Mindset Agility: Finding Your Inner Scout

Take a moment and think of a situation or a relationship with a hotspot. Now ask yourself this: What’s more important to you: defending your beliefs or seeing the world as clearly as you can?

As described in this TED Talk, the answer to this question tells you something about your mindset, and the emotional ‘fuel’ you’re using to take action. When it comes to effectively leading large, complex systems, the ability to toggle between the Warrior and Scout mindsets that Galef introduces, is essential.

When applied to the ‘hotspots’ of conflict, this mindset shift changes where a leader puts his focus. It moves from the all-to-familiar ‘Who’s doing what to whom?’ to the more curious and expansive, ‘What’s trying to happen here?’

As subtle and nuanced as it may seem, mindset awareness and agility are crucial when leaders are looking for new solutions to old problems, or when the vitality of the organization depends on driving innovation.

When we come from the Scout Mindset, it invites people around us to shift as well. It makes it more possible to take pride in learning from a mistake, instead of being ashamed by it; or to be intrigued by unexpected outcomes instead of being defensive about a surprise.

Increasing our ability to hold the Scout perspective of systems leadership makes us more adept at noticing the signals the system is sending about what wants to emerge or what it needs to grow; and, organizational tensions become the seeds of invention and innovation.

What is one area or relationship where shifting from a Warrior Mindset to a Scout Mindset would have a huge positive impact?

Where are you using motivated reasoning to justify your position on something?

 

 

 


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