Have you heard of the term 'Growth Mindset'? It may sound like just another self-help book that you'll pick up, skim through, and eventually leave gathering dust on your bookshelf. However, the truth is that as we grow from innocent children to wise adults, our mindset evolves through our experiences. The Stellar X Event in May 2024 featured four public entrepreneurs who shared their life stories and insights. Their journeys, from overcoming obstacles to achieving success, were truly inspiring. Drawing inspiration from their experiences and quotes, let’s delve into the strategies for fostering a growth mindset within your team to drive business success.
Why do we need a growth mindset in the team?
The Growth mindset definition is a theory created by Stanford psychology professor Carol Dweck as a method to change and improve outcomes in education and student performance.
Having a growth mindset encourages adaptability and the willingness to embrace change. It fosters a culture of innovation within the team by encouraging people to think outside the box, take risks, and come up with creative solutions to problems. In today's fast-paced business environment, being able to adapt to new challenges and opportunities quickly is essential.
According to a study carried out by Microsoft, it has been demonstrated that employees exhibiting a growth mindset are notably inclined towards pursuing innovative projects and achieving favourable outcomes. Moreover, this mindset promotes collaboration among teams, which catalyses driving business success.
With a growth mindset, team members are more likely to bounce back from setbacks and failures. They see obstacles as opportunities for learning and improvement rather than as roadblocks. Team members are also more likely to collaborate, listen to feedback, value diverse perspectives, and work together to overcome obstacles and achieve common goals.
Ways to gain a growth mindset in business
How can a company harness this positive potential? It begins with a robust management approach, a growth-focused mindset at the helm, and the right person.
Moving Out of Your Comfort Zone
As performance psychologist Jonah Oliver emphasises, "You do not learn a growth mindset by reading a book on it. You only develop it through in situ exposure." Cultivating this powerful mentality requires putting it into practice through real-world challenges and discomfort.
Here are key ways teams can embrace a growth mindset:
- Seeking out discomfort for a growth mindset: Seek out stretch assignments and unfamiliar projects that push the boundaries of comfort zones.
- Failure is a prerequisite for growth, not something to be feared. Reframe obstacles and setbacks as opportunities for learning rather than roadblocks.
- Encourage an environment of psychological safety where team members feel empowered to take risks, make mistakes, and voice differing perspectives.
- Prioritise continuous learning through training, cross-training, job shadowing, and exploring diverse knowledge domains.
- Truly define what your life and business is about: Anchor the growth mindset in a clearly defined team purpose and values system.
Take, for instance, Amazon's relentless pursuit of innovation and growth. While already dominating the e-commerce space, the company has consistently ventured into new and unfamiliar territories, such as cloud computing with Amazon Web Services (AWS), voice assistants with Alexa, video streaming with Prime Video, and AI-based services. These forays into discomfort zones have allowed Amazon to diversify its business, stay ahead of the curve, and maintain its position as a market leader.
By intentionally exposing your team to discomfort, reframing challenges, and anchoring growth in purpose, teams can unleash their full potential for innovation, resilience, and sustained high performance.
Building Trust in Team
Trust empowers individuals to courageously share their ideas, take risks, and overcome obstacles. Trust is a mental magic that builds a robust team, giving a sense of belonging. People are more willing to invest their energy and work towards common goals.
Here are some key ways to build trust within a team:
- Set clear expectations and boundaries: Having clear guidelines on how team members should communicate, behave, and understand their roles/responsibilities provides structure and consistency to build trust.
- Create a space for psychological safety: Encourage open and honest communication without fear of judgment or criticism.
- Build trust through meaningful experiences: Team-building activities like ice breakers. When people get to know each other better and have the opportunity to work together in a relaxed setting, they are more likely to develop a trusting relationship.
An inspiring story about the power of trust.
Jessica Gallagher is the first Australian athlete (Olympic, Paralympic) to win Summer and Winter Paralympic medals. She was diagnosed with a rare eye disease called cone dystrophy during her Year 12 at high school, which caused her to lose much of her eyesight. Despite being classified as a legally blind athlete, she was able to compete in Women's Slalom with the help of her teammate, Eric. Who wore a bright yellow shirt and skis in front of her to guide her down the slopes.
Imagine skiing down a vision of white with just a faintly visible yellow light moving left and right at a speed of 100km/h. Jess even once lost all her vision due to unexpected weather conditions. But she did not let fear hold her back. Instead, she overcame her negative emotions, trusted herself and her teammate, and won a medal.
