Growing your team to be the best and most effective seems challenging especially as an executive, manager, or team leader. However, by using the model of a growth mindset, a company and team becomes the most effective and integrated team possible.
A growth mindset is the belief or view that the brain can grow. A fixed mindset is the belief that we’re born with innate abilities and intelligence. On the other hand, with a growth mindset and grit, any skills or knowledge can be acquired through resiliency and determination.
For example, if you’re not a skilled at prioritizing or organizing, with practice you become more organized and efficient. The key to understanding a growth mindset is practice. As such, practice becomes part of learning. To be clear, no one is perfect right out of the gate or as a new hire. While we tend to gravitate towards where we our natural talents lie, this doesn’t mean a valuable team member can’t be grown in other ways.
In short, there are 3 main ways you can grow and cultivate your own team with a growth mindset 1) hire for grit and determination, 2) create a culture that owns their mistakes, and 3) allow for practice.
Grow Your Team, Hire For Grit
There’s a difference between stubbornness and determination. Grit lies at the center. Someone with grit doesn’t give up, digs in to reach a goal or objective—usually one in which they have passion or a strongly held belief. However, grit may become stubbornness if a team member isn’t willing to grow with the company’s needs as opposed to their own set agenda.
How do you recognize grit as opposed to stubbornness? Simple. When an employee is learning a new skill, do they give it their all until they learn it, practice it, and master it? If the answer is yes, that’s grit. On the other hand, if they work hard day in and day out not making any progress determined to do their things “their way” or an old outdated way, that’s stubbornness. Stubbornness doesn’t serve the greater good.
Grow Your Team, Create a Culture That Owns Mistakes
As school children growing up, mistakes are graded as incorrect answers. As such, mistakes feel wrong and messy, yet not so with a growth mindset. Mistakes are opportunities for learning. When a mistake is handled gracefully and with purpose, it is a valuable learning experience. Learning from those mistakes grows individuals and companies.
Mistakes happen. Failure also happens. An essential component of any business is failure. FAIL can mean: First Attempt In Learning. Scientists, entrepreneurs, and educators know that mistakes aren’t mistakes, just experiments. When something goes wrong on a project, validation, or sales campaign fails, then it’s an opportunity to learn from the failure inspecting what went wrong, and making corrections. In short, learning from mistakes, creates grit and a gritty culture.
Grow Your Team, Allow for Practice
To begin, when anyone is learning something new, delving into the unknown and change, the part of our brain controlling fear becomes activated. Therefore, expecting an individual to hurry or rush through something new and complex is a recipe for disaster. In short, be patient with employees who are learning something new and expect mistakes. Rushing causes mistakes in the first place.
In short, you’ll create an amazing company or team of individuals when you hire for grit, cultivate a culture that owns mistakes, and allow for practice (and failure). Give yourself and others the room to grow. Embracing a growth mindset for yourself as an entrepreneur or leader works wonders on the morale of your team. Perfection isn’t expected. Failure, mistakes, and grit hold the day.
