Creating a growth mindset
| Published date | 14 August 2017 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/SHR-04-2017-0022 |
| Pages | 155-160 |
| Date | 14 August 2017 |
| Author | Ian Johnston |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Employee behaviour |
Creating a growth mindset
Ian Johnston
Ian Johnston is EMEA
Managing Partner at
Senn Delaney, A Heidrick
& Struggles Company,
London, UK.
Abstract
Purpose –This paper aims to show that everything a business does is fundamentally reliant on its
culture. Culture determines how successful a strategy is and whether that strategy can be executed. If
the culture in a business is out of alignment, it is imperative to change it. This paper examines how HR
professionals can take ownership of this cultural space and help to create a growth mindset throughout
the organisation.
Design/methodology/approach –The paper is based on experience gained through working with
several large organisations to transform their people culture and performance by embracing a growth
mindset and to help their HR leadership become the early champions of change, thus ensuring the
process was successfully delivered. The paper includes case studies of two organisations where
successful cultural shaping delivered improved results.
Findings –Companies with a growth mindset will outperform those with a fixed mindset. Changing
mindsets is not overly complex, but it requires flawless implementation with the HR leaders at the
forefront.
Originality/value –As Lou Gerstner, who turned around the computing giant IBM, said “I finally
realised that culture is not part of the game, it is the game”. By understanding how individual mindsets
impact culture, HR professionals can own and drive their organisation’s culture-shaping efforts.
Keywords Change management, Culture
Paper type Viewpoint
Most organisations are pretty comfortable with strategy. They know how they want
to meet their markets, delight their customers and where they need to go digitally
(whether they can or not is another matter). They are reasonably good at
organisational structures and process. That is a positive starting point.
However, everything they aspire to do must pass through the “culture” of the organisation.
This is the mechanism by which strategy is executed. Culture is not a thing, it is the thing.
It will actually determine how successful your strategy is because in this ever more
competitive landscape, an organisations culture determines its capacity to execute
effectively. Lou Gerstner, who famously turned around the computing giant IBM, said “I
finally realised that culture is not part of the game, it is the game”.
It is hard to disagree with this. Everything your business does is fundamentally reliant on the
culture. So if the culture in your business is out of alignment, it is imperative that you shape
it to support execution and accelerate performance. Here it falls on HR professionals to
step up. HR needs to learn how to own this culture-shaping effort. They also need to share
this culture-shaping effort with the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and the senior leadership
team. Those senior leaders need to ensure that their culture supports the organisations
aspirations and filters into every dark crevice of the business. So how does the HR team
own this – and own it with confidence?
This starting point is belief. Your HR team must believe in the benefits of instigating a
programme to shape culture. A common mistake is to assume that culture is an intangible
dimension, “out there” in the ether but hard to define. In the real world, it is the aggregate
impact of the outlook, beliefs, conduct and performance of individual human beings and
DOI 10.1108/SHR-04-2017-0022 VOL. 16 NO. 4 2017, pp. 155-160, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1475-4398 STRATEGIC HR REVIEW PAGE 155
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