Peter Heslin, UNSW Australia Business School: "Mindsets Research, Implications, and a Question"

Location:  TC.5.12

Time and Date: Tuesday, November 24, 2015, 16:30

Engaged employees work vigorously, feeling dedicated and mentally absorbed in their work. Much is known about the kinds of jobs and work environments that stimulate employee engagement, yet levels of disengagement remain high in many organizations. To provide fresh insights into how to increase engagement, this presentation will review theory and research in social, educational, and organizational psychology that illuminates how mindsets are a personal resource that may influence employees’ engagement via their enthusiasm for development, construal of effort, focus of attention, perception of setbacks, and interpersonal interactions. Peter Heslin will outline several avenues for future research, as well as practical implications for helping people to adopt and sustain a growth mindset with regard to the challenges they encounter at work. He will then pose an open question in the mindsets literature that participants will be invited to discuss.

Peter Heslin is an Associate Professor of Management at the UNSW Business School as well as an Academic Fellow of PCI Media Impact and Warrane College. In 2014-2015 he served as the chair of the Academy of Management’s Careers Division. He lives his passion for discovering and sharing useful ideas through his research, teaching, and consulting focusing on the role of self-regulatory dynamics – especially mindsets – in career success, employee engagement, and leadership development.