Seven Steps for Promoting a Growth Mindset at Your Business
Many organizations operate from a fixed mindset. They hire employees to fill specific roles with little or no expectation of change. One of the most effective growth strategies involves moving from this static model to embrace a culture centered on progress.
A growth mindset assumes that improvement is always possible with enough effort and practice, a natural fit in the entrepreneurial world. Workplaces that focus on positive evolution will be more creative and productive. However, developing a growth mindset takes intentional action.
1. Embrace Challenges
A growth-centered workplace recognizes that challenges promote engagement. As a leader, you can set goals for individuals and teams that require extra effort. This goal-setting process must be well-planned. You want to set objectives that are hard enough to cause some frustration but not so difficult that they become demoralizing.
2. Encourage Curiosity
As employees grow in their skills and knowledge, they may see new ways to handle old problems or new directions for the organization. Allow this curiosity to inspire creative solutions. You never know where the path might lead.
3. Acknowledge Effort
The growth mindset takes advantage of the neuroplasticity of the brain. Challenging tasks and novel ideas form new neural connections and expansion. When employees struggle to reach their goals, they are expanding their minds. The process becomes as important as the goal in a growth mindset culture.
4. Offer and Accept Feedback
Meaningful feedback is an essential part of developing a growth culture. People with this mindset are not averse to constructive criticism. They know that your observations will help them improve.
As a leader, you must also be willing to accept feedback from your staff. A growth mindset culture breeds creativity, and you may be surprised at the insights your employees bring when they look at the organization from a different point of view.
5. Model Graceful Failure
A real challenge runs the risk of failure. Your staff will look at your example to see if they are truly free to make mistakes as part of the process. If you panic when something goes wrong, it will limit the potential for growth in the organization. Employees should accept failure as an opportunity to evaluate and develop new strategies.
6. Praise the Process
The growth mindset takes a holistic approach to project management. The steps along the way to successful completion are also platforms for learning. When a project is done, the team should examine the entire process to look for friction points and see how they might become more efficient.
7. Celebrate Growth
When you see signs of growth, acknowledge the effort and share the news. Your people should know when a staff member develops a new skill or accomplishes a goal. Creative people in the organization will find new ways to put these abilities to good use.
Your Partner for Entrepreneurial Growth
The growth mindset is one of several growth strategies we promote at the Productivity Intelligence Institute. Our goal is to help entrepreneurs improve their organizations and gain success. If you need help taking your business to the next level, feel free to reach out to us.
