In 2016, I had no idea what a growth mindset was.
Then, I read Black Box Thinking by Matthew Syed and it changed my life.
I know, it sounds dramatic. But it’s true.
It changed my perspective on mistakes and learning and showed me a more engaging way to write nonfiction. I recommend that book to anyone who’ll listen, provided they’re not about to board a plane or have surgery.
Black Box Thinking is all about the difference between having a fixed vs. a growth mindset. It explores how a growth mindset can benefit industries—like the black boxes in airplanes. And how a fixed mindset can harm them, like the secrecy that can happen in the medical industry.
There’s really no downside to a growth mindset regardless of what industry you work in.
What is a growth mindset?
The concept of a growth mindset was coined by Dr Carol Dweck in her book, Mindset. (She’s also great if you want more book recommendations.)
In her book, she describes a growth mindset as follows:
“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.”
In a fixed mindset, people believe that their skills and intelligence are innate and cannot be expanded no matter how much they practice.
A growth mindset means you learn from mistakes and don’t beat yourself up about them or let them hold you back. Even if we’re not good at something now, that doesn’t mean we won’t be in the future.
Writing poetry is a good example of both. Almost everyone I know—including writers—usually tell me they can’t write poetry.
But they tend to compare their poetry to what they studied at school (if they’ve even tried to write poetry at all).
The poetry they teach in school is only one form of poetry, though.
A student with a growth mindset might be more inclined to try writing poetry, even if they know that their first attempt may not be very good. They know that with practice and studying different forms of poetry, they’ll improve and may find a new way to express themselves.
The benefits of a growth mindset for your employee experience
So how can cultivating a growth mindset benefit your employee experience? Let’s see:
Trust between colleagues
Trust between colleagues is vital to mental health and high performance. If employees don’t feel trusted, it can quickly lead to disengagement, quiet quitting, and eventually, actual quitting.
However, there’s a huge difference between what managers think about trust, and how trusted employees feel.
PwC’s recent Trust Survey found that 93% of businesses executives believe that trust improves bottom lines and 86% say that they highly trust their employees.
Only 60% of employees feel highly trusted. Yikes.
Businesses need to be mindful of this disconnect and consider how to improve it. Or they risk losing employees due to disengagement.
A growth mindset makes employees 47% more likely to trust their colleagues. This trust can lead to greater innovation, which helps organizations stay ahead of the competition.
It also improves your retention rates, meaning you save money and have more to spend on other priorities.
Psychological safety
Risk taking leads to innovation and the ability to stay competitive. When an organization has a culture that encourages a growth mindset, employees are 65% more likely to say their employer supports risk taking.
A growth mindset means that if an employee makes a mistake, their boss doesn’t berate them but turns it into a learning opportunity. Then, they support them in avoiding that mistake in the future. They understand that all learning and development comes with some risk, but that it can only happen if employees feel supported in taking risks at work.
Trusting bosses understand that no employee is perfect and the best way to support employees isn’t to have a culture of burying mistakes and acting like they never happened.
More innovation
Innovation requires trust, and trust requires safety. These are key tenets of an organization’s growth mindset.
Less than half (49%) of employees feel their organization fosters innovation. In the current climate, as AI increasingly impacts our lives, having less than half of businesses support innovation is a little concerning. If a company isn’t innovating, at this point, it’s basically going backward.
Greater sense of ownership
Ownership helps employees feel like they belong in the workplace, which can mean they want to stay and are less likely to seek out new roles.
They can become loyal advocates for your organization and will work harder because they care about why they’re there.
In fact, when companies have a growth mindset, employees are 34% more likely to feel a strong sense of commitment and ownership at work. This demonstrates the power of encouraging learning and development at every level within your organization.
Conclusion
When a company has a growth mindset culture, it has a positive impact on everyone within the organization. It leads to greater innovation, which helps the business stay ahead of its competition and earn more money.
It also creates a better environment for employees, enabling them to feel more confident, creative, and psychologically safe.
Develop your employees’ growth mindsets
So how do you help employees develop a growth mindset?
Workrowd can help you empower your team members with employee groups, programs, and events that expand their mindsets. With our intuitive one-stop shop, you can streamline employee processes, automate admin tasks, and track your progress with real-time analytics.
Get in touch today to book your free demo. Visit us online or email us directly at hello@workrowd.com.
