Motivated teams, increased productivity, continuous learning and innovation, strong relationships and a positive working culture.
That’s a checklist all workplaces aspire to, but how can you tick every box whilst avoiding a box ticking exercise?
Fostering a growth mindset outlook can help achieve these outcomes, and many more.
Read on to learn about how mindset works, or click here to skip to how we can help you.
What is ‘mindset’?
The term ‘mindset’ comes from robust and rigorous research into how the human brain works, how we learn and what motivates us. Professor Carol Dweck’s research shows that people with a ‘growth mindset’ outlook tend to have a much greater ability to learn new skills, cope with pressure and adapt to change.
A person or organisation with a growth mindset views setbacks as opportunities for improvement; places higher value on learning and practice rather than ‘natural talent’; and sees the big picture, understanding that with effort, persistence and the right strategies they can improve in any field.
Even if the path is an uphill struggle or takes a few sideways (or even backwards) steps, a growth mindset outlook believes these diversions simply enrich learning and development en-route to success.
Conversely, those with what she calls a ‘fixed mindset’ outlook see talent as innate and believe that a person’s ability and intelligence is pre-determined and can’t be changed. They often fear failure and are compelled to prove the skills they think come most easily to them, rather than expanding or enhancing their skillset.
TEST YOUR MINDSET - are you 'all growth' or a blend of both?Take the 5-question quiz below to find out.
Increasing volatility across the world means organisations need to be more agile, creative and collaborative than ever before. Employers are placing greater demand on the need for ‘meta skills’ – skills that help us become better at learning and changing direction quickly, like adaptability, resilience and authenticity.
While there are many leadership and management tools, matrices and theories, the underlying foundation for success is our mindset - or how we see the world. In the workplace, a growth mindset culture can contribute positively to:
Enhancing organisational culture
Managing a change process
Upskilling or reskilling staff
Preparing teams for a new challenge
Tackling a tricky problem
Developing management teams
Building staff morale
Or simply to view everyday working life from a different perspective.
Watch this short talk from our partner, Matthew Syed, to learn more about mindset in a business context.
Why work with Winning Scotland?
We are Scotland’s leading provider of growth mindset training, with experience across a range of sectors including education, social care, sport and business.
We’ve delivered high-quality growth mindset training in multiple local authorities and to a range of organisations, including Hymans Robertson, Scottish Water, Barclays, Capricorn Energy and HSBC.
Our formula
Our unique approach is a focus on instilling practical, contextual learning related to key elements of Professor Dweck’s research.
For example, understanding that practice makes perfect only when that practice is targeted and makes us push ourselves.
Or appreciating that making mistakes can be a valuable learning experience only when we properly analyse them in a judgement free manner and adopt specific strategies to avoid making them again.
Learning packages
Winning Scotland can deliver packages of growth mindset training comprising some or all of:
Co-production: To ensure a customised experience, we will work with you to create a training programme that talks your language.
Online modules: We can prepare a tailored e-learning programme to help you and your team grasp the growth mindset basics.
Deep-learning ‘live’ workshops: We have a format that works - comprising research insights, real world examples and practical activities to embed learning.
Psychometric testing: We work in partnership with Matthew Syed Consulting to deliver ‘Mindset Advantage’ psychometric testing to measure beliefs, attitudes and behaviours.
Follow up support: It’s as important to us as it is to you that growth mindset simply becomes ‘the way we do things here’. We’ll coach you through the process to enable long-term outcomes.
Train the Trainer: Our model is all about empowering people to ‘own’ mindset and make it effective and sustainable in their own environment. We can help you become the in-house experts and support ongoing cultural development.
“Excellent presentation by Winning Scotland pitched very well for a business context. Interesting examples to illustrate the points raised and very inspirational overall.” Chartered Institute of Securities & Investments.
"The session was energetic, dynamic and fun and related the content to the business environment. A thought-provoking session which prompts attendees to reflect on their own mindset and how to embrace mistakes and struggles and be brave to collaborate and push through self-imposed barriers. There was a buzz in the office for the rest of the day." Scottish Equity Partners
"It was a really interesting workshop with lots of thought-provoking discussions and ideas. Very helpful for me both professionally and personally. I highly recommend." Capricorn Energy plc
“One of the best I have been to - even though the foundations are in education so much of it made sense to me and I will be trying to encourage my team and family to use this path.” Smith & Williamson Investment Services.
“It was eye opening, I always thought I was in the 'growth mindset' category but when shown real life examples I was fixed mindset depending on the situation. It definitely made me think twice about how I perceive negative feedback and failures, and how they can actually help in the long run.” Hymans Robertson LLP
