Mindsets for Change Leaders: Exploring Priming Approaches for Leadership Development

Abstract

Diagnostic and dialogic organization development present two contrasting change practices that are frequently discussed in tandem. Yet, an increasing body of evidence shows they are co-applied in practice. For those involved in leadership of these practices, co-application means switching their engagement, such as commencing with a diagnostic analysis to determine the goals of change, then switching to dialogic processes to foster the emergence of new ways of working. However, theoretical descriptions of these two practices remain bifurcated and, as such, overlook leadership development approaches that help leaders switch between engagement styles. Addressing this problem, this paper explores a leadership development approach that focusses on mindsets. We propose six mindsets from psychology settings that are relevant for leadership of diagnostic and dialogic practices. A key contribution of this work is a new perspective on leadership development. Extending psychology-derived knowledge on how to activate mindsets provides leaders of change practices with a means to increase awareness of, and take control of, their mindset, helping them to adjust their engagement as change contexts dictate.