Have you thought about the keys to driving growth in your organization lately? Specifically, what makes some leaders more effective? How are some organizations able to pivot while others struggle to adapt? I recently asked myself these questions, not only because I lead a marketing team, but also because our customers were asking these same questions.
The theme I observed across many successful teams and companies was that they are truly learning organizations. Just like our young students are taught in elementary schools, these organizations have adopted a growth mindset. So, how does a growth mindset apply in this context, and why is it important?
In an article for Harvard Business Review, Energy Project CEO Tony Schwartz delineates growth-driven business cultures from performance-obsessed cultures. In his words, “A performance culture asks, ‘How much energy can we mobilize?’ and the answer is only a finite amount. A growth culture asks, ‘How much energy can we liberate?’ and the answer is infinite.”
He also says, “In a growth culture, people build their capacity to see through blind spots; acknowledge insecurities and shortcomings rather than unconsciously acting them out; and spend less energy defending their personal value so they have more energy available to create external value.”
And since growth culture encompasses more than just performance, it enables innovation and drives sustainable results, ultimately with the potential to help businesses adapt and stay relevant over time.
Let’s look at three ways to start unlocking a growth mindset within an organization.
1. Empower people—enable employees to rise to the challenge
Often as a leader, particularly during difficult times, we tend to want to take the wheel ourselves to solve the problems. In my experience, successful leaders resist this urge and instead actively encourage everyone to be the protagonist in their own story, empowering them to be solutions-oriented and fearless in finding better ways of working.
The job of their leader then becomes to remove barriers, so they can go as fast and as far as possible. Taking this protagonist approach to another level, organizations can further empower employees by having them set their own goals. Encourage them to look for the items that in a Venn diagram are at the center of leveraging their strengths, opportunities to learn and company goals. When people set their own goals, I have observed they feel more energized and fulfilled, while also delivering more impact to their company.
2. Break down silos—enroll people early and often
The success of a marketing campaign no longer relies on an individual department—multiple functions must collaborate together. But silos happen at every company, especially as organizations get larger. In my experience, successful cross-functional collaboration is the result of deliberate effort.
Executive alignment, shared goals and holding teams accountable are all key in transcending silos. But bringing people along with you during the decision-making journey is also critical.
When I started at Facebook, I immediately focused on creating a clear vision for the team. However, when I shared it with the team, their immediate reaction was to start poking holes in it. The conversations weren’t inspiring but draining instead. I realized that this was my vision, not our vision. So, I started over. This time, the team was included from the beginning. By co-creating, everyone felt enrolled, and it instilled a sense of responsibility towards seeing the vision come to life.
Truth be told, where we netted out wasn’t far from my original vision, but it felt different. The team felt ownership and rallied around something they believed in. Whether it’s a vision statement or cross-functional workstream, bringing people along with you on the journey is critical to progress.
3. Recast failure—people say they embrace failure, but it’s hard in practice
That’s why I have instead focused on the concept of being a learning organization. Setting a robust learning agenda gives permission to experiment and allows teams to think of learning as core to their job. Teams can try new ideas without the fear of repercussions.
Recently, a team member shared that they felt their job had become really hard. They were frustrated because the day-to-day was complex and challenging. The reality was that their job was hard because they were learning. And as we all know, learning new things can be hard. Once we were able to recast what they were experiencing to be personal growth, their attitude changed, and they wanted to not only lean in, but to share their learnings with others.
Leading through challenge with a growth mindset
The challenges we face as marketing leaders today are difficult. But by embracing a growth mindset, we can drive more agile teams and companies that are better poised for the next big seismic shift. It can start with you. One person, one leader who makes the bold move to be the protagonist in your own organization.
