Growth Mindset

Recently, our CEO has become obsessed with the idea of “Growth Mindset” which she seems to crowbar into all her company updates, and we received a talk from an external speaker. The actual talk seemed like a lot of waffle to me, but the general idea sounds like the type of life lessons that Simon Sinek says (he calls his philosophy “The Infinite Game“). Although I normally think ideas/mentality like this are pretentious, I respect Simon and I think there’s probably something in this way of thinking, so shouldn’t be put off by the external speaker’s presentation. Many colleagues stated they were aware of the idea of Growth Mindset and cited the book “Mindset” by Dr Carol Dweck.

Join us on the latest and most exciting stage of our journey with Growth Mindset. We have been working with the NeuroLeadership Institute on embedding a growth mindset culture in order to increase employee engagement, equip our people with tools and techniques for personal and professional development and to help everyone in the organisation navigate change. We have been running Growth Mindset sessions with our leadership team since September last year and we will be making a set of incredible tools and resources available for everyone to benefit from.

Company announcement

Growth mindset is thinking that every day is a learning experience and you don’t know everything. When you change your perspective, it changes outcomes. You have to allow for failure which is a learning opportunity. Don’t strive for perfection. In Software Development, you may never release software if you always strive for perfection. 

“Growth Mindset can be applied to all aspects of your life. It’s easier to think about what a growth mindset is by thinking about what it isn’t. So if you think about a fixed mindset, a fixed mindset says this is the way it’s always done and this is the way it will always be. I can only do this, I can’t do that. I don’t want to share. I don’t want to learn. I’m in my swim-lane. I’m not getting out of it, and I’m not interacting with anyone else. A Growth Mindset is the opposite of all of that. It’s like, we’ve done it this way, but there are other ways to do it. I can learn to do anything. I believe that I can learn to do anything that I put my mind to. It’s genuinely sharing in other people’s success, making it not just about you. The fact that other people have achieved something based on what you’ve kind of started or an idea that you might have had. Let yourself be happy about other people’s success.“

NeuroLeadership Institute

The application of a growth mindset is not confined to any single aspect of life. It can be equally impactful at work, in personal relationships, or in pursuing personal hobbies and interests. The concept of a growth mindset is a transformative and powerful approach to personal development. It’s the belief that one’s abilities and intelligence can be developed through dedication, hard work, and perseverance. While we may have inherent talents, our abilities are not fixed. Unlike a fixed mindset, which limits potential and discourages risk-taking, a growth mindset thrives on challenge and sees failure not as evidence of unintelligence but as a springboard for growth and for stretching existing abilities.

I believe the growth mindset is an antidote to cynicism. I hate cynicism – it doesn’t lead anywhere and worse than that it spreads. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work hard, smart and you’re kind, amazing things can happen! 

Joshua (colleague)

A new scheme, which I expect to be fairly short-lived is the idea of mentorship. Several people across the business put themselves forward to be a mentor and one person could ask them to be their mentor. To put yourself forward, you had to create a profile of your skills to show what you were offering mentoring support on. One colleague came up with the following:

Key skills, experience and behaviours:

• Growth Mindset
• People Management
• Interpersonal skills development
• Commercial awareness and negotiation
• Presentation creation and delivery

What sort of person puts “Growth Mindset” at the top of their list of skills? Surely number 1 should be your top skill. Seems like he is just sucking up to the CEO.