“We want a team with a growth mindset.”
We hear this a lot from business owners. Usually from people who care deeply about their business and want a team who care too. People who take responsibility, bring ideas and feel invested in where the business is going.
It sounds like everyone wants the same thing. Until you ask what it means in practice.
For one founder, it means being open to feedback. For another, it means finding solutions without always coming back to them. Someone else means being willing to adapt as the business grows.
Those are different expectations. And if you haven’t made yours clear, your team could be trying to meet a standard that only exists in your head.
At its heart, a growth mindset is the belief that we can develop our abilities through learning, practice and support. In a workplace, that needs to translate into something people can recognise and act on.
There’s a difference between asking someone to learn a new skill and expecting them to say yes to every change without question. Equally, someone raising a concern isn’t necessarily being negative. They might be spotting something you need to hear.
Before deciding someone lacks a growth mindset, it’s worth asking whether you’ve explained what you need, understood their concerns and given them a fair opportunity to develop.
In our experience, the founders and CEOs who create the best conditions for growth are willing to work on themselves too.
They develop their emotional intelligence: recognising how they affect others, making space for another person’s perspective and acknowledging when they’ve got something wrong. A key part of that is learning to regulate their own emotions.
This can be particularly difficult when you’ve built the business yourself. You carry the financial pressure, the responsibility and the knowledge of everything it took to get here. A challenge to your idea can feel personal, even when that wasn’t the intention.
That’s understandable. Being able to notice your frustration and choose how to respond is a skill worth developing. You can feel disappointed and still ask a useful question. You can feel defensive and still listen.
Nobody gets this right every time. When your reaction lands badly, coming back to acknowledge it matters too. Your team need to see that learning applies to you as well.
Imagine someone spots a mistake in a piece of work that has already gone to a client. Do they tell you straight away, or spend the next hour trying to fix it quietly because they’re worried about your reaction?
This is where psychological safety becomes practical. Can people ask for help, admit an error or disagree without being humiliated or punished for speaking up?
A leader who pauses to understand what happened, addresses the impact and looks for what needs to change gives the team something useful to work with. The focus moves towards putting things right and learning, rather than finding someone to blame.
There still needs to be accountability. Repeated carelessness or deliberately ignoring an agreed process needs addressing. You can be clear about standards and consequences while treating the person with empathy.
The opportunity in a difficult situation might be a clearer expectation, a gap in training or a better way of working. You’re more likely to spot it if you’re willing to listen.
At Healthy HR, everyone received a HeartMath device alongside their laptop on day one, to help them learn and practise emotional regulation skills. We see developing those skills as part of equipping people to do their work, including having difficult conversations and responding thoughtfully under pressure.
The device is one part of that commitment. We still need to practise what we ask of others, reflect on our reactions and keep learning ourselves.
If you encourage people to learn, is there time to do it? If you want initiative, do people know which decisions they can make? If you welcome feedback, what happens after someone gives it?
As a business grows, things that once happened naturally often need more thought. The founder can’t be in every conversation. Managers need a shared understanding of what good looks like, and employees need expectations they can actually work with.
That’s where we support business owners at Healthy HR: making sense of what’s happening in their teams, asking the questions that are easy to miss when you’re close to the business, and turning the culture they want into practical leadership and people decisions.
A useful place to start is your last difficult conversation. What did your response teach that person about working here?
If this has you thinking about your own team, let’s talk. Whether we already support your business or you’re getting to know us, we can help you explore what’s getting in the way and agree where to focus next.
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Stronger Teams, Greater Success!