When faced with personal ineffectiveness or lagging organisational performance, most of us instinctively look for quick-fix behavioural band-aids, not recognising the underlying mindset at the heart of our most persistent challenges.
Through true stories and simple yet profound guidance and tools, ‘The Outward Mindset’ enables individuals and organisations to make the one change that most dramatically improves performance, sparks collaboration, and accelerates innovation - a shift to an outward mindset. In the new book, "The Outward Mindset: Seeing Beyond Ourselves" co-authors James Ferrell and Mitchell Warner offer readers a new intuitive way to implement mindset change by engaging in three steps:
1. Seeing the needs and objectives of others
2. Adjusting your work to make it more helpful to others
3. Measuring and holding yourself accountable for the impact of your work on others
Your mindset governs how you view the world - what you do and how you do it.
When individuals and organisations switch to an outward mindset, they are able to think and behave in ways that further the collective results that they are committed to achieving - results that involve everyone in something bigger than themselves and require collaboration in order to succeed.
In fact, according to a study conducted by McKinsey & Company, those who attempt to affect change by concentrating on changing mindset are four times more likely to succeed than those who focus only on changing behaviour. With this finding in mind, Ferrell and Warner further explore the differences between inward and outward mindsets and teach readers:
• How to get out of their own way by adopting an outward mindset
• To quit waiting on others to change
• How to allow others to be fully responsible - to both plan and execute.
A shift to an outward mindset also changes how people see regard, and engage with others.
As their mindset turned outward, they began to see and consider not only their own needs but also the needs and objectives others - the needs of their colleagues and of those who might be affected by potential layoffs. Breakthroughs came as they began considering others in this way.
Seeing others differently, they began thinking and behaving differently.
Reference: The Arbinger Institute: ‘The Outward Mindset: Seeing Beyond Ourselves’
