Do you ever feel stuck in your career, wondering how to get to the next level, but you just can’t find the right solution/s? While having the right tools and techniques help, it’s not the first step to reaching goals, having a growth mindset is. You see, everything starts between your ears. And, developing a growth mindset isn’t just a good idea, it’s the foundation for achieving long-term success in this business!
Henry Ford said it best, “Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you are right.”
And, I believe that is true. But, how do you create, maintain and even master a growth mindset? Let’s take a look at several strategies to do just that.
Strategy #1 Embrace Change
The financial services industry is full of change. Advisors that embrace change see challenges as opportunities rather than as obstacles. In fact, it’s a cornerstone of fostering a growth mindset. When you accept challenges, you activate problem-solving skills and uncover hidden strengths.
Let’s take Tom, a financial advisory client of mine, with five years of experience that looked at the 2020 pandemic as an opportunity to not only make stronger connections with clients, by calling each of them to explain what was happening in the market, but to also prospect! During quarantine he decided to call every prospect that hadn’t become a client over the previous two years. Many of them told him they had not recently heard from their current advisor; as a result, several decided to become Tom’s clients!
Strategy #2: Learn from Criticism
Feedback is a powerful tool for growth. Whether it comes from a colleague, a client, or a mentor, constructive criticism provides insights into areas where you can improve. A growth mindset means approaching feedback with seeking to understand rather than defensiveness.
One example of this is Robert, a financial advisory client of mine, with twenty-five years of experience who was having a hard time helping prospects see his value during the first appointment-discovery meeting. He explained that he started every meeting by telling them his corporate story. I explained that his process wasn’t creating connections. But, that uncovering their problems and explaining how he has solutions does would. He took that criticism and designed a much better system to connect with prospects and never had that challenge again!
Strategy #3: Stay Curious
In a constantly evolving industry, curiosity fuels growth. Advisors with a growth mindset actively seek out new knowledge to stay ahead of trends, adapt to change, offer innovative solutions or even better the ways that they communicate with clients.
This reminds me of Rose, a veteran financial advisor client of mine who wanted to gather some additional assets from a high net-worth client of hers who had money at a competing bank. She wanted to learn a better way of helping her client understand the advantages of consolidating those assets with her, instead of just telling him. So, I taught her a technique that I call “The Question Path Exercise” to help the client come to a conclusion that they want to buy. She understood and applied the technique; as a result, her client moved all of his assets to her!
Strategy #4: Create Resilience
Failures and setbacks are inevitable, but resilience allows you to bounce back stronger. Advisors with a growth mindset see these moments as stepping stones rather than roadblocks. Resilience helps you maintain perspective and focus on long-term goals despite temporary challenges.
Kyle, a rookie financial advisor client of mine has learned a process for creating resilience. After an unsuccessful client presentation, he analyzed what went wrong—whether it was unclear communication or he just wasn’t prepared, because knowing what “it” was can lead to better results in the future. What this did was shift his focus from the lack of results, such as not closing the sale, to learning from his loss so he can close the next one; as a result, his business keeps getting better and better!
Strategy #5: Surround Yourself with Growth-Oriented People
The people you associate with have a significant impact on your mindset. By surrounding yourself with positive, driven individuals, you can stay motivated and focused on growth. Growth-oriented peers inspire you to strive for higher goals and provide valuable perspectives on overcoming challenges.
That’s exactly why I created The Advisor Solutions Group Coaching Program-,to help like-minded advisors, agents and wholesalers be surrounded by growth-oriented people!
Why Mastering Your Growth Mindset Works
The reason why the aforementioned strategies work so well is because any and/or all of these strategies gives you a stepwise approach to getting in the right frame of mind in order to overcome setbacks. When you have a growth mindset, you will have more success than you ever thought you could!
In Advisor Solutions Podcast Episode #132: Mastering Your Growth Mindset, you will find a more comprehensive discussion of each strategy mentioned here as well as real-world examples.
