How to cultivate a growth mindset in organizations?

Attitude and state of mind impact nearly every facet of our lives. Focusing on the positive is an integral part of achieving success, engaging and trustful relationships, innovation and fostering growth on individual and organizational level.

• Therefore, it is understandable that conscious organizations would like to foster a growth mindset of their leaders and employees. Mindful organizations would like people to excel at what they do, to be at their best and to reach their fullest potential. People with growth mindset tend to:
• reaching out to others in constructive ways 
• listen actively and engage with people in trustful relationships
• recognize the impact of different types of behaviours when interacting with others
• display confidence when talking to and working with others. 
• demonstrate confidence in their ability to build positive relationships and environments. 
• reframing interactions with others in a positive light.

 
So why is the attitude important? Because you follow it wherever you go: within your self-talk, at home, at work.  And because it determines your future and the level of success you achieve.

Note: what is the difference between victim and growth mindset?

​A victim mentality leads to weakness, self-doubt, apathy, failure, timidity, depression, misery, poverty, sickness, ineptitude, shame, submission, servitude, lethargy, drug abuse, inferiority, and barren love life.
 
The growth mentality is believing that you are in full control of your life. A victor welcomes the challenges of life, loves overcoming them and thrives. A growth mentality leads to strength, confidence, perseverance, success, boldness, contentment, joy, wealth, health, competence, pride, dominance, mastery, fitness, willpower, greatness, and rich love life.

Brainwriting exercise

Within the ideas to practice session of the Toastmasters business club meeting we conducted a brainwriting exercise on developing ideas how to cultivate growth mindset in organizations. All the participants were involved and were invited to think on ideas on how an organization could cultivate and support growth mindset with their employees. Technique used was a creative thinking technique – Brainwriting.

Principles of a Brainwriting:

1. Make sure you have a List of paper and a pen
2. In 1 minute you have to put down at least 3 ideas
3. Then change the papers and put down additional 3 ideas and so on

 
The result of the Brainwriting

Check out some ideas participants proposed:

• Agile hackathons – not a big thing, but only between the teams
• Raising awareness by conducting regular discussion on the topic
• Naming Growth ambassadors – individuals that are passionate about growth mindset
• Inspiring quotes on the mirrors on the toilets
• Meeting the competition and exchanging ideas, trying to learn from them
• Great ideas are awarded
• Building a supportive environment
• Weekly meetings of a group, where they share victories and challenges of previous week
• Look at history: discussion on it from growth point of view / fixed point of view
• Do the same for the future – discuss the differences
• Discuss in groups for innovative new approaches to fix past mistakes
• Coaching for employees
• Regular set goals and check on progress
• Teach employees coaching process
• Blank board on a visible place where employees share their challenges
• Learning whiteboard – a place for everyone to write down their AHA moments and how they solved their challenges
• What have I learned this week session at the end of the week
• Playing sports
• Sharing hobbies
• Having a meeting outdoors
• Everyone represents their fav hobby
• Group learns something new together
• Workshops – teamwork on finding solutions together
• Bringing pets to work – positive impact
• Posting what am I grateful for today – having a wall with it and read it at meetings
• Teambuilding with new things that have not been there for the team yet
• Morning exercises for 5 minutes
• Presenting the best employee of the month – the one that made mistakes
• Workshop on feedback and a box for feedback for each person
• At the meeting leader is to share what he or she did in his/her career
• Motivating employees to learn, study on daily basis
• TRY; FAIL; REPEAT
• Try even more; repeat again; stand up after each fall
• Make a mud pool in front of the office, if you feel bad, throw yourself inside
• Boxing bag at the office
• Changing seats/desks from time to time
• Failure of the month – so employees would not be afraid to make mistakes
• Billboard for mistakes - Collecting stars for mistakes for sharing, when you collect 5 stars, you get a prize
• Lectures on mistakes
• Change working environment or functions
• Organize short meeting when everyone has to explain and share a step how he/she practiced growth mindset
• Sharing dreams
• Vision board week – everyone participates and co-creates it
• Creating interest groups
• Massages at work – conducted by employees between themselves
• Never punish mistakes
• Help people understand
• Leaders must create space for creative ideas
• Leaders take their employees to drink and give them suggestions to grow
• Continuous learning and education on the topic of growth mindset
• Bringing people together
• Hiring people that have a strong desire to learn
• Celebrate success
• Encourage and represent successful people in the organization
• Sincere authentic communication
• Proverbs with positive content
• Yoga session during working hours
• Smoke weed during meetings
• Change workplace for one day
• Connect it with the ability to cope with stress
• Promote better relationships between the team members
• Take time to discuss one issue per week an a way to improve it

It's pretty nice, huh?

by Katarina Primožič Ramoveš