Mindset isn’t just a buzzword — it’s the foundation of how people show up, respond to challenges and sustain performance over time.

At a time when organisations are navigating uncertainty, change and increasing demands on energy and attention, mindset becomes not just important, it’s essential. It’s the invisible engine powering (or quietly sabotaging) your team’s resilience and performance.

Fixed vs Growth: It Starts Here

Psychologist Carol Dweck’s work on fixed and growth mindsets is well-known but often under-applied. In a fixed mindset, people avoid challenge for fear of failure. In a growth mindset, they see effort as a path to mastery and setbacks as part of the process.

Which mindset do you want in your team when things go wrong? When a project derails? When you’re pitching for a high-stakes client or rolling out a change programme that won’t please everyone?

It shapes how people recover, how they adapt and how they communicate under pressure. In short, it shapes resilience.

Why Mindset Matters for Performance

A resilient mindset isn’t about toxic positivity or pretending everything’s fine. It’s about creating the conditions — both internal and cultural — where people can face challenge and not freeze. Or worse, disengage.

When people are in a fixed mindset, feedback feels like a threat. When they’re in a growth mindset, feedback becomes fuel. That distinction alone can be the difference between a team that gets stuck and one that learns and evolves.

Teams with a resilient, growth-oriented mindset:

• Don’t take failure personally

• Are more likely to collaborate, not compete

• Handle change with curiosity, not resistance

• Can maintain focus even under stress

That kind of mindset doesn’t just improve performance. It supports wellbeing, psychological safety and long-term retention.

The Actor’s Mindset

As communication specialists with a background in theatre, we often talk about the actor’s mindset. Actors are trained to adapt in real time, to bounce back when things don’t go to plan and to take direction without losing their sense of self. They know how to rehearse for pressure.

That rehearsal mindset — a willingness to try, to fail, to adjust and to stay present — is something organisations can learn from. It’s what makes actors resilient, agile and responsive under pressure. And it’s what makes teams high-performing too.

You Can’t Train Resilience Without Touching Mindset

Often, resilience training gives people tips for managing time or avoiding burnout, but it doesn’t go deeper. And without addressing mindset, those techniques rarely stick.

At 1948, we go beneath the surface. We explore:

• How mindset shows up in physicality, tone, language and behaviour

• How to reframe challenge without dismissing it

• How mindset impacts communication in difficult moments

We work with live scenarios, real dialogue and interactive tools that make the learning stick — not just in theory, but in how people show up the next day at work.

Final Thought

Mindset isn’t a soft skill. It’s a performance tool. And in high-pressure environments, it’s the quiet superpower that holds teams together, gets results, and sustains energy over time.

Resilience starts with mindset. High performance depends on it. If you want teams who can handle pressure, bounce back from setbacks, and stay engaged even when the stakes are high — start there.

By Simon Coleman | 1948 C0-founder | Actor | Communications Expert

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