Shannon Byrne Susko, author of the brilliant business strategy guide 3Hag Way, puts it simply when it comes to businesses that don’t grow:
“If you don’t have an evolving growth strategy, then you and your team are just driving around the block. You may be doing well, but you’re not going anywhere.”
Let’s add to that. Picture your business as a bus. As long as you’re going around the corner, new passengers become scarce (nobody wants to ride a bus going nowhere). Meanwhile, everyone on board quickly gets sick of the view and starts navel gazing.
There’s another word for navel gazing in business: unnecessary business complexity.
A growth strategy is one thing, but an evolving growth strategy is what transforms a business from languishing amongst the 96% that never grow to being one of the 4% that do.
You may try to follow a growth strategy without changing leadership styles or anything about how you run your business, but you’ll be at greater risk of being derailed by new challenges. However, an evolving growth strategy remains flexible to change and can only come from one thing: a growth mindset.
Why an evolving growth plan matters
A growth mindset as a leadership team will help your business remain flexible to all opportunities and challenges that come your way. A fixed mindset and a fixed growth plan will struggle to adapt to what comes your way.
While building out a growth plan is a great first step to moving forward as a business, following the five principles below can form part of your methodology for growth. It will also help your growth plan roll with the punches and evolve when necessary.
The five approaches to a growth mindset
American psychologist Carol Dweck’s seminal Mindset: Changing The Way You Think To Fulfill Your Potential has changed many businesses for the better.
Many ideas and frameworks have been built out from her work, but it’s most valuable to start with the five ways a growth mindset differs from what she calls a ‘fixed mindset’. How I sum up the five are:
1. Challenges can be embraced
A fixed mindset sees challenges as setbacks to their business, which often stalls action and good decision-making. But unforeseen circumstances can still bring opportunities. A growth mindset can identify and make use of these by embracing the inevitability of change and embed this flexible mindset in the business.
2. Obstacles require persistence
Deciding to take on a challenge is one thing, but rarely does this immediately translate to success. One thing is necessary for successfully embracing challenges: persistence.
This is where romanticised notions turn into reality. Curve balls may require lateral thinking from leaders but persisting through the ripple effects of a challenge is a sign of a strong leadership mindset.
3. Success is in the doing
As a child riding in the back of a car while on a family holiday, can you remember plaguing your parents with the question, “Are we there yet?”
Did someone bark back, “It’s not about the destination. It’s the journey that counts!”
You probably rolled your eyes at that. But for any business leader, this is repeatedly the one life lesson that seems to pay the most dividends.
The effort of the journey shapes the mastery of the result. Those with fixed mindsets avoid unnecessary effort, while those with a growth mindset look for efficiencies without sacrificing on their appreciation for the results of effort.
4. Listening includes hearing
Good business leaders embrace criticism as one of the tools that chisel them into great business leaders.
Showing employees your appreciation for criticism and implementing what you learn is the best way to embed responsibility and integrity in your business.
Beyond embracing criticism, empathetic listening is key to evolving your trajectory.
In 2014, Microsoft welcomed a new CEO, Satya Nadella. A year later, he gave a piece of advice in a Wall Street Journal interview:
“Listen More. Talk less. Be decisive when the time comes.”
In 2019, Nadella received a 98% positive employee rating on Glassdoor. That says it all, doesn’t it?
5. Celebrate success all-round
Dishing out well-deserved praise across your business is a great way to encourage new voices and ideas. These new voices and ideas represent a growing diversity of opportunities, helping your business growth evolve in the face of adversity or change.
