How to think bigger: do you have a growth mindset?

Most businesses want growth. Endless growth is essentially business success, but despite this being one of the main goals for most business owners, surprisingly few know how to achieve it. 

Many people focus on trying to get more customers, cut down on expenses, or introduce new products. But few look towards themselves as a potential source of growth – or even the thing holding them back. What if we told you even something as simple as your mindset could massively impact the success of your business? 

Growth vs. fixed mindsets

In business  – or even in your day-to-day life – there are two mindsets you can adopt: growth and fixed. People with growth mindsets are often happier, healthier, and wealthier. Psychologist Carol Dweck developed the concept of the growth mindset. She claimed it’s a self-theory people have, believing they are intelligent or unintelligent, able to build their skills and learn or doomed to have the same level of knowledge for the rest of their life. 

A growth mindset is a belief you can grow, improve, and want to do these things. A fixed mindset doesn’t believe this is possible. With a fixed mindset, someone else’s win is your loss. But with a growth mindset, you believe there is enough money and success to go around.

How do you develop a growth mindset?

It’s easy to see why people favour a growth mindset. There are several steps you can take to develop a growth mindset:

• Try a large variety of learning tactics.
• Give your business and staff a sense of purpose. Research shows monetary incentives are great motivators for mechanical work, but when staff need to be creative, they can surprisingly hinder productivity. In fact, workers are more productive when they aren’t told what to do but rather have a purpose.  
• Take risks.
• Find value in other people’s growth.
• Hire people who share your growth mindset as they’re more likely to share your values. Also, prioritise effort over talent because talent gives people a head start, but it’s hard work that gets people to the finish line. 
• Give employees more freedom. It means giving them time in their day which they can spend being creative, even if it’s not directly related to specific tasks in your business. Giving employees freedom to learn new skills can also help them develop collaboration skills, improving empathy in your workforce. 
• Actively drive commitment, determination, and innovation. This should be at the forefront of your strategy and values, and by adopting a growth mindset, it will be more than achievable. 

A growth mindset can be the difference between innovation and stagnation. Thinking with growth in mind is crucial for any new startup, but it’s also never too late to develop your team and business. 

Shopit removes the common pains associated with managing a growing eCommerce business by streamlining your processes. We always have growth in mind which is why our platform is scalable, growing with you as your business develops so you can focus on driving growth and boosting engagement. Start your 30-day free trial now.