Growth & Development Mindset: Need Of The Hour
The king of the jungle, a leader who’s feared. That’s exactly what we must debunk if that’s not already understood & obvious. The past couple of years have been testimony to the fact that employees need to be viewed as people & humans first and not just resources to the company. Yes, leaders must motivate them to deliver, be productive but their wellbeing, overall growth & development must be kept at the heart of any operation. Afterall, satisfied & loyal employees build resilient organizations.
Growth vs Fixed Mindset
A growth mindset is the one which considers that every individual has can develop skills, refine abilities, intelligence & is capable of growing. Basically, a mark of having a leader mindset – that focusses on a constructive process rather than just a successful outcome. As against a fixed mindset that isn’t flexible and believes that people come with a set of certain strengths, which can’t be deterred, or they can’t grow more & puts an extreme emphasis on outcomes. This mindset makes them interpret any challenge into a failure & trickle down in the form of angst & unfulfillment. This fosters exactly the culture we have to run away from: fearful employees, unmotivated, stressed, burnt-out & extremely focussed on self instead of taking working towards a common challenge. Whereas, a growth mindset develops team’s talent, let’s see the benefits of growth mindset leadership:
1. Building Resilience: If there’s anything we’ve learnt from the pandemic as a secret to surviving, it is resilience. To push through! A leader who believes you will succeed, you will find a way to push through & covet the spot you want.
2. Problem solving: A leader who believes it’s the team vs the challenge, will have the team working with him/her. One who is control of the mind, will have a confident team who believes a problem can be solved instead of waiting for the consequences.
3. Be Ready to Learn: A leader who understands that the time is changing every minute will learn how to evolve and be relevant & prepared to lead the team. This is the leader who will be flexible, not frustrated with hurdles and know that change is the status quo.
How can a leader develop a Growth Mindset Culture in An Organization?
Now this requires synergy between the employees and the leaders. This one will demand effort from both the parties, here’s how:
1. Welcoming the Art of learning & unlearning: Prioritize learning, absorbing change but first accepting that there is a scope of learning and mostly, unlearning at times. If we’re set in our ways, we’ll never be able to meet the team mid-way, giving way to chaos.
2. Accepting failure: Failure is a part of the game, just like success! Falter, learn, grow and come back stronger as a TEAM. Help the employees, train them, coach them, host workshops but first, have a healthy communication channel in place
3. Recognize, Reward, Reap: See good, reward well, reap hard. It’s as simple as it gets.
4. Imbibe a Culture of Collaboration: Learn from each other, debunk hierarchy, grow as an organization.
5. Lead by example first: When leaders practice as they preach, they’re accepted & trusted. It’s imperative to earn the trust before wanting to lead.
Another key aspect in achieving growth mindset is to accept the growing need to be an inclusive and a safe workplace. Many discussions have placed an important emphasis for any organization’s success on its ability to be diverse, inclusive and embrace equality. And of course, it starts at the top.
Building Inclusive Leadership
Inclusive leadership is critical, now more than ever. Basis research by Harvard Business Review, there are six significant traits to foster an inclusive leadership such as commitment to foster diversity, practice humility, eradicating favouritism & biases, developing a listening ear, being attentive to different cultural representation and practicing effective collaboration.
Further, every year in June, there are many brands who have come up to promote & support LGBTQIA+ rights and it’s important that we don’t restrict them to mere promotions. It’s important to engage in a dialogue, learn about the communities, make efforts towards them feeling safe at workplace. One shouldn’t have to feel unsafe & uncomfortable or try to hide their identity in fear of hatred & seclusion, we must promote & foster an inclusive culture at work. There needs to be strict policies in place that eradicates any scope of bullying, mistreatment, discrimination of any kind and this starts from a healthy leadership. Having leaders with a spine and ones who put growth of the team and people at the core of organizational success are the ones we need to look up to. Afterall, leadership is based on trustful collaboration and understanding that the organization’s values are from & for people.