In business, we will always face risks and fear. Trust in the team plays an important role, giving everyone the confidence to take risks and overcome challenges. Just like Eric and Jess, the team trusts each other to work as a backup, face obstacles, and take risks.
See Challenges as Opportunity to Grow
As a legally blind skier, Jess's story is not just about how she overcame obstacles. She didn't dwell on her losses and instead constantly adapted to new challenges and environments and turned negatives into positives.
When the iPhone was first introduced, many experts were sceptical about a touchscreen-only device, but Apple saw it as a chance to reimagine the user experience. Rather than viewing the lack of a physical keyboard as a limitation, they embraced it and created the revolutionary multi-touch display.
"It is not what you see, it is how you see it." - Jessica Gallagher
Embracing challenges as opportunities for growth encourages team members to think outside the box and come up with creative solutions to problems. It helps build resilience within the team, as they are more likely to bounce back from setbacks and failures. Team members become more open to feedback and value diverse perspectives, leading to better collaboration and problem-solving.
Challenges are not roadblocks but stepping stones towards success.
Open to New Changes, Bring Happiness to the Team
Happiness is a potion that boosts team productivity; people feel motivated and engaged in their work when dopamine is dominating. Positive emotions pave the way for improved collaboration and teamwork, cultivating a supportive environment where team members are eager to share ideas and work together effectively towards common goals.
Key ways to create a happy team at work:
- Foster Gratitude: Encourage team members to look for things to be grateful for in their daily work.
- Celebrate Small Wins: Recognise and appreciate team members' efforts, even for small accomplishments
- Promote Authenticity and Openness: Create a safe space where team members can be their authentic selves and share openly.
- Lead with Positivity: As a leader, model a positive and optimistic attitude. A positive mindset from leadership can significantly influence the team's overall happiness.
“Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
- Jeff Mckeon
Cultivating an environment where employees feel empowered to thoughtfully respond to challenges, rather than simply reacting. When team members have the freedom to pause, reflect, and consciously choose their approach, it fosters a sense of ownership and engagement that drives innovation. Employees who feel truly heard and supported are more likely to find fulfilment in their work, leading to increased productivity, creativity, and a stronger commitment to the company's vision.
Prioritising the happiness and well-being of the team lays the foundation for sustainable growth and a competitive advantage in an ever-evolving business landscape.
Attitude is Everything
We've all been there - faced with a difficult client, a missed deadline, or a colossal screw-up from a team member. In those moments, it can be tempting to let our emotions get the better of us, lashing out or playing the blame game. But as a father of 6, Dr Justin Coulson so eloquently reminds us in his thoughts that attitude in those situations is everything.
Coulson draws from a hilarious (yet insightful) parenting experience to drive home this point. When his young daughter lovingly handed him a "gift" of her own making, he realised that life will inevitably serve us up some metaphorical piles of poop. The true test lies in how we choose to respond.
As the ancient philosopher Epictetus famously said, "Men are disturbed not by things, but by the view which they take of them."
In the business world, maintaining the right attitude can mean the difference between success and failure. Coulson offers two powerful mindsets to cultivate:
- Acceptance: Instead of forcing our agenda or passing judgment, accepting a difficult situation for what it is can often defuse tensions.
- Compassion: Truly seeking to understand the struggles others may be facing – we open the door to deeper connections and more creative solutions.
This isn't just theoretical fluff; Coulson argues that "an attitude of helpfulness and service will make you more valued – and thus more valuable – to those you work with." In an era where emotional intelligence is prised, businesses run by compassionate, solution-oriented leaders will undoubtedly hold an edge over their competition.
A bad attitude is like a flat tyre on a car. You can't go anywhere unless you change it.
- Justin Coulson
So the next time you're facing a professional setback or prickly colleague, pause for a moment. Instead of knee-jerk reactivity, consider extending the olive branch of acceptance and compassion. You may be surprised by how quickly tensions dissipate and creative problem-solving emerges.
What’s Your Thoughts?
Cultivating a growth mindset within our teams and businesses is about more than just strategies and techniques. It's about embodying a fundamental truth - that our minds are truly the masters of our reality. The path may not always be easy, but with a growth-oriented outlook, each obstacle becomes an opportunity to learn, adapt, and forge new paths to brilliance.
For in that expansive mindset lies the secret not just to business success, but to living and leading with purpose, resilience, and an unshakable spirit of possibility. The growth mindset is more than a corporate buzzword - it's a revolution in human potential just waiting to be unleashed.
Learn more about the StellarX Event | Read Dr Justin Coulson’s blog Attitude is Everything | A longer story of Jessica Gallagher | Link to Jeff McKeon's LinkedIn