Dr. Carol Dweck pioneered growth mindsets in her book “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success.” It asserts the malleability of human characteristics — a person can improve them through hard work and dedication. Likewise, everything from your traits to intelligence can develop, assuming your mindset has the proper framework. From a small business perspective, managers who promote a growth mindset for their employees could create a more passionate and effective workplace.
Growth Mindsets Can Improve Your Business
Before implementing company-wide mindset shifts, it’s essential to formulate a firm intention. So, why do you want to teach your employees about developing a growth mindset? Moreover, the strength of that motivation will translate to your workers, causing the information to mean more to them. Are you trying to get your employees to value your startup? Are you trying to empower them to take on more responsibilities or own up to mistakes? Honing in on this will guide the strategies you implement to teach them.
Employees will become more purpose-driven, willing to learn, and collaborative as they build better office relationships. 2014 research shows workers with growth mindsets are 34% more likely to feel committed to their company, increasing excitement about their objectives. With this in mind, growth mindsets could positively impact every facet of your small business. Imagine reaching sales goals or client acquisitions with a simple mindset transformation.
Overcoming Obstacles
The reason growth mindsets work is they overpower limiting beliefs. These create walls around your employees’ personal and professional development. Some believe they are only capable of certain professional feats because their age dictates their potential. Others let years of experience govern how dedicated they are. These are false equivalencies.
Notice these red flags in how workers act and speak during meetings or while facing complex assignments. You’ll see employees unintentionally hinder performance and output. If you promote a growth mindset, it could prevent most of them from happening.
What are the tangible ways growth mindsets can improve your business? Apart from the confidence, it also could instill in your workforce, goal-setting initiatives in your organization can come to fruition more frequently.
Employees Can Grow With Access to Resources
Giving employees the strategies to develop growth mindsets will improve performance and productivity. So, encourage them to reflect on their limiting beliefs and how they create excuses that could hinder their career growth. Cultivating a growth mindset in the workplace can take many forms. Here are some ways to train your employees:
- Foster self-belief: Encourage your employees to provide feedback — positive or constructive. Knowing colleagues pay attention and care about your growth will give them greater assurance and ambition.
- Remind them to love what they do: Most employees have a specific reason to come to work, whether it’s a passion for the field or to get a paycheck. Regardless of intention, remind employees why they’re there and how they can more strongly achieve those goals through mindset shifts.
- Lead by example: If the rest of the employees do not see your effort to change, they lose faith in the process and perceive you as complacent. Leadership cannot be exempt from positive change, so make an equal effort, if not a more tremendous one.
- Demonstrate growth from failure: Provide opportunities to employees to think outside the box and take risks. This isn’t about intentionally sabotaging, but giving them chances to see their skills are more outstanding than they perceive. If they make mistakes, arising from them is just as inspiring.
It’s vital to provide scenarios for these skills to practice strengthening, such as interactive workshops or assigning more varied tasks to certain employees. Most times, stepping out of your comfort zone is the most effective.
Growth doesn’t require failure — it requires challenges. These can be presented to your employees as seminars or extra credentials to feel validated in their professional development.
The Mindset of Your Business Will Flourish
The benefits of encouraging a growth mindset aren’t as quantifiable as soaring sales metrics. Despite that, studies have created situations to observe growth mindsets in action and obtained positive empirical evidence. Seeing it in your office will require a keen eye to notice how the culture and employees change as they implement the mental model.
The changes will be gradual, so patience is necessary. Myriad benefits range from mood regulation to improved confidence and also include:
- More comfort taking risks.
- Greater initiative to achieve goals.
- Higher motivation.
- Lower stress and anxiety.
- Better relationships with colleagues.
- More adaptable to change.
Small businesses and solo entrepreneurs must deal with countless obstacles, especially in up-and-coming industries. A growth mindset will allow you to be ready for future trends and changes. You and your staff’s minds may be more willing to curate your business structure to what will bring future success.
Cultivating Growth Mindsets at Work
Measurable skills are essential to improve in the workplace, but mental skills are often underappreciated. Promote a growth mindset to propel your small business past the troubling barriers even large companies encounter. Your employees will be grateful for practicing a growth mindset when realizing how it affects them not just at work, but also positively in their personal lives.
