Raising the Bar on Corporate Learning: The 5 Essentials. #5: Growth Mindset

First, I would like to offer my sincere appreciation to those who participated in the survey to guess the last essential in this series. You may find some of your recommendations have been incorporated into this article. Thank you for your participation and support from those who have taken part in the dialogue of the previous four posts. If you are interested in catching up on any of the conversations you may have missed, please click the links below.

Essential # 1: Embrace the Democratization of Learning

Essential #2: Design Learning Experiences

Essential #3: Adopt Smart Digital Learning & Remain Agile

Essential #4: Deliberate Practice - Where Performance Gains Really Count

For the last post, Essential #5, of this series, I want to dedicate the topic to Cultivating a Growth-Mindset Culture. It all begins naturally with an individual's belief that their talent can be developed through hard work, good strategies and input from others. An organization’s social environment and culture can have a dominating influence that either obstructs or propels this process of growth.

A growth mindset is not to be confused with open-mindedness, as pointed out by the Stanford professor, Carol Dweck, who coined this term and concept through her extensive research. People with a growth mindset tend to achieve more than those with a more fixed mindset. This is because they worry less about looking smart and they put more energy into learning in the face of setbacks, failed attempts or rejections. People with a fixed mindset put their energy towards defending the status quo and the image they believe they have earned. Carole provides practical steps to change from a “judge-and-to-be judged” framework to a “Learn-and-help-learn” one.

We are all a mixture of both mindsets and our work environments can be full of fixed-mindset triggers.

How then to create an environment that encourages more growth-mindset behaviors and ensures that they happen more often?

During the spring and summer months, one is able to witness firsthand a Growth-Mindset Culture in the form of gardens and landscapes under the care of skillful and knowledgeable gardeners.

Trust is Like Air, Difficult to Grasp but Essential

We all know the importance of trust in the workplace. When it is absent, one’s sense of security and the speed at which one is able to operate is greatly reduced. Lack of trust creates anxiety and the result is that employees (leaders included) refrain from speaking up, responding to surveys truthfully, giving honest feedback, and stretching beyond their comfort zones. All of which are key behaviors that enable learning both through experience and from one another. That’s why parallels to the story “The Emperor’s New Clothes” exist within the corporate life. The price tag, more often than not, is extremely high.

Teams who need to learn and adapt quickly when facing intense challenges, including top-ranked sports teams and Navy Seals, set good examples for building trust and a strong sense of belonging by fostering connections and understanding one another on a personal level. Trust provides the necessary psychological safety for team members to learn from each other through joint actions and reflections.

Would you be willing to take a little more risk at work if you knew your team had your back?

Clarity of Purpose and Mission Shines like the Sun

More and more companies are beginning to articulate a clear purpose that is not only good for the business but also for the community. A shared sense of purpose can be a powerful tool that inspires, motivates and unites the workforce to accomplish audacious goals. In the absence of a commonly defined purpose, the work can quickly slip to a place of merely meeting one's individual needs.

A crystal clear mission actually gives employees the freedom and empowerment to act within the scope of responsibilities that they were hired to carry out, as opposed to feeling helpless waiting for orders from the top. In an environment where this type of clarity has been missing for a substantial amount of time, I often find that “learned helplessness” has to be unlearned in a safe learning-oriented setting before other developmental topics can be addressed.

When was the last time you felt energized by the mission to go above and beyond?

If you are a leader, how can you create more inspiring moments to ignite your team’s courage and imagination?

Knowledge & Information Sharing Fuels Innovation

In the digital economy, knowledge and information are as important as water to plants. The traditional “Need to Know” principle must be challenged. In the hyper-connected knowledge-based work environment, hardly anyone is always right when it comes to who needs to know what and where the next value-generated innovative idea will come from. Sharing across organizational chart borders is often the best cure for the silo deficiency.

