Coined by world-renowned Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck, mindset has become the word used in the boardroom and internal communication strategies to discuss the development of a business related ‘EQ’.

Dwek believes "the view you adopt for yourself profoundly affects the way you lead your life. It can determine whether you become the person you want to be and whether you accomplish the things you value". 

Daniel Goleman, also a psychologist, who conceived the phrase ‘Emotional Intelligence’, lists alongside mindfulness, emotional agility, intuition and concentration as the keys to business success. This combination of factors raises important questions for business’ developing their intuitive concentrated skill base in order to best accommodate the needs of their clients whilst nurturing the most productive team environment.

But how do businesses develop an aligned mindset between individuals, corporations and clients to harbour an environment for development and success? 

Matt Ede, head of Consultancy at Logistik Group, believes that in a corporate world, the most successful businesses understand the power of creating the right mindset for the business to perform in the way it wants to. And when you get it right as a business, it's incredibly effective.

"What organisations so often get wrong is that they fail to understand and close the gap between the existing mindset of their employees and the mindset they require to grow," Ede suggests. "Engagement surveys don’t cut it because they are so often self-centered around what companies what to know to improve themselves, rather than coaxing out what employees really want to say about. Once you understand your employees, only then can you begin to shape the way they think and feel about you, and help to generate individual and business success."

Miriam Staley, Apprentice finalist and Managing Director of Speaker Bureau Make Waves explains that "the most beneficial mindset you can possibly cultivate for success is one which is open to change and constant growth. Most people aren't usually consciously aware of what's going on inside themselves, so learning to hear that little inner voice, is a brilliant first step. Then you can ensure that the things you say you want to achieve and what you're actually telling yourself about your ability to do so, are totally aligned."

Change is hard, as it by definition has to move us out of our comfort zone. Tim Drummond, Amazon best-selling author and Women’s Health Coach, encourages people to "write down all the things you would do if you had a magic wand and knew you couldn’t fail. Then put yourself in your own shoes while on your death-bed (I know it sounds morbid but it is very powerful and actually inspiring) and tell your current self what you think about you not trying to make these happen."

Whether or not EQ and thus intuition and concentration levels are entirely inherent, learned behaviour or developable business skills, there is no question that transforming ones mindset is a question of cognitive thinking and focus. As businesses strive to incorporate a greater degree of Emotional Intelligence into their talent pools in order to accelerate their capacities as professional teams, their employees have to be at the fore of the quality of product they can offer. This goes far beyond standardised questions of work culture and life balance to the very heart of the type of individual that you are recruiting and the ways they can be positively nurtured psychologically beyond the remit of their ascribed work.

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