Tag Growing Your People

How to Cultivate a Growth Mindset

Steve Keating Leave a comment

Cultivating a growth mindset as a leader and encouraging it in your team is crucial for building a culture of continuous learning and innovation. You’re either growing or you’re falling behind those who are. If you’re interested in consistent growth there are some well defined steps that can help you develop a growth mindset as a leader and promote it within your team. 

  • Begin by understanding the concept of a growth mindset. Read books, articles, and research on the subject, such as Carol Dweck’s book “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success.” Gain a solid understanding of the difference between a growth mindset (believing that abilities can be developed through dedication and effort) and a fixed mindset (believing that abilities are fixed traits).
  • As a leader, your actions speak louder than words. Way louder! Demonstrate a growth mindset in your own behavior and decision-making processes. Embrace challenges, take risks, seek feedback, and continuously learn and improve. Share stories of your own failures, setbacks, and how you learned from them. This will help your team see that growth and development are valued and encouraged.
  • Create opportunities for your team members to develop their skills and expand their knowledge. Provide access to training programs, workshops, conferences, or online courses. Support their participation in relevant industry events or networking opportunities. Encourage them to set ambitious goals, and provide resources and guidance to help them achieve those goals.
  • Cultivate a team culture where mistakes are seen as learning opportunities. One where failure is not stigmatized but rather viewed as a stepping stone toward improvement. Encourage open communication and collaboration, where team members feel comfortable sharing their ideas. Celebrate efforts and progress, not just the final outcomes.
  • When providing feedback, focus on the process and effort rather than just the results. Recognize and acknowledge the hard work, dedication, and improvement demonstrated by your team members. Help them identify areas for growth and offer guidance on how to overcome challenges. Encourage a growth-oriented dialogue. Emphasize that abilities can be developed through practice and perseverance.
  • Encourage your team members to take ownership of their work and pursue opportunities for growth. Provide them with autonomy to make decisions, experiment, and learn from their experiences. Encourage them to take on new challenges and stretch beyond their comfort zones. Offer support and guidance as needed, but allow them to take the lead and learn from both successes and failures.
  • Promote collaboration and the sharing of knowledge and skills within your team. Create platforms or systems for knowledge exchange, such as regular team meetings, mentorship programs, or cross-functional projects. Encourage team members to learn from each other. Leverage their diverse strengths, and support one another in their growth journeys.
  • Acknowledge and appreciate team members who demonstrate a growth mindset. Celebrate their efforts, progress, and achievements. Recognize those who embrace challenges and actively pursue learning and development. By recognizing and rewarding growth mindset behaviors, you reinforce their importance.

Cultivating a growth mindset is an ongoing process. As a leader, your consistent focus and commitment to creating a growth-oriented culture will have a significant impact on your team’s mindset and performance. If you have the audacity to call yourself a leader then you must lead the way to a growth culture by working on your own growth mindset every day. 

I hope you have that audacity and I hope you accept the responsibility that comes with it. 

Want more of LeadToday? I’ve changed things up on my Twitter feed for subscribers. I recently began publishing two or three videos each week focusing on an element of Authentic Leadership. I’ll post these videos each Tuesday and Thursday morning. Sometimes a bonus video pops up at other times during the week. They will be about 10 minutes long so we can get into the topic in a more meaningful way. The investment for subscribers in still only $4.99 a month. That’s for at least 80 MINUTES of quality video content on leadership a month. 

If you’re interested in taking a look, head on over to my Twitter profile page. If you’re not a follower yet just hit the follow button. It will change to a subscribe button and once you hit that you’re on your way. You can cancel at any time you’ve decided you have nothing left to learn about leading the people who you count on for your success. 

Here’s the link to my Twitter… https://twitter.com/leadtoday 

Engaging Your Team

Steve Keating Leave a comment

If you ask most leaders who their most expensive employee is their mind usually goes straight to the person they pay the most. But that’s frequently not true. The most expensive employees in any organization are the ones who are least engaged. 

They “earn” their paycheck by doing the absolute least work possible. They provide little return for the investment the organization pays. They also tend to negatively impact the attitude and productivity of their co-workers. 

Labor shortages abound these days. Finding and keeping talented people is a top priority for any business hoping to be around in five or ten years. Keeping employees engaged is crucial to the effort to retain them. Engaged employees are more satisfied with their workplace. They are more productive than disengaged employees and they are the best recruiters of new talent that company has. 

Here are some strategies that may help you foster employee engagement.

  1. Establish clear and transparent communication channels. Regularly update your people about organizational goals, achievements, and challenges. Encourage two-way communication. For people to feel engaged they must also feel comfortable providing feedback, asking questions, and sharing ideas.
  1. Consistently recognize and appreciate your people’s efforts and achievements. Celebrate milestones, acknowledge exceptional performance, and provide constructive feedback. This recognition can be in the form of verbal praise, written appreciation, or rewards such as bonuses, certificates, or additional responsibilities.
  1. Support your people’s professional growth by offering training programs, workshops, conferences, or access to online courses. Encourage them to develop new skills. Provide opportunities for advancement within the organization. Discuss individual development plans and align them with employees’ career and life goals.
  1. Promote a healthy work-life balance to avoid burnout and foster overall well-being. Encourage your people to take breaks, use vacation time, and manage their workload effectively. These days implementing flexible work arrangements such as remote work, flexible hours, or compressed workweeks are not “perks” as much as they are requirements…if you what engaged people.
  1. Encourage teamwork and collaboration by organizing team-building activities, retreats, or social events. Foster a positive work environment where team members feel comfortable interacting with their colleagues and building strong relationships.
  1. Provide your people with as much autonomy as possible. Give them the freedom to make decisions related to their work. Give them ownership over their projects and encourage them to take initiative and be innovative. This empowers them, boosts their confidence, and increases their sense of belonging.
  1. Conduct regular performance evaluations to provide constructive feedback on employees’ strengths, areas for improvement, and progress towards goals. Offer ongoing feedback throughout the year to help employees stay on track and continuously improve. Don’t hold on to coaching comments and “dump” them on your people once a year. Coaching should be frequent and as positive as possible.
  1. Connect your people’s work to the larger purpose and mission of the organization. Communicate how their contributions make a difference and positively impact the organization, customers, or society. When people understand the significance of their work, they feel more engaged and committed.
  1. Conduct surveys to gather feedback on your people’s engagement levels, satisfaction, and suggestions for improvement. Use this feedback to identify areas of concern and take appropriate action to address them. And for heavens sake, never never ever punish one of your people for their feedback. That’s the surest way to disengage not just the person who was punished but every other person in your organization as well.

Remember, every employee is unique. It’s important to tailor engagement strategies to individual needs and preferences. Regularly assess the effectiveness of your initiatives and be open to adjusting and experimenting with different approaches to keep your people engaged and motivated.