Though not new, the concept of Growth Mindset and its significance in the workplace is growing, with organisations embracing it seeing unexpected impacts and unprecedented results.
Recent research on growth mindset in the workplace in Australia emphasises its role in enhancing employee performance, resilience, and overall job satisfaction. Studies indicate that fostering a growth mindset can lead to better teamwork and innovation, as individuals feel more empowered to take risks and learn from failures.
The underlying foundation to a culture that espouses growth mindset is TRUST.
Trust that employees are committed and give their best efforts to everything they do
Trust that collaboration is viewed by all as a constant and competition between employees is discouraged
Trust that employees will be supported to take a chance on trying new things without fear of recrimination if they don’t work
When individuals trust themselves and others, they are more likely to embrace challenges, accept feedback, and persist through difficulties, leading to greater personal and collective development. There are numerous examples of high profile individuals that embrace a growth mindset – embedding at an organisational level is a much greater challenge, requires every Leader to demonstrate a true commitment to making it work and to holding others account and giving everyone the opportunity to focus on learning and taking risks.
Here are some ways Leaders can foster a growth mindset within their organisation:
Promote creativity & innovation: Set clear expectations around deliverables but give employees freedom to find their path towards fulfilling their duties. Allowing for creativity often results in increased collaboration, problem solving and performance improvement offering long-term benefits to the individual and broader business
Embrace cross-functional learning and mentorship: Encourage employees to explore different skills and roles to identify areas for personal development. Promote cross-departmental collaboration, offer temporary role shifts, and allow shadowing experienced colleagues
Support learning through coaching and feedback: Recognize that growth is an incremental process – provide regular, meaningful feedback and unlock potential through powerful questioning. Managers that ask questions rather than ‘tell’ employees the answers will see substantial growth in their team members
Investing in Leadership training programs aimed at cultivating a growth mindset will see measurable improvements in employee engagement, innovation and productivity. The commitment of Leaders in fostering a culture of growth mindset but they need the support of comprehensive training and development in how to embed this thinking to ensure it brings the outcomes that are going to make a real difference.
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