During the NASA Apollo project, tens of thousands of brilliant scientists were hired and teamed up to create the first rocket that would carry man to the moon. Reoccurring problems big and small often happened at the connections between parts and were affecting the confidence of the scientists, and had them questioning whether they could complete such an audacious project. That was when management practices were forced to radically change. Tightly controlled communications between teams were opened up by extensive radio channels built from scratch in order to allow teams to listen in live to what was happening in other parts of the production floor, as well as receiving information from the top in a more timely fashion. Breakthroughs soon followed and the rest is history.

What knowledge could you offer or seek, to better bridge the gap between your team and others?

Failure is When Learning Happens

The explicit and unspoken rules related to failures present a reality check on a growth-minded culture. Within Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg insists that there are two kinds of failures: the first is setting goals within our reach and achieving them; the second is setting the bar too high and not reaching them. He states that he would rather have the later. In Bridgewater, one of the most successful investing companies in the country, the founder Ray Dalio, clearly states that his principle on failure is that “it is OK to make mistakes, but it is not acceptable to Not learn from them.”

One of the reasons that Design Thinking is embraced by many product/service development teams is that it provides a common language for multidisciplinary members to experiment with. Starting with simple prototypes and learning from feedback, or lessons of small failures, without taking on daunting risks all at once.

Questions Unlock Learning

Have you been to those business briefing calls where no one wants to ask a question despite the invitation to do so? In contrast, at Google’s Friday TGIF (Thank Goodness It’s Friday) meetings, originated and hosted by the founders, employees have learned to ask challenging questions and have open debates across rank. Over the years, they have perfected the process of allowing “Googlers” to join in from all over the world, and use a system to rank the most challenging questions for leaders to answer and then give feedback on how well the answers address the questions.

As we know it, the best science discoveries and business ideas started with curious people asking questions. It is predicted that half of the S&P 500 companies will be replaced in the next decade. There is no time to waste! Start asking more questions and have the courage to ask the tough ones. What is the cost of complacency? Where will your company be in 5 years?

It Takes a Village

Smart companies continue to hire smart people and intentionally take steps to minimize the tendency to want to figure out who is the smartest in the room. Which tends to produce costly side effects, such as group thinking or the second job everyone is doing but not being paid for,” namely, covering their weaknesses and propping themselves up, as pointed out by the authors of the book “An Everyone Culture: Becoming a Deliberately Developmental Organization.” 

A great example of this is Microsoft’s annual hackathon which offers employees the chance to step outside their day jobs and collaborate across disciplines and advocate for ideas. An employee may have an idea with business or societal merit — a hack — and then others who share that interest apply to join the team to develop the business plan, create the prototype, and pitch it company-wide. Some of Microsoft’s best commercial projects have come out of the hackathon. This is just one way to prove that the best ideas are not owned by one person, rather they emerge from the wisdom and skills of a group.

Freedom to Explore

Post-it notes and Gmail were both invented when employees were given free time to explore their interests, rather than stick to assigned or required projects. Most of the pet projects fail, but the learning captured from such experiences is invaluable. This kind of bold resource allocation also shows an organization’s commitment to the development of its people. Peter Senge, the author of “Fifth Discipline,” believes it to be a must-have in order to capture the energy and potential of employees.

Daniel Pink’s research confirms the “why” in his book “Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us.” It explains that besides the biological and external incentives for behaviors, humans have three innate motivational sources: autonomy, mastery and purpose. He also makes clear when “sticks and carrots” simply won’t work, such as using monetary incentive to stimulate creative ideas. Much of what’s needed to create a growth-mindset culture is to remove confusion and demotivating factors and create a space and a sense of freedom for one’s intrinsic motivations to come alive.

The Beginner’s Mind

The title of “industry leader” or the status of “the largest market shareholder” too often becomes a barrier to a team or organisation wishing to maintain what the Buddhists call “the beginner's mind.” When it comes to doling out recognition, Dr. Dweck suggests praising effort in an attempt to encourage perseverance. One should refrain from praising “being smart,” which has the unintended consequence of reinforcing one’s sense of status and entitlement. It takes a constant effort for leaders and parents to give recognition and rewards without accidentally dropping the seeds for “playing it safe.”

