Mastering the BIM Mindset

There’s one simple thing you can do for yourself today that will completely, radically and forever change the way you experience working in BIM. This post explains what that is.

Have you ever noticed some people are really excited about working in BIM?

While others dread it – or worse, are indifferent, neutral or less-than-enthralled?

This post explains why.

And better yet, will help you overcome the latter response.

People have 2 different settings.

According to Carol Dweck, author of Mindset, people are in one of two modes.

They’re either in the performing mode – where they’re expecting to perform.

Or else they’re in the learning mode – where they’re expecting to grow.

Growth types

Mindset has a simple premise:

The world is divided between people who are open to learning and those who are closed to it, and this trait affects everything from your worldview to your interpersonal relationships.

Those who work in the performing mode see themselves as fixed – I know what I know and every day I come to work to prove what I know.

They’re primarily concerned about looking good.

Those in the growth or learning mode work in BIM expecting to grow, change or learn from their experience.

They’re Always-Adding-to-their-Toolbox-types (2A4Ts or 2A40s.) We all know them.

We might be a 2A40 type ourselves.

Fixed types

Others believe their intelligence is capped. Fixed.

There’s a limit – its set – their mind’s set. Mindset.

They won’t be the ones taking themselves – or BIM – to the next level.

Not by choice anyway.

But rather kicking and screaming.

They’re happy treating BIM as the next generation CAD.

Stuck in this-is- just-the-next-software mode.

Do not pass go.

Do not cross the chasm to 4D, 5D or D’yond.

These two modes – performing and learning – may go a long way to explain how motivated you will be to work in BIM.

Without a growth mindset, there’s no mastery.

As posted in these pages, Mastering Autodesk Revit Architecture 2011 comes out this month. (I can’t wait!)

And yet there is no mastery without the growth mindset.

You have to be able to imagine yourself improving, growing and changing – in order to master a skill.

Otherwise you’re fixed. Like a dog.

Which one are you?

Are you here to show us what you can do?

Or do you arrive in the morning to discover something new?

Here’s a test:

When you come home at night does your partner/roommate/spouse ask you how did you do today?

Or what did you learn today?

And which of the two do you ask yourself?

Judge & Perform or Learn & Grow

I don’t divide the world into the weak and the strong, or the successes and the failures… I divide the world into the learners and non-learners. – Benjamin Barber

People with a growth mindset constantly monitor what’s going on.

They’re attuned to its implications for learning and constructive action.

They’re constantly on the inquiry, asking:

What can I learn from this? How can I improve? How can I help my teammate do this better?

One Simple Thing

There’s one simple thing you can do today that will make all the difference in the world.

That will vastly change your life and the experience you have – your satisfaction and fulfillment – at work.

It’s not enough to say change your attitude when the program is driving you bananas.

It’s not helpful for someone to tell you to change your mindset when no one has ever bothered to explain what one of those are or how you might go about doing that.

The one thing is free.

And best of all it is easy and painless.

This is it.

You ready?

What we need to do while working out the kinks in BIM and plowing through the barriers, roadblocks and obstructions that naturally arise in the program is this:

Change your internal monologue from a judging one to a growth-oriented one.

That’s it.

So stop beating yourself up over changes to the user interface, families from manufacturer’s content and working with nested groups.

And approach BIM as a learning tool.

When you go to work – while performing your duties – you’ll be secretly attending the University of BIM.

Practice acting on the growth mindset.

And ask yourself this:

• Will you allow yourself to be in the BIM mindset where you approach working in BIM in terms of learning and professional growth?
• Will your employer enable you to work in a learning mode without negative repercussions or feeling that you are being judged and evaluated?
• Is it realistic, in this economy, to expect anything but 100% performance from our workforce – that learning on the job, when it happens, is a bonus but not a necessity?
• Will we work all the harder and more effectively if we feel that we are learning and growing on the job?