“Everything is hard before it’s easy” JW. Von Goethe
I was hired by a company with a terrible culture. Poor communication was rampant at all levels of the company from CEO to front line employees. The employees felt the brunt of the dysfunction with other employees, customers, and vendors.
There was high attrition, lots of conflict. Much of it caused by systems and procedures that were outdated. There were many inconsistencies in implementation, inefficient training on how systems worked, accountability was sporadic, and wasted time was a huge problem.
Jessie was Vice President, of manufacturing. She had been a director for ten years and had recently been promoted to her present position.
She was having many people quit. Conflicts among employees was high, and her production numbers were down…
She asked for a management consultant to help her.
She was confused and upset by what was going on but very much wanted to learn a new way of dealing with conflict.
The tension, unwillingness to compromise and poor communication that was going on between her and the other vice presidents was an underlying current that impacted employees throughout the company.
No other leader in the company was open to changing the status quo.
“Being challenged in life is inevitable, being defeated is optional.” Roger Crawford.
Jessie was motivated. She really wanted a happy, productive work force. I suggested we start by teaching her directors the Growth Mindset by Carol Dwek as a framework to develop and to improve her division.
What is a Growth mindset culture? Why does it change outcomes?
Carol Dweck’s is a psychologist at Stanford University.
After years of research and work with schools she discovered that, students, had two different mindsets. A growth mindset and a fixed mindset. The one we use the most impacts our lives and those around us.
In the Growth mindset culture, people believe talents can be developed, through effort, good strategies hard work and input from others.
With this way of thinking they achieve more, are more innovative, and have less concerns about looking smart or being perfect.
They see failure as an opportunity to learn and focus on continual learning.
Those with a Fixed mindset believe IQ and talents are inborn and cannot be developed. They want to be perfect and are devastated by failure.
Carol Dwek soon realized her work with students applied to adults and business as well.
Growth mindset now is being implemented in several large companies including GE, Bloomberg, P&G, Apple and Microsoft.
Why? It’s simple to teach. And when done consistently overtime the results are Amazing:
- 47% likelier to say that their colleagues are trustworthy.
- 34% likelier to feel a strong sense of ownership and commitment to the company.
65% likelier to say that the company supports risk taking.- 49% likelier to say that the company fosters innovation.
- 47% likelier to say that their colleagues are trustworthy.
- 34% likelier to feel a strong sense of ownership and commitment to the company.
- 65% likelier to say that the company supports risk taking.
- 49% likelier to say that the company fosters innovation.
The Daring Plan and Action That Changed The Culture
If you work in a company, you will know the drill. Train or learn some exciting new idea for three to six weeks, get all excited about it and then total management silence.
You never hear about it again…
I have heard and seen this repeatedly in companies I consult and coach in. When a failure to implement happens over and over people become cynical and discouraged.
They become convinced that nothing is going to change.
People see the training as the new “flavor of the month.” They feel that there is no point in getting too interested in it, because it will be replaced by the next bright idea.
Can you relate to this type of assessment & training rollercoaster?
Jessie made a daring decision. Make learning and implementing a Growth Mindset culture, the new goal in her division.
She and her team would use these ideas in all meeting and to teach a growth mindset culture system I developed once a month for the next year.
They began by reading Carol Dweck’s book growth mindset, talking about it once a month in a Growth Mindset meeting.
This was reinforced by Jessie, her team, and I by having conversations among the participants about their experiences using Growth mindset and looking for opportunities to utilize the framework in all interactions.
People became very interested and motivated as they saw improvement in their interactions.
They were very excited to share the successes they were experiencing.
People were willing to take risks trying new things. And even have them fail.
Why?
Because growth mindset was about learning from one’s mistakes.
A Growth Mindset Culture Divisional Transformation
So, within three months, every level of this division was studying and implementing the growth mindset.
Here’s the positive and profitable changes that took place:
- People were enthusiastic and excited for the first time they could see positive changes happening.
- They were encouraged that this was a long-term commitment that they could count on, and it was working!
Behavioral Changes Happened
- People said they felt safe to share their failures as well as their successes.
- Many said they felt more confident
- Communication improved
- Relationships deepened
- More people and teams were taking the initiative to solve problems.
- Retention improved
- Recruiting was more successful.
Then an amazing thing happened. The COO of the company asked the vice president for my name. He told me that;
“What you are helping with Jessie’s division implement was so effective, I’d like to roll it out to the rest of the company.”
What’s interesting about this is that ideally, we start the growth mindset culture with the President of the company and work down. So, this was unusual.
We started with one division, and I ended up working up with the CEO and the ten other vice presidents.
The leadership team was excited by the improved numbers in terms of profits, productivity, and retention.
They wanted their divisions to benefit from learning and developing a Growth Mindset culture too.
A lot of interesting and fantastic additional things began to happen in the company. That I will share with you in future articles.
“Great works are performed not by strength, but by perseverance.” Samuel Johnson.
Are you ready to break through your limitations in your career, leadership and life?
Would you like to implement a growth mindset culture in your leadership? Then here are 3 things you can start with right now:
Are you or your team ready to breakthrough your limitations in your career, leadership, confidence and life, and move to a more powerful level, then here are 2 things you can start with now:
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