Growth Mindset Changed a Huge Giant and Here’s How to Foster Them.
Microsoft is huge! They too faced Growth Challenges. It is no longer so when they decided to move from the Know-It-All to Learn-It-All culture. It is super amazing how they did it.
Growth Mindset shake and allow Microsoft to Grow Again
Five years ago (4 February 2014) when Satya Nadella took over as CEO at Microsoft he faced the same challenges like many big corporate. He inherited a giant who was stuck in past glory. Full of internal drama, fights and resistance.
His wife, Anu, gave him a best-selling book by Stanford University’s psychologist Carol Dweck – “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success”.
With his decision to adopt the Growth Mindset in Microsoft, it encourages employees to move away from Microsoft’s old “know-it-all” culture and welcome the New “Learn-it-All” curiosity. This allows him to build a Great Great Growing Company.
Today he successfully changed Microsoft, changed all employees’ mindset and it resulted in a very very successful Microsoft (their stock price says it all).
It is exciting to discover what they did and how it can help us to grow too.
Are you in this type of Company too?
Imagine being in a company where each Leader is far apart. There is minimum communication, each having their own castle, minding their own business. You have the best talent, somehow there is not much growth in terms of sales, there is a lack of collaboration between employees and the leaders of the company.
There is a lack of trust and a sense of togetherness. Managers only make sure everyone know their strengths and shy away from showing any sign of weakness. So much time spent on creating looong excuses just to justify “why is it not my fault” . A lot of energy spent on finger-pointing, instead of learning and finding solutions.
If your company is experiencing this type of scenario in your office, you are not alone. This is very common in companies which are predominantly having the Fixed Mindset. Possibly you are in one of them?
Once the Mindset is Changed, it changes Everything
Learning is a vital part of Growth Mindset and Development. People who appreciate learning and embrace it as a routine tend to perform better than those who do not. This contributes to their Personal Growth and eventually will Grow the Organisation as a whole.
According to Carol Dweck, a Stanford University Psychology Professor, she suggests that
Intelligence and Creativity is not an inborn trait. It is something that develops with time. Inability to challenge the current condition is a sign of having a Fixed Mindset. The Desire to Learn, Develop and Grow is having a Growth Mindset.
Growth Mindset people believe Learning is an Opportunity for Improvement. A person with a growth mindset will ensure tasks start and finish on time. They have a strong commitment to embrace failure and to learn from them. Failure to them is the opportunity to improve and develop more skills. There is really not necessary to find excuses or wasting time on finger-pointing and blame.
Great Impact on Teams and Company Profit
Growth Mindset enables individuals to set Challenging Goals. This encourages them to take challenges that break them out of their Comfort Zone.
Tai Ling Ling (Asia Top Podcaster on Learning, and speaker for our management programme) introduced us to Growth Mindset. She felt strongly about the importance of Growth Mindset:
Especially for managers and leaders. They should not set performance-based goals. They need to set goals where the Team strives to Learn, Develop themselves and experiment with New Things.
We have heard how important feedback is to the company. Growth Mindset changes the way one gives and receives feedback. Feedback given will need to focus on praising the efforts and not on the individual in particular. The main purpose of any feedback session should have an action plan for further development and improvement.
This helps to cultivate a Growth Mindset Culture and ensures that employees are open to feedback for improvement rather than become defensive about themselves. Hence, there will tend to have fewer politics and more effort is spent on nurturing the desire to be and do better.
Lifelong Benefit for Years to Come
The benefits of Growth Mindset outweighs the effort required to cultivate such mindset.
By fostering a Growth Mindset, it has helped Microsoft to be Great again. It is also applicable to how you can develop your employees and grow your business to prosper further for many years to come.
Ling Ling gives great emphasis on the significance of this change in mindset in every managerial training, regardless of which country she conducts them in, it is applicable across culture and age. It has a substantial impact on how the manager treats their staff and their own development. Their ability to adapt and grow in the interest of the company.
By fostering a Growth Mindset, it has helped Microsoft to be Great again. It is also applicable to how you can develop your employees and grow your business to prosper further for many years to come.
