Creating a “Growth Mindset” culture is one of the core values at Azul Arc. We strive to incorporate this methodology in our hiring process and everyday practices. In this post, hear from one of our team members, Sam Hartz, on what it means to have a Growth Mindset.
What is Growth Mindset vs Fixed Mindset?
The concept of growth mindset was coined by Carol Dweck, a Stanford University professor, researcher and psychologist. Her 2006 book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, outlined how having a growth mindset over a fixed mindset could have drastically positive impacts in many aspects of life including school, relationships, parenting, business and company culture. Essentially, having a growth mindset means that an individual believes their skills and abilities are not fixed, rather that they have inherent potential to learn and improve in a variety of ways. In contrast, a fixed mindset is when an individual believes that their skills and abilities have little to no potential to grow and develop further.
There are three distinct ways that growth mindset can benefit company culture and the workplace:
1) Higher level of trust amongst colleagues
In a fixed mindset workplace, employees believe that their skills are ‘maxed out’ making their colleagues appear as competition in a race rather than collaborators or teammates. This in turn fosters an environment where employees cut corners and lack trust for others in the workplace. Alternatively, a growth mindset can encourage a supportive learning environment for employees to work together and celebrate each other’s successes.
2) Increased sense of self worth among employees
When employees feel that their opinions matter and that they are trusted by their colleagues and superiors, there is a general upswing in morale and a sense of commitment to their organization. A growth mindset allows employees to feel measured by their effort and innovative abilities rather than natural skill or their agreeability. This means that employees will recognize their value and impact as an individual.
3) Fosters creativity
Lastly, because a growth mindset organization nurtures original thought, innovation, and risk-taking, creativity flows. Employees feel supported in their generation of ideas even if they fail. A fixed mindset workplace may focus on short term results rather than stepping back and pursuing a bigger goal which can inhibit creative approaches and risk-taking.
Overall, taking steps to nurture a growth mindset in the workplace can have hugely constructive impacts on company culture and happiness of employees.
Here are some practical ways we encourage a growth mindset at Azul Arc:
- It’s a core value! We feel so strongly about this that we made it one of our guiding principles and we talk about it all the time.
- We ask questions during the interview process to make sure we are attracting like-minded talent.
- We encourage (and pay for) learning new techniques and technologies that keep us strong. In fact, one of our assessment points in our bi-annual reviews is training. We have a goal of one training event per month.
- We keep our hierarchy as flat as possible. This means less red tape to get new ideas approved. If someone has an idea, we are “agile” and we try it out.
- We hold each other accountable. We have a QA list where we detail not only our mistakes, but our successes and great initiatives. Anyone can post here which allows all team members to feel heard.
These are suggestions that can be implemented in your organization, no matter the industry. Azul Arc holds fostering a growth mindset as one of our core values and proudly encourages this mindset to inspire innovative solutions for our clients and to keep our workplace an enjoyable and empowering place to contribute.
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