from falling into the trap of complacency. This is a problem for all of us in coaching/consulting. We should always remember that people are human wherever they are.

Quick solution

Of course there is no such thing. Ultimately, changing your mindset comes down to a very individual approach:

1. get an impulse
2. try something out
3. experience and evaluate
4. learning and integrating - or not

And that takes time. In my experience, the focus is on points 2 and 3: trying things out and gaining experience. And we do that far too little. We waffle on in dailies, retros, meetings and workshops, we do status reviews, assessments and interviews - we are busy - but we DON’T DO anything. And that leads to stagnation.

Instead of focusing on methods and frameworks, put people at the center - with all their sensitivities, fears and desires - in my opinion, this makes for an agile shoe.

But that’s just my truth