How do you develop a growth mindset in your team?
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— The LinkedIn Team
A growth mindset is the belief that you can improve your abilities and skills through effort, feedback, and learning. It is a key factor for success, resilience, and innovation in any field. But how do you foster a growth mindset in your team, especially when they face challenges, setbacks, or failures? Here are some tips to help you develop a growth mindset culture in your team.
Model a growth mindset
The first step is to demonstrate a growth mindset yourself as a leader. Show your team that you are open to learning, feedback, and change. Share your own mistakes, failures, and lessons learned. Celebrate your own and others' progress and achievements. Avoid fixed mindset language, such as "I can't do this" or "This is too hard", and replace it with growth mindset language, such as "I can learn this" or "This is an opportunity to grow".
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Make it safe for your team to fail. This sounds incredibly counterintuitive but hear me out: 🔥 When your team feels like failure is just part of learning, they will take more risks. 🔥 They will be less afraid of speaking up. 🔥 They will feel free to be more innovative, take bolder risks and collaborate openly. This will all lead to more business growth and opportunities for both you and them.
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Encourage learning and curiosity
The second step is to encourage your team to learn new skills, explore new ideas, and seek new challenges. Provide them with opportunities and resources to learn and grow. Praise their effort, process, and strategies, not just their outcomes or talent. Ask them open-ended questions that stimulate their curiosity and creativity. Help them set specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals that stretch their potential.
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I couldn’t agree more here. Model this yourself, too. Be visible in training sessions and take part WITH your team. Ask questions conspicuously and frequently to show them this behaviour is encouraged and create permission for them to do the same. Talk about books you’re reading or podcast you’re listening to to fill your knowledge gaps. Say ‘I don’t know’ frequently. Take time and make space to learn from your team. Make these behaviours part of your team culture.
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Embrace feedback and failure
The third step is to embrace feedback and failure as essential parts of the learning process. Create a safe and supportive environment where your team can give and receive constructive feedback. Teach them how to use feedback to improve their performance and skills. Encourage them to view failure as a source of information and motivation, not as a sign of weakness or incompetence. Help them learn from their failures and overcome their fear of failure.
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We must embrace and encourage everyone to try something. We all grow through trying new ways and ideas. It’s so amazing when we create this culture.
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Promote collaboration and diversity
The fourth step is to promote collaboration and diversity among your team members. Encourage them to share their knowledge, skills, and perspectives with each other. Foster a sense of belonging and trust among your team. Celebrate the diversity of your team and value their different strengths and contributions. Help them leverage their collective intelligence and creativity to solve problems and innovate.
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Inclusivity is the first step to promoting diversity and collaboration. Set aside weekly time for your team to be 'out of meetings' and to 'collab and share.' Make sure everyone gets a chance to speak. Create an environment where you promote people reaching out to each other for help (esp if you're not always available). These are small things that can go a long way to promote empowerment, collaboration, and psychological safety.
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Challenge and support your team
The fifth step is to challenge and support your team to reach their full potential. Provide them with clear expectations, roles, and responsibilities. Give them autonomy and ownership over their work. Challenge them with meaningful and relevant tasks that require them to use and develop their skills. Support them with coaching, mentoring, and feedback. Recognize and reward their achievements and growth.
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The first person you must influence is yourself! How are you showing up? What is the energy you bring into a physical room or a zoom meeting? Is your positive energy and beliefs inspiring others or is your attitude deflating their dreams and excitement? If you want to be a great leader, you need to start by leading yourself. Don't blame your team for not believing in themselves or their goals. Instead take a look at yourself and ask how you can improve your own leadership skills. Remember you set the example for your team, so be the kind of limitless leader you want them to be!
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Cultivate a growth mindset in your team
Developing a growth mindset in your team is not a one-time event, but an ongoing process. It requires consistent and intentional actions from you as a leader. By following these tips, you can help your team develop a growth mindset that will enable them to thrive, adapt, and innovate in any situation.
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To encourage a growth mindset, it is important to encourage the following five behaviors: 1. Strive to improve your job performance every day, even if it’s just a small improvement compared to the previous day. 2. Challenge yourself by doing something that pushes you out of your comfort zone on a daily basis. 3. Embrace difficult assignments instead of avoiding them, as they offer the greatest opportunities for growth. 4. Avoid becoming too comfortable in your current situation, as this may lead to complacency and hinder your willingness to progress. 5. Hope for the best but prepare for the worst so you don't get paralyzed when it happens. Failure is acceptable.
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Here’s what else to consider
This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?
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The goal for employment has shifted from “ Paycheck “ to “Purpose”. Same with the incentive for growth. One needs to go beyond “professional” and seek the needs of the “person” to tap into their need. One great way to do it is by working on goals based on their strengths. What’s the purpose based on their strength? An individual’s awareness of lesser strengths and how he/she/they can compliment/manage it is a great way to help the person grow in their unique way. The same exercise when done for the growth of the team can yearn greater results as everyone gets to know others purpose, complements strengths and growing becomes fun. It’s a great tool to curb attrition aswell A team which grows together never leaves each other.
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