Tweddle Group Outward Mindset

he Arbinger Institute addresses the ego in a different way. Through simple storytelling, Arbinger recognizes the "boxes" we build and carry with us throughout our lives. These boxes, full of misconceptions, burden our hearts and impact our behavior, keeping us stuck in old patterns. Our ego reinforces the boxes we carry, making it easier for us to deny the humanity of those who are different from us, who disagree with us, or who hurt us. It encourages us to burrow deeper into our box, instead of expanding outside of it. This is how the ego interacts with fear.

Arbinger believes that results like these aren't otherworldly at all, but tangible and realistic victories that can happen at home, in our communities, at work and in the world (and in the cosmos) through the adoption of an Outward Mindset. Functioning with an Outward Mindset means that we're open to and curious about the needs, desires, goals and objectives of those around us. Not only are we simply aware of these things, but we care about them, and choose to be alive to ways we can help others achieve their objectives. We view others as people rather than obstacles, vehicles or irrelevancies.

Over thirty years of intensive research, The Arbinger Institute has demonstrated that every organization operates somewhere along a continuum from Inward to Outward Mindset. Since behaviors drive results and mindset drives behaviors, the prevailing mindset in an organization has profound impact on an organization's performance and culture. Your answers to 10 questions will suggest where your organization might be along the Mindset Continuum from Inward Mindset to Outward Mindset. The score that is derived from your answers will generate a series of observations of what is likely happening (and not happening) in your organization, along with possible next steps to take in order to improve your organization's collective mindset and results. Please select a score from 1 to 10 for each of the following questions.

Superior Water and Air is a plumbing, heating and air conditioning business founded in 1956. Rob Anderson, a senior Superior employee, and a partner, Mark Combourn, purchased Superior in 2007. While Superior was a solid company when Rob and Mark bought it, the company was small and wasn't growing. Rob, who was now CEO, wanted to grow the business, but felt stuck in how to go about doing so, especially with a workforce that he considered stagnant and complacent. He then also discovered that his company was suffering from fundamental business deficiencies. Rob knew that he needed to find a way to change the way the each employee operated if he wanted to remedy the company's deficiencies and grow the business.

You like the conflicts you're in. You like that your teenager yells at you, for example, or that your spouse is giving you the silent treatment. And you like how your co-worker is making your life more difficult. You like that your boss is a jerk and that your employees are incompetent. You like the trouble people are creating for you."

Video on how the Arbinger principles and an Outward Mindset can transform.

The Zerorez Phoenix office was known as the renegade-noncompliant, though successful in generating revenue, it had been the thorn in the side of corporate for years. Over time, headquarters began to dread interactions with the satellite office, going so far as avoiding communication for drawn-out periods of time. That was until Zerorez Phoenix franchise owner Casey Ashdown got his hands on a copy of Leadership and Self-Deception. After reading the book, it wasn't long before Ashdown and his business partner Nathan Perrins were attending an Arbinger workshop offered locally by Arbinger Facilitator Michael Merchant. The material resonated with Ashdown immediately, though Perrins was initially a bit more skeptical about the sustainability of a training somehow working its magic to transform an entire organization.

Each of these decisions comes down to pride. And pride is how even extremely competent leaders con themselves. As the Arbinger Institute writes in Leadership and Self-Deception, "Self-deception obscures the truth about ourselves, corrupts our view of others and our circumstances, and inhibits our ability to make wise and helpful decisions."

A webinar from the Arbinger Institute

Last year, Arbinger's film crew traveled to Belgium and France to document the centennial commemorations of the Christmas Truce. We've created a video series that can be viewed here, covering answers to questions like, "What was the Christmas Truce?", "What made the Christmas Truce special?", "How can you see people?", "What are the costs of your conflicts?", and "What can we learn from the Christmas Truce?".

Tubular Steel was the inspiration of the company written about in Leadership & Self Deception.

There comes a point in a leader's journey when they are most likely faced with and then forced to grapple with the following question: "How can I have an unflinching focus on results while honoring and seeing people as people?" A bigger problem may exist in the leader avoiding such a question, or worse yet, never pondering it.