Guest Post: The Psychological Success Secret: A Growth Mindset
Change the way you think and excel in the workplace
Many of the most successful businesspeople have attributed their success to having a growth mindset—but what exactly is that, and how do we adopt one? Essentially, tapping into a “growth mindset” involves focusing on positive thinking. We can navigate the ups and downs of our personal and professional lives with one of two mindsets: fixed or growth. While most of the time we understandably are a mix of both, those who repeatedly utilize their growth mindsets achieve more and experience increased success.
Here’s a closer look between the differences of growth and fixed mindsets:
A fixed mindset comes with the belief that you cannot change who you are or further develop your intellect. Those with fixed mindsets often fear failure.
A growth mindset sees both personality and character of people as things that can change, morph and grow. They have hope of consistent improvement and see failure as another opportunity to learn and improve.
In an article on growth mindset from Michelle McQuaid, which discusses Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck’s research, it was shown that employees who possess growth mindsets are “47% more likely to say their colleagues are trustworthy than those with a fixed mindset. These employees are also 34% more likely to feel a strong commitment to their organization, 65% more likely to say that their company takes risks and 49% more likely to say that their organization promotes innovation.”
In her studies, Carol Dweck found that companies that effectively create innovative, risk-taking cultures have happier employees. And we all know that happier employees do better work.
GROWTH MINDSETS ALSO PROMOTE:
Positivity
Collaboration
Satisfaction
Motivation
Productivity
Having a growth mindset doesn’t just mean seeing the glass half full. It means focusing on making consistent, professional progress, requesting assistance from others who you can learn from, being willing to try new tactics and adapt when things don’t go as planned, and looking at failures or setbacks as new opportunities to improve. Employees with growth mindsets also frequently collaborate with co-workers, share information to help the company move forward as a whole, seek regular feedback and take responsibility when they make mistakes.
USING THE GROWTH MINDSET FOR CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
When people are happy with their experience with a company, they tell other people. As consumers, we love to talk about experiences that either sorely miss or exceed our expectations. Take a quick moment to think about your own habits—the last time you had either really amazing or really horrible customer service, did you tell someone about it? Chances are, your answer is a resounding ‘yes!’ Take a peek at these eye-opening statistics from Inc.:
Unhappy clients are 91% likely to avoid doing business with you again.
Unhappy clients usually share their negative experience with 9-15 other people.
42% of clients who have had good experiences with your company will keep doing business with you.
88% of customers read online reviews to determine whether to work with a company.
42% of consumers said that a family or friend recommendation would influence their purchase more than a sale or promotion.
Over time, we will be sharing additional information on the growth mindset and on the customer experience that Glatfelter associates are empowered to provide. We hope that you find the information valuable and that as you learn more about exceptional service and professional growth, you are inspired to provide and pursue each. We’d also love to hear your feedback and ideas, too, so if you’ve had an excellent customer experience with a company or have a growth mindset story to share—please reach out.
Contributed by Nick Sarver, Account Executive, The Glatfelter Agency (TGA).
Nick Sarver is an Account Executive at The Glatfelter Agency (TGA), a full-service retail division of Glatfelter Insurance Group, offering commercial and personal insurance products, benefits packages and risk management solutions. A leader in the York, PA community for 60 years, TGA is also one of the largest retail insurance operations, serving more than 6,300 clients. TGA values entrepreneurial spirit, personal development, long-term relationships and community involvement.
