There are two mindsets that a person can adopt:
Learner mindset:
The mindset of a person who is curious and is looking to learn from every situation
Judger mindset:
The mindset of a person who judges others shifts blame to others and does not take responsibility.
If the leader of the team has a learner mindset, the team will adopt that mindset too. Leaders should ask curious questions without any sort of judgment. The learner mindset questions ignore motivation and inspiration in teams.
Questions a judger mindset leader thinks before listening to the team:
- Are they going to screw up again?
- How are they going to disappoint me this time?
Questions a learner-minded leader thinks before listening to the team:
- What do I appreciate about them?
- What are the best strengths of each one?
- How can I help them collaborate most productively?
- How can we stay on the learner path together?
- What’s valuable here?
- What’s to be learned from that comment?
- How can this contribute to what we are working for?
The questions you think about before listening to the team and the questions you ask create a learner-or-judger environment. Learner questions enable listening in order to understand the other person, rather than to find out who is right or wrong. Which makes it possible for everyone to participate fully, feel safe taking risks and get curious.
Characteristics of a learner team:
- high performing
- have more positive emotions
- good balance between inquiry (or asking questions ) and adequacy
- can ask tough questions
- have genuine open debate
- argue and have conflicts while keeping the learners environment
- listen without judgement or without the intention to prove another person wrong
- open to taking risks and trying new solutions
Learner lease turns the team into a learner team.
