Grow Your Mind To Grow Your Business

Building a corporate growth culture in your company is a winning culture for sustainable small business growth. It is the foundation for many of the key growth strategies for small businesses, used to achieve high growth company rates and small company success. But leadership growth culture only works if it is implemented correctly, starting with you.

Growth Culture

Growth culture has found increased importance in the learning and development field in the last few years. And small businesses are seeing the benefits of applying it to clear the obstacles for growth. In performance- and fear-based cultures, everyone is focused on either attaining their own success or covering their own ass. Alternately, a growth culture opens up the idea that people can grow together for the overall growth of the company.

In a growth culture, people build their capacity to see through blind spots; acknowledge insecurities and shortcomings rather than unconsciously acting them out; and spend less energy defending their personal value so they have more energy available to create external value. Tony Schwarz, HBR, Create a Growth Culture, Not A Performance-Obsessed One

Company growth accelerates when the culture of the company supports a growth mindset. And the culture of the company is set from the top. So if you want your business to grow, as the following leadership growth quote says, you need to start with your own thinking and approach to growth. Where is your growth mindset and how do you really feel about personal and small business growth?

If you are interested in changing the culture of your organization, your first step should be to look in the mirror and make sure you are setting the kind of behavioral example you want everyone else to follow. Jim Whitehurst, CEO of Red Hat

How To Build A Growth Mindset?

Traditionally growth mindset is binary and about attitude. On one side is a fixed mindset that wants to stay right where it is. And on the on the other is a mindset that is curious about the possibilities. Do you seek learning, accept failure, challenge yourself to be out of your comfort zone? If so, you have a growth mindset. If you stick to what you know, you worry only about what is in front of you, and you believe you cannot do something, you are in a fixed mindset, as represented in the graphic from Malvika Prasad below:

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Recently there has been more developed thinking on growth mindset. Many now see it as a continuum. Rather than just fixed and growth. It lays out various levels of growth from low to high. It allows you to have shades of thinking based on the various factors affecting your mind and your approach to growth. Using the image below from James Andersen, you can assess your approach to each of these factors, map out your level of growth in each and identify areas to push yourself to move to the right. Overall, if you bring a high growth mindset to your leadership and your behavior in your business, it will help set the stage for real business growth.

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Another tool you can use, particularly in highly uncertain times, helps you identify your comfort zone and move to a growth zone. It is a three-part solution. One, identify your fear. Often naming something releases its power over you. Two, coming up with possible solutions to avoid your fear coming true makes you feel more in control. Three, embracing change and focusing on the opportunity growth will bring.

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How Do You Apply This To Your Business?

As a business owner, growth only happens when it starts with you. You have to get your own mindset set to growth and get out of your fear zone before you can get your company into a growth mindset.

Business owners say they want to grow, yet often they aren’t very good at actually doing it. As all of these models identify, it requires getting out of your comfort zone, facing your fears, embracing change, and being clear about your objectives and opportunities.

Additionally, everything you are certain of change as you go through the business cycle. Starting a business is scary but many entrepreneurs dive in the deep-end. Eagerly eschewing fear and comfort to see if they can do it - to prove their business model - to prove to themselves and others that they can be successful. The courage of your conviction gets you through the early stage of start up.

The growth stage is where business owners can stall or be overwhelmed with options. Fear often sets in here; fear of the unknown; fear because things are new and uncomfortable; fear because others are successful around you and you are comparing your business. There are new challenges and everything is on a bigger scale than when you started.

3 Steps to Growing Your Mind And Your Business

Whatever stage of business you are in, reference the models above and follow these three steps to get you solidly on your path toward business growth.

1) Identify your business fear. What is the personal level of risk you are comfortable with? In the growth continuum, are you fixed, low, mixed, growth or high growth? Where can you push yourself? What does that mean in business terms? Talk through it with a coach, advisor, or partner. Take the time to name your fear to deflate its power and be prepared for success.

2) Create a strategic plan for your company’s growth. Planning in highly uncertain times requires unique tools and approaches. Weave that into your plan but have a clear plan of action with multiple solutions that you can share with your board, your senior leadership team and where appropriate with your staff.

3) Embrace the change and set a course forward. One way to do this is to hire a consultant or advisor to help you map this out.

With my custom, in-depth Growth Audit, you’ll hold in-hand your Steph Barry Inc report with comprehensive insight into your company, including topline growth opportunities and obstacles that need to be minimized. Your customized report will also include your clear plan of action, including which growth levers to focus on when and how, and the timeline to follow for the growth destination you seek.

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