By: Adi Marty, MD MME
If you’re working in an institution where everyone already lives and breathes a growth mindset, you can stop reading right now. Really. Close this tab, lean back, and pat yourself on the shoulder for contributing to such a rare and wonderful success.
For everyone else – stick with me.
When I first became a clinical supervisor, a senior colleague gave me this advice:
“Don’t worry too much about giving feedback. They’re all straight-A students, they think they know everything, and they don’t want to be criticized.”
Others went further:
“The youth of today aren’t motivated. They just want a medal for getting out of bed. And if you criticize them, they crumble.”
This view drives me crazy. Because humans are naturally curious. Just watch a toddler explore. So why do we lose this spark in our training programs? And can we bring it back?
The Fragile Act of Asking for Feedback
Imagine a trainee who has just completed a clinical task (an EPA). She knows there’s always something to improve, so she approaches her supervisor for feedback.
But the supervisor is busy dictating a report. He glances up, sighs, and says, “Not now, maybe later.”
For the trainee, this is crushing. Asking for feedback already takes courage in the face of hierarchy. Being dismissed—verbally or nonverbally—can silence that courage instantly. After a few experiences like this, curiosity wanes.
When Teachers Lose Curiosity Too
It’s not only trainees who struggle. In today’s high-pressure healthcare systems, many supervisors themselves seem to have lost (or maybe never developed) a growth mindset. (Dweck, 2006)
Patient care always comes first. Teaching and reflection is squeezed into the margins. Some even feel frowned upon if they take five minutes for a feedback conversation.
But the result? Supervisors themselves lose patience and curiosity.
Where Do We Begin?
To foster growth mindset, we must first create psychological safety – the certainty that taking risks, asking questions, and showing vulnerability won’t backfire (Edmondson, 2018). If trainees feel they must constantly prove themselves, they’re in survival mode, not learning mode. All their energy goes into impression management instead of growth.
Stress buries curiosity. Our job is to dig it back up.
One way is through advocacy-inquiry: the “good judgment” approach (Rudolph et al, 2006)
- I saw…
- I think…
- I wonder…
Instead of rushing to judgment, we invite dialogue and reflection.
Not There Yet
At its core, growth mindset is about adding one little word: yet.
Not competent yet.
Not confident yet.
Not independent yet.
It reframes performance gaps as opportunities rather than failures. Contrary to skeptics, this is not “against human nature.” It is human nature. We flourish when we grow—both as people and as professionals.
Practical Tips
So, how do we nudge our systems, our teams, and ourselves toward growth mindset?
- Leaders: Move toward a Deliberately Developmental Organization, where teaching is central, not secondary. Value behaviors that foster psychological safety. (Kegan & Lahey, 2016)
- Trainees: Hold on to your agency! Keep asking, “Can you give me some advice?” Share your reflections explicitly.
- Supervisors: Shift from examiner to coach. Even a two-minute feedback conversation matters. Be concrete – tools like Start-Stop-Continue make learning goals actionable and meaningful.
Who Goes First?
Should trainees adopt growth mindset first? Or supervisors?
The answer is simple: both!
Growth mindset is not a one-way street. It’s a partnership (some might call it an “Educational Alliance”). A shared journey where both sides stay curious and support each other to grow—not just into competent clinicians, but into flourishing professionals.
Stay curious. Stay generous. And above all, let’s grow – together.
Refrences:
- Dweck, C. S. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. Random house.
- Edmondson, A. C. (2018). The fearless organization: Creating psychological safety in the workplace for learning, innovation, and growth. John Wiley & Sons.
- Rudolph, J. W., Simon, R., Dufresne, R. L., & Raemer, D. B. (2006). There’s no such thing as “nonjudgmental” debriefing: a theory and method for debriefing with good judgment. Simulation in healthcare, 1(1), 49-55.
- Kegan, R., & Lahey, L. L. (2016). An everyone culture: Becoming a deliberately developmental organization. Harvard Business Review Press
About the Author:
Adi Marty, MD MME, Senior Attending Anesthesiologist, Balgrist University Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland. Chief Visionary Officer, precisionED Ltd, Wollerau, Switzerland.
The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of The University of Ottawa . For more details on our site disclaimers, please see our ‘About’ page