Tweddle Group Outward Mindset

Think your organization is in tip-top shape? "There's a saying that people don't need a doctor until they're sick," said Sam Whitney, one of the brains behind the Mindset Audit. "One of the problems with an inward mindset is that you don't know you have it. We wanted to develop a tool that could expose organizational mindset really quickly, and would allow people to walk away with an analysis of their score as well as suggestions for moving forward. As soon as you start to see those weak points, you begin to question the virtue of your organization's effectiveness, and that in turn causes you to question your place, and your part in that organizational breakdown. You're revealing a foundational mindset, and bypassing a lot of the common barriers by getting to the core of organizational issues."

Arbinger's new way of speaking about this same phenomenon-inward and outward mindset-illustrates the same principles. An inward mindset describes a mentality wherein the individual is focused solely on him or herself. Again, akin to being in the box, from an inward mindset others don't matter like I do. We are cut off from and closed to their needs and challenges-their humanity. An outward mindset describes a mentality wherein the individual is focused on collective success and wellbeing. A person with an outward mindset is aware of and alive to the needs, concerns and objectives of others and understands that their needs, concerns and objectives matter.

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How well do you take correction?

Arbinger teaches that transformation of conflict often begins with one party choosing to see the "other" differently-it is our hope that the documentary will help to illustrate that we share a common humanity, and that communities are multi-dimensional, living organisms where one sterile mandated behavioral solution is never the answer to true and lasting transformation.

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