Is a growth mindset culture one of your company’s core values? Do your employees have a willingness to continually learn and grow? Their ongoing advancement is paramount, as fostering a growth mindset is fundamental to ensuring the long-term viability of the company.
"The best way to predict your future is to create it." - Abraham Lincoln, 16th U.S. President
What Does Growth Mindset Mean?
Stanford University psychologist Dr. Carol Dweck developed the concept of a growth mindset.
“In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment.” - Carol Dweck
What is a Growth Mindset Culture?
A growth mindset culture materializes when business leaders support continuous learning and development (L&D), and employees are excited about learning for their future growth. The workplace culture reflects valuing raw talent among all else along with the belief in everyone’s ability to develop their skills and excel.
A deeper learning environment involves constructive feedback and handling challenges through mentorship, coaching, and L&D lessons. In the growth mindset culture, employees continue to grow, learn new skills, and successfully achieve business goals.
Employees are empowered and committed. They’re personally fulfilled, energized, and happy in their careers. The entire workforce knows they have tremendous potential for growth in the organization.
Benefits of a Growth Mindset Culture:
According to Harvard Business Review, research supports the benefits of a growth mindset culture. Employees are more likely to say:
- coworkers are trustworthy (47%)
- their company fosters innovation (49%)
- their company supports risk-taking (65%)
- they feel a sense of ownership and commitment to the future of the company (34%)
When all these benefits come together, this new culture of growth facilitates ongoing development and drives success. It breeds confidence. As employees develop their skill set, they become more confident and are more likely to take the initiative in projects. They become more resilient. Creativity flourishes. Productivity increases. When employees are more competent and confident, the entire team can achieve their goals more frequently and quickly. Employee satisfaction rates increase due to this sense of job satisfaction and purpose.
Furthermore, a growth mindset culture allows for greater freedom for each employee to reach their full potential and overcome any limiting beliefs. If a manager gets promoted, who is next in line? A growth mindset culture creates the path to the organization’s overall succession plan.
How Can Business Leaders Begin to Create a Growth Mindset Culture?
How do business leaders build a workplace culture where people want to learn? How does one unleash the full potential of the workforce? Keep in mind that a growth mindset is when employees focus on the future and business leaders provide actionable support. Inspiring people growth sounds overwhelming but is worth the commitment and effort in the long run.
Here’s a sampling of how leaders can begin to create a growth mindset culture:
- Adapt to change. Effective leaders understand that to remain competitive and relevant they must embrace change. A growth mindset culture does not focus on how things used to be. A growth mindset workforce is open and welcomes new ideas and changes within their department and organization. They focus on the future and all that it offers. The employees have a clear vision of their goals and their future. They understand how they will need to grow to achieve their goals. They understand constant growth requires constant change. Leaders must see that change starts immediately to meet both short- and long-term goals. A thoroughly thought-out L&D plan can help employees see a clear vision.
"The most dangerous phrase in language is we've always done it this way." - Grace Hopper, American computer scientist and mathematician
- Be committed. Embrace the concept that hard work, persistence, and learning produce results. Leaders must be fully committed and invested in working with all employees to create KPIs and incentives for growth. When leaders are tempted to give up as challenges arise, an employee education program around a growth mindset can address issues and move them forward.
"Let me tell you the secret that has lead me to my goal. My strength lies solely in my tenacity." - Louis Pasteur, French chemist
- Transition from a fixed mindset culture. Leaders will need to help employees recognize they have a choice between a fixed or growth mindset. Then, they’ll need to encourage the employees to find what triggers their fixed mindset and find a habit that helps them transition into a growth mindset. Self-talk, such as, “I’m going to choose growth” is a way to break a fixed mindset. Offering training in this area is also helpful to employees with a fixed mindset. By embracing a growth mindset, employees can feel confident and move the company forward.
"Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right." - Henry Ford, Ford Motor Company founder
- Lead by example. The C-suite must lead by example consistently to build a growth mindset culture. They must take very intentional steps to do so. Leaders must outwardly display flexibility and adaptability to the changing business environments. All employees must be able to pivot and adjust to changes. They must observe this, so they understand the need to quickly adapt to the new growth mindset culture and let go of their fixed mindsets.
- Offer learning and development opportunities. The entire organization should value and put L&D at the top of the priority list. Document best practices on how to introduce an employee professional development program and how to encourage employees to use it. Training programs, mentoring, and coaching are all important. Be sure to allow time for learning. Leaders should share how they too are willing to learn and grow. This will encourage employees to develop new skills and take on new challenges. Employees must gain the specific skills needed to move forward. Continuous improvement should become second nature. See that employees keep building both hard and soft skills needed to perform their jobs.
According to Gitnux Marketdata Report 2024, the lack of development opportunities and not learning new skills was a top reason why employees left their companies. Seventy-seven percent of employee turnover is due to poor management. This emphasizes the importance of investing in effective management and employee training. Clearly, a growth mindset culture fostering continuous learning and development decreases the employee turnover rate.
