So you’ve been working on developing a growth mindset, but now you see that fixed mindsets are a struggle for many on your team. What should you do?
While having a growth mindset as a business owner or leader is essential, it’s just as important to help those on your team develop a growth mindset. When your entire organization functions with a growth mindset, you’ll achieve your goals and reach new levels.
Here are a few tips to help foster growth mindsets within your team.
Help your team develop a growth mindset
Open up communication and be transparent
There isn’t room for secrets within an organization with a growth mindset. SHRM shared a case study showing transparency from leaders within a company can lead to several important benefits, including:
- Developing trusting relationships in the organization
- Creating better alignment and helping employees to know where everyone fits within the big picture
- Finding more effective solutions more efficiently
- Receiving higher levels of engagement due to an improved communication strategy
If you want your employees to develop a growth mindset, it starts with you and your level of transparency.
Help them change how they think about failure
Fear of failure is a massive obstacle to developing a growth mindset. Creating a new way to look at mistakes and failures within the organization is crucial. If employees fear consequences if they try something new and fail, they will not try new things. You must create an environment where failure is something to be learned from instead of something that should make you shrink back in fear.
Teach your team to learn from their failures and use the feedback they gather to make adjustments and pivots. Again, you must model this behavior for them.
Encourage employees to try new things
Help your employees step out of their comfort zone by encouraging them to try new things. Look for ways to get creative to provide them with new opportunities. This may be an employee trying a role from another department or testing a possible solution for a problem within their department. Encourage creativity and free thinking within the organization.
Through this process, you may find certain employees would be better served by filling a role within a different department. It’s also an effective way to identify your organization’s natural leaders.
Prioritize continuous improvement and learning
With a growth mindset, no one reaches a point where they know everything they need to know. So provide opportunities to keep everyone on the team in a continuous state of learning and improvement.
Look for training opportunities you can bring to your organization, such as group coaching, to help your people improve. Provide opportunities for employees to learn from one another or even across departments. Help your team see there is no cap on what’s possible for them.
Reward the effort of individuals
When you have employees stepping up, developing a growth mindset, and helping take themselves and their work to the next level, recognize their efforts. This reinforces the importance of the work they’re doing. It encourages individuals to keep going and sets an example for others to step up and do the same.
Do not put expectations on the team and then never mention when they step up to do what you’re asking. Praise their efforts privately and publicly.
Seek the input of everyone on the team
Every single person on your team has valuable feedback they can provide the company. It doesn’t matter if they have only been working at the company for a week in an entry-level position or if they’ve been working with you for years.
There is a tendency in many organizations to prioritize the feedback and input of individuals who are higher up while leaving out the voices of employees in “lower” positions or those new to the company. This is a huge missed opportunity.
To help foster growth mindsets in your team, open up the lines of communication and seek feedback and input from people at all levels of the organization. When employees believe and trust that even the top managers are constantly working on improving themselves and their work, it sets an effective example for others to follow.
Work with SPEARity
SPEARity business coaches can work with your organization to help foster a growth mindset across the board. If you’re interested in exploring your options, contact us today to take the first step.
