Imagine the challenges you could conquer if you were staffed with fighters and learners.
If everyone on your team had a “growth mindset,” you could take over the world.
Growth-minded people may not come with the technical or management skills you need, but they come with the right attitude to learn.
They are not afraid to admit mistakes, they love to learn and they embrace teamwork and those smarter than themselves.
Even beginners just out of high school (with a growth mindset) could help you dominate in your marketplace.
Upgrade your recruiting process
You can identify a growth-minded person partly by the how they answer certain questions during interviews.
Here are some examples from Indeed:
- Thinking about your previous role, what do you think you could change to improve?
- Tell me about a time you received constructive criticism from your manager.
- When was the last time you felt inspired to learn something new?
- Was there a time in your previous position when a project or situation didn’t go the way you planned? How did you handle it?
Your challenge — instill a growth mindset into your leadership team
Not only do you want to hire for this attitude, you want to ensure you and your leadership team exhibits this trait.
Here are some questions from Inc. Magazine to get you thinking about your own mindset:
1. Do you seek out mentors?
“People with a growth mindset take on mentors and seek them out to enhance the likelihood that they can use their growth mindset successfully,” says Dr. Carol Dweck, author of the seminal book on this topic, “Mindset.”
I am personally a mentor to many business owners in our industry. It’s about growing frameworks and enlarging perspectives, and ultimately changing companies and lives.
2. Do you admit your mistakes to your team and yourself? And learn from them?
Are you blaming others, or are you leading your team with vulnerability and a learning approach. You have to live the value in order to expect the value.
3. Are you always curious?
This means taking time from work to read books, listen to podcasts and talk to others who can teach you new ways of looking at life.
Personally when I do this, it brings a new bounce in my step, and patience as I deal with others.
4. Do you surround yourself with smarter people?
This can be hiring leaders who are smarter than you in their field.
Or it can be joining a peer group with others who will challenge you. Learn about Jeffrey Scott’s high-impact peer group here.
Overall: Model this behavior and ensure your leadership team does as well. It’s the first and ultimate step to building a learning organization powered by the growth mindset.