- Value and build soft skills. Research by McKinsey Global Institute solidifies that L&D programs emphasizing higher cognitive skills like creativity, critical thinking, and decision-making will be highly valued. By 2030 the demand for higher cognitive skills will grow by 19%.
- Encourage a thirst for knowledge. Offer ways, such as multi-modal and video-based microlearning lessons, for employees to learn and expand their knowledge base. Be sure to offer opportunities for continuous learning experiences and coaching. A culture of continuous learning keeps employee engagement levels high.
- Publicly reward growth and effort. Effective leaders create a growth mindset culture by setting the tone and best practices. A willingness to learn and take on new responsibilities deserves recognition and reward. And so does putting in the effort!
- Empower your employees. Leaders must empower their employees to develop their growth mindsets. Let them solve the problem. Let them learn how to approach the problem from all angles and present innovative solutions. Refining problem-solving skills is an important step toward career growth. Encourage out-of-the-box thinking to spur creativity and innovation.
- Foster collaboration. Value teamwork. When employees share their knowledge and insights, they can better solve problems and come up with innovative solutions. A collaborative culture and a growth mindset culture go hand in hand. If team members are not communicating or if a conflict arises, skills training in these areas will help employees learn to be effective team players.
- Be trusting. Trust employees to do their job and do it well. Allow teams to take big risks, learn from mistakes, become more innovative, and move the business forward.
- Show empathy and be supportive. Actively listen to employees’ upskill needs and their career goals. Be understanding when they make mistakes.
- View mistakes as a learning opportunity. Don’t view mistakes as a setback but as a way to learn and grow. Employees must take risks and learn from their mistakes. Never use the word fail. Learning is a positive and powerful word to use instead.
"With the right mindset, we can't lose-we either practice what we've learned, or we learn what we need to practice." - Noura Books, philosopher and author
- Encourage two-way feedback. Effective feedback versus negative feedback is essential to employees’ growth and development. So is asking them for their input or solutions to possible issues. Two-way open communication is critical to a growth mindset culture.
- Optimize performance reviews. Help drive employee growth and development by encouraging employees to confidently take on new projects. Set long-, medium- and short-term goals with them, not for them. Award them for meeting each goal or the effort made. Employees want leaders to notice skill set gaps and to offer L&D so they can learn and grow. If skill gaps are unclear, ask employees if they would like any specific training.
- Be proactive in the recruiting, interviewing, and onboarding process. Set the tone during recruiting, interviewing, and onboarding. Don’t be shy ... be proud to gush over your growth mindset culture! Personality tests during the interviewing stage will reveal if the candidate has a growth mindset or not. Don’t just look at the candidates’ abilities and qualifications. Look at their willingness to learn and grow. They’ll have a higher potential to add value if they’re outside-of-the box thinkers. Let them know during the process there’s room for learning and growth within the entire organization.
- Foster psychological safety. Employees should feel safe voicing their opinions and being able to give honest feedback. When employees feel psychologically safe, different viewpoints emerge. This allows for learning opportunities such as innovative ways to approach and solve problems. Lessons on psychological safety help prompt this type of company culture.
- Build an inclusive team. A more inclusive pool of talent throughout the organization allows for different perspectives, experiences, and great ideas. Be sure all employees feel welcome and included in the workplace. They must have equal access to new opportunities. All employees must feel valued, respected, and recognized for their contributions. This leads to higher job satisfaction, increased productivity, and lower turnover rates, leading to both organizational and personal success. Inclusion and belonging training can help employees see the benefits of an inclusive team.
HSI Can Help!
A growth mindset culture stresses a continuous learning environment. Skill development allows employees to acquire new knowledge and expertise. This keeps the team members abreast of industry trends, best practices, and new technologies.
Microlearning, “bite-sized” content delivered in a variety of formats, is a great way to approach creating a growth mindset culture as learning is accessible and easy to comprehend and retain. It engages even the hard-to-reach and reluctant learner.
Ready to start developing a growth mindset culture? Our eBook, Fostering Organizational Culture Change with Microlearning, is a must-read. Please contact HSI to learn more about ensuring employees have access to soft skills training and the necessary tools that will facilitate a growth mindset culture.
Here are some of our microlearning content and video-based lessons around this (hopefully soon-to-be) company core value:
For Leaders:
- Are you a Growth Leader?
- The Traits of a Growth-Minded Leader
- Look at Your Garden Grow
For Employees:
- Limitations of a Fixed Mindset
- Using a Growth Mindset to Expand Inclusion
- Creating Your Own Growth Mindset Playbook
HSI offers ground-breaking microlearning solutions to help companies of all sizes deliver award-winning content through flexible integration options to build high-performing growth mindset corporate cultures. Request a consultation.
"Change is inevitable. Growth is optional." - John Maxwell, American Author and speaker