When your organization has more members living by the code of “always learning,” a distinct advantage is acquired. Amazon has been rigorously hiring talent who strongly demonstrate the principles of “curious to learn,” and “bias for action.” This bolsters a learning DNA as the employee population continues to grow. It should be no surprise that Learning Agility is one of the most widely used criteria in selecting & promoting high-potentials.

The Impact of Physical Space

Physical distance, walls and corridors have a surprisingly large influence over how we communicate and collaborate (or not) at work. Do not underestimate the impact this can have on a group of people. As illustrated earlier, in search of new solutions in uncharted territories, lateral exchanges of information and cross-silo flow of ideas is a necessity for the best possible solutions to emerge. Steelcase, a forward-looking office furniture company has researched the future trends of work extensively and partnered with IDEO to provide a new breed of work environments that inspire, connect and allow flexibility. Breaking down the physical walls is just the beginning to new ways of working together, but it can be a symbolic change to kick off the journey with an immersion experience!

Leaders as Gardeners

Leaders within an organization have the largest influence on culture. Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, concluded that the “C” from CEO stands for Culture. Communicating the organization’s purpose and mission in compelling and vivid language over and over again is not an easy task. Perhaps, the most difficult challenge for a leader is to loosen up on the “control and command” style and allow the best answers to rise and emerge. To generate the space necessary for a growth-mindset, more leaders will need to be role models, coaches, active sponsors, and hands-on teachers. As Edgar Schein, the Guru of Corporate Culture, points out – this is one of the primary ways leaders can embed beliefs and values effectively into the culture. Over and above organizational structure and formal statements which are considered as secondary.

The ability for organizations to learn quickly and adapt to changes is of utmost importance, especially at this juncture in time. It is becoming widely acknowledged that learning MUST play a leading role in enabling growth and building the capacity for innovation. That is why a culture that enables people to learn, unlearn and relearn whenever and wherever needed is highly desired by organizations on the road to becoming first-rate and future-fit.

Raising the bar on corporate learning will require a fresh approach and plenty of grit and determination on the part of learning professionals, leaders and everyone who wishes to unlock their full potential. The speed and impact of the work will surely improve though, if we tackle the challenge together. In this fast-changing business environment, the shelf life of best practices, including what I have written about here, is becoming shorter and shorter.

Don’t aim to just meet the benchmark, Become the next benchmark!

If you like this article, please share it and invite others to join this conversation.

References

Many world-renowned experts from different fields have published excellent works on the this topic. Carole Deweck’s research started more than 20 years ago and is still widely used today. Peter Senge was ahead of his time when he first shared his vision of a learning organization. While General Stanley McChrystal, commander of Special Operations in Iraq had to learn to operate with new rules to win when faced with unprecedented challenges in war zones.

Here is a list of 10 books that I have collected through my research and recommendations that I have received. The knowledge related to this topic is constantly growing and evolving. Please feel free to add your own favorites in the comments section.

1. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck
2. The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization by Peter Senge
3. Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World by Chris Fussell, David Silverman, Stanley A. McChrystal, and Tantum Collins
4. Hit Refresh: The Quest to Rediscover Microsoft's Soul and Imagine a Better Future for Everyone by Greg Shaw, Jill Tracie Nichols, and Satya Nadella
5. Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink
6. Organizational Culture and Leadership, 5th Edition by Edgar Schein and Peter Schein
7. Change by Design: How Design Thinking Transforms Organization and Inspires Innovation by Tim Brown
8. Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All by David Kelly, Founder of IDEO
9. An Everyone Culture: Becoming a Deliberately Developmental Organization by Andy Fleming, Deborah Helsing, Lisa Laskow Lahey, Matthew L. Miller, and Robert Kegan
10. Work Rules!: Insights from Inside Google That Will Transform How You Live by Laszlo Bock