How Leaders Teach Teams to Stop Trying

I’ll never forget the resigned sigh of a Director as they leaned back in their chair. We were talking about their team’s performance issues. We talked about various possible solutions. Training? No. That doesn’t work. Coaching? No. That doesn’t work either. Every option hit a wall. Finally, the Director shook their head and said, “We can’t teach old dogs new tricks.” In that moment, the real problem became evident. The bar wasn’t just low. The person responsible for raising the bar was keeping it low based on archaic mindsets.

Leaders Set the Bar Up… Or Hold It Down

That outdated mindset stifles potential silently. It signals that seniority justifies a fixed, unchangeable stopping point. It says that growth has an expiration date. Left unchecked, that belief doesn’t just limit one leader’s thinking. It becomes the way the whole team thinks.

In fact, decades of research have shown exactly this pattern. When leaders impose a fixed mindset, people avoid challenges, disengage and stop trying. When leaders model and endorse a growth mindset, individuals persist longer, use more effective strategies and respond to setbacks with adaptive behaviors rather than withdrawal.

Breaking the “Old Dogs” Myth

The following practices can help leaders push back against the “old dogs” myth.

• Audit your “Can’t” list. Leaders often project their own insecurities onto their staff, which could lead to a culture of learned helplessness. Write down one thing you’ve assumed a team member “can’t” learn or won’t improve at. Then ask whether that belief comes from evidence or from watching them struggle once and writing them off. Chances are, you’ve mistaken a slow start for a stopping point.
• Make your learning visible. Don’t just learn in private. Talk about the book you’re reading, the podcast that challenged you or the skill you’re trying to master. When your team watches you work through new ideas and adjust your methods, they gain a real-time example of learning in action. They stop seeing learning as a phase they left behind and start seeing it as an ongoing practice.
• Raise the bar with a stretch assignment. Assign your team a special assignment that deliberately stretches their capacity. For example, developing training material and delivering the training session themselves on a skill they haven’t mastered yet. Keep it separate from performance reviews, so the focus stays on growth.

The leader who claims that seniors can no longer learn has already decided what their team is capable of. That means the bar is set low before anyone has even a chance to rise. And a low bar doesn’t move on its own. It remains exactly where the leader holds it. Now go find the lowest bar in your organization. Then ask whether you’re the one holding it down.

Adeline (Addy) Maissonet is a senior advisor on contracting policies and procedures within the Office of the Secretary of War, U.S. Department of War (DoW) and the agency’s representative on the Department’s views on proposed legislation to Congressional members, their staff, and committee staffers. She leads the development and implementation of Department-wide procurement policies for commodities and services, within her portfolio. Prior to her current role, Addy served as a Division Chief and Contracting Officer with unlimited warrant authority for the U.S. Army Mission and Installation Contracting Command (MICC) – Fort Eustis, Virginia. Prior to joining the MICC, Addy served as a Branch Head for the Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center (MARMC), Norfolk, Virginia, with unlimited warrant authority. She also held other procurement positions with the U.S. Navy. Addy holds an MBA in Management and Contracting Level III Certification under the Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act. She is a graduate from Cornell University’s Executive Leadership Certificate Program and Harvard University’s Business Analytics Certificate Program. In her free time, Addy enjoys hiking and overlanding with her family and friends.

Note: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Department of War.

Photo Credit: Renee B, Pexels