In adults it is believed that after reaching a certain age your mental growth stops. Actually No.
Research shows that three kinds of adult mind frames are found in adults and they are very relevant especially while thinking about leadership roles in education.
1. The Socialized Mind: These individuals can internalize the feelings of others, which means they can imagine what someone else is likely to be feeling when those feelings have not been directly stated. They can also be devoted to and identified with an ideal, a group, or a relationship that is greater than their own impulses, desires, or needs and so, for example can understand themselves as ''loyal employees''. Individuals who operate with a Socialized mind are identified or fused with the beliefs of the larger group, which means they cannot reflect on them or question them, and are therefore shaped by their surroundings which guide their thinking and behavior. When conflict arises between two important values or allegiances, these individuals will feel torn because they do not have a larger self or system that can mediate or resolve the conflict. This is a dangerous mindset especially at leadership roles because it is very authoritative and stops other trying new things which might be important for the system.
2. The Self-Authoring Mind: A majority of adult population does not reach point (research says): An adult who has reached the Self-Authoring stage of development has a larger, more integrative self that expands on and incorporates the capacities of the Socialized stage. These adults have an
internal source for creating their beliefs systems and do not require validation from others. Adults with a Self-Authoring mind can prioritize among their values and commitments. They are not beholden to others for their sense of self and identity, and so adults with a Self-Authoring mind can evaluate other ideologies and generate their own critique. They can also tolerate and even invite disagreement because the discovery of difference is not fundamentally threatening.
They are much better leaders for a system compared to 1
3.The Self-Transforming Mind: The transition from the Self-Authoring Mind to the Self-Transforming mind is statistically rarer in the research (under 10% in most studies), and does not usually begin, if it does occur, before midlife (around 40)
Self-Transforming adults view themselves and their identities as always incomplete, revisable, and in process. Rather than identifying more with one’s self as it is currently constructed, the Self Transforming individual looks for the ways that self-construction is flawed and limited and so is identified most with his or her own evolving. Leaders who operate with the Self-Transforming perspective can see across their own and others’ belief systems or ideologies to identify larger patterns. Their thinking becomes more dialectical, reflecting an increasing awareness of and orientation to paradox,
contradiction, and oppositeness. (The Implications of Robert Kegan’s Adult Development Theory for Leaders)
So next time if you are in search of a good leader in your educational organization try to find someone with 3.
