The process of redundancy can cause a great amount of stress and anxiety. When going through any form of change, you will experience a range of emotions including shock, anger and disbelief. Whilst it is hard not to take any career setback personally, understanding how to adopt a growth mindset can help you to respond more positively.

This article explores the importance of developing a growth mindset during redundancy.

Types of Mindset

‘Mindset’ is essentially your frame of mind and the beliefs you hold about yourself and the environment around you. An individual’s mindset is the reason they think and act the way they do. It gives them their general attitude towards the world and their personal outlook on life. Your mindset has a major impact on your actions, wellbeing and sense of achievement in both your life and career. Psychologist Carol Dweck identified 2 types of mindset:

• Fixed Mindset - the idea that our success is purely dependent upon factors over which we have no control. A fixed mindset assumes that our character, intelligence, and creative ability are inherent, rather than something we can develop over time.
•  Growth Mindset - adopts a more optimistic view and does not see perceived failure or roadblocks as evidence of lack of skill, but as a chance to build upon our existing abilities and develop our potential.

Why is a Growth Mindset important?

Managing a difficult period of change such as redundancy can be stressful but thinking about them in a different way can help you respond more positively. By adopting a growth mindset, you develop resilience and put yourself in a stronger position to embrace setbacks and challenges. Dweck found that people with a growth mindset – that is, people who believe in their ability to change and learn new things – accomplished more than those with a fixed mindset. A fixed mindset can hold you back, limit your career options and prevent you from moving forward with new ideas.

How to develop a Growth Mindset

Embarking on a career transition and navigating the job market requires resilience and a positive mindset. Here are some ways to develop yours.

• View failure from a different perspective - Learn from any career setbacks and see challenging situations as an opportunity to grow.
• Acknowledge and embrace your weaknesses - Understanding your weaknesses provides a better insight into what may be holding you back and the skills you may need to develop.
• Change your mind set by changing the way you speak to yourself - Use positive language and concentrate on your inner voice. Instead of saying “I don’t like networking”, try practicing “networking will take some time and energy, but it will help me get closer to securing a new role”.
• Value the learning process - Focus on the value you are getting from the job searching process, visualise success and try not worry about things that are out of your control.
• Take a different approach to critical feedback - Embrace constructive criticism on your applications and interviews as an opportunity to improve your skills and personal growth.