“Growth mindset” refers to the belief that one’s intelligence, abilities, and talent can grow over time, as opposed to remaining the same, in a “fixed” mindset. It’s part of embracing changes in the workplace, from adapting remote or hybrid perks to considering four-day work weeks.
Plus, a huge number of executives everywhere see this mindset as key to success. Specifically, an impressive 96% of execs say they have a growth mindset, a new report has found.
The report also details how to define the concept, what benefits it offers, and more — including the much lower percentage of employees who actually agree with their bosses’ self-assessment of their own mindsets.
Growth Mindset: Most Employees Don’t See It in Their Workplace
The report, out from online learning software provider TalentLMS, surveyed 1,000 employees and 300 executives in the US across different industries.
In addition to the 96% who said they had a growth mindset, 90% of executives said they “believe that leading by example is key to creating a growth mindset culture.”
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The catch? A full 54% of the employees said they don’t see much evidence of that lauded growth mindset culture within their own workplace. Another 24% of employees went so far as to state that their company leaders “rarely or never” demonstrated that mindset.
Judging from that disparity, it sounds like a genuine growth mindset is tough to cultivate. But how would you go about creating one from scratch?
Key Traits? Open-Mindedness, Adaptability, and Learning
The report also looked into the traits that signify growth mindset, identifying these seven examples:
- Continuous learning
- Resilience
- Positive outlook
- Courage
- Open-mindedness
- Persistence
- Adaptability
The executives who were polled also had some thoughts on the value that comes from a great growth mindset culture, as well: Higher productivity was at the top of the list, closely followed by a healthier workplace and better employee engagement.
Higher productivity is the one benefit that the most executives agree emerges from a growth mindset culture. Source: TalentLMS
Change Is Hard
These new statistics are a great reminder that it’s easy to say you support embracing change and taking risks. It’s a lot harder to actually do it.
And that’s never more true than for those in a high-profile leadership role within a corporation — where the downside of failure can look a lot worse than the safer going-along-with-the-crowd choice.
Still, change is inevitable, and the companies that embrace it will come out ahead in the long run. For every giant tech corporation that’s pulling hard for a full return to the office, there are a dozen tiny startups with fully distributed workforces.
