If you’re a senior leader, you’ve likely seen the difference between managing people and leading them. Yet many managers stay stuck in task-based thinking. Shifting from manager to leader demands a growth mindset—a belief that your abilities and your team’s potential aren’t fixed. This mindset shift directly impacts your influence, decision-making, and ability to drive long-term success.
This blog breaks down how growth mindset thinking reshapes leadership habits, and how you can apply it right away to have more impact.
What Is a Growth Mindset in Leadership?
The term “growth mindset” comes from Carol Dweck’s research. Leaders with a growth mindset believe that skills and intelligence can be developed through effort, feedback, and learning. In contrast, a fixed mindset assumes talent is static—you either have it or you don’t.
In a leadership context, growth mindset shows up in how you:
- Respond to mistakes (yours and others’)
- Give and receive feedback
- Set expectations for development
- Handle ambiguity and pressure
- Model resilience and adaptability
If you’re still measuring success by control, efficiency, or compliance, you’re managing. Leadership is about influence, learning, and growing people—including yourself.
From Manager to Leader: What Needs to Shift
Here are five mindset shifts that move you from managing tasks to leading people. Each shift reflects a core growth mindset principle.
1. From Fixing Problems to Coaching Performance
Managers often jump in to fix. It’s faster. But leaders coach instead of rescue.
Old approach:
“I’ll step in to make sure this gets done right.”
Growth mindset shift:
“What questions can I ask to help them think this through themselves?”
Instead of being the expert, you become the thinking partner. This encourages accountability and builds capability across your team.
2. From Avoiding Risk to Learning from Failure
Managers play it safe to maintain control. Leaders take calculated risks and model how to learn from mistakes.
Try this:
- Share your own missteps in meetings
- Ask: “What did we learn?” not just “What went wrong?”
- Track lessons learned in retrospectives, not just metrics
This normalises learning and reduces fear-based behaviour.
3. From Control to Trust
Micromanagement is often rooted in a fixed mindset—distrust that others can grow or improve. Trusting your team doesn’t mean letting go of standards. It means investing in their growth.
Ask yourself:
- Do I measure success by how much I control, or how much they grow?
- Am I creating space for initiative?
Trust is built by giving people room to experiment and reflect. Not by perfecting the to-do list.
4. From Proving Competence to Modelling Curiosity
Managers often feel pressure to have the right answers. Leaders admit when they don’t—and ask better questions.
Practice:
- Say, “I don’t know, let’s figure it out together”
- Frame uncertainty as shared discovery, not weakness
Curiosity shows your team it’s safe to think critically and ask “why?”
5. From Feedback as Evaluation to Feedback as Fuel
Managers give feedback to correct. Leaders give feedback to grow.
Shift your lens:
- See feedback as data, not judgement
- Make it regular, not annual
- Ask for feedback yourself—model what you want
People grow faster when feedback is safe, expected, and mutual.
How Growth Mindset Builds Strategic Influence
Growth mindset leadership builds long-term credibility because it’s based on learning, not ego. When you lead this way, people trust you more. They stretch themselves because they see you doing it too.
This approach also improves:
- Psychological safety: Teams speak up more
- Innovation: People take more risks
- Retention: Growth is a reason to stay
- Decision quality: More inputs lead to better outcomes
What Gets in the Way?
Shifting to a growth mindset isn’t just about knowing the theory. It takes practice. Here’s what tends to get in the way:
| Obstacle | What to Try Instead |
| Perfectionism | Focus on learning cycles, not flawless results |
| Time pressure | Coach in real time—every meeting is a chance |
| Hierarchy and ego | Invite feedback from all levels |
| Lack of role models | Be the first to model it—even when it’s awkward |
Bottom Line: Start with One Shift
You don’t need to overhaul your leadership style overnight. Pick one mindset shift and commit to it for 30 days. That’s enough to start rewiring habits and shifting culture around you.
Start by asking: “Where am I holding a fixed mindset right now—and what would growth look like?”
This question alone can change your leadership trajectory.
Making the shift from Manager to Leader? – Reach out to us at Schedule a call or video conference with Kyle Kalloo or call us right now at: 1-844-910-7111
