I was having coffee with a fellow entrepreneur recently and we were discussing our teams and their chemistry. What I found particularly fascinating about this conversation was the way she talked about her team. She continued to use this term, “growth minded.” While I have heard the term plenty of times in the past, I hasn’t really considered the application and the process of getting there. For context, she has a wildly successful company with leaders that empower their teams and she said she never has hiring problems because her teams organically grow.

When she talked about growth minded individuals, it was as if she’d found the magic sauce. The secret ingredient to growing businesses. The one “gotta have it” attribute of great leaders. And, it was so painfully obvious that it just works. Her company has a positive culture. Everyone loves working there. She doesn’t have to bribe her employees with hiring incentives, they just get their friends and contacts to want to join the team. And. What I loved the most, was that every one bought in to the bigger picture for the company. They were all laser focused.

So. What exactly is Growth Minded?

From what I’ve learned from a little research and gathered from the conversation with this entrepreneur is that growth minded, at its core, means having the deeply rooted desire to be constantly growing and learning. Simple right? Not exactly. Growth minded individuals don’t need to be paid to learn. They are hungry for knowledge. Want to know what the best way to do something is. Are willing to put in the “extra effort” to make a presentation or project perfect. Why? Not because they’re perfectionists, but because they want to learn the absolute best way to do something. And. They want to teach others too.

Want to know if you’re growth minded?

Here are some tell tale signs you’re growth minded:

1. You read business / leadership / growth oriented books constantly.
2. You love listening to business / leadership podcasts.
3. You’ve taken a class for no reason other than to learn.
4. You read blogs or news articles about how to better your company, process, or service.
5. You journal
6. You meditate
7. You accept criticism without beating yourself up or getting nasty at the person who shared.
8. You are inquisitive and love learning what makes things work.
9. You value differing opinions
10. You are optimistic about the future

These are just some of the signs. Many leaders I’ve talked to you about being growth minded have echoed these thoughts. (Leave a comment below if you have something you’d like to add to the list that fits in with being a growth minded person.)

So. How can you tell if someone else is growth minded? (Especially when hiring / interviewing?)

When I interview people, there’s a definite balance of “I need to tell you about the job and see if you are good with that” and “Tell me about you and see if you’re a good fit.” In my opinion, that’s really the whole purpose of the interview. It shouldn’t be one sided. I just had to get that out there. Thanks for reading my disclaimer.

When you’re at the part of the interview where you’re finding out if this person is going to fit into the business, ask open ended questions and see how they respond. If they’re not giving great answers (too short, not really answering the question) or you can just tell that they’re nervous, try to reassure them so they’re nervousness goes down. To find out if they’re growth minded, ask questions like:

• “Tell me about a time you didn’t know how to do something really important and what you did to handle the situation.” (You’re looking for initiative, the desire to learn, ownership of a problem, and their application of their new found knowledge.)

• “Tell me about a time you weren’t sure how things were going to work out and how you handled it.” (You’re looking for their ability to remain calm in a tense situation, their ability to be positive regardless of the outcome, how they handle stress or uncertainty, and their ability to handle failure if they didn’t succeed.)

• “Tell me about a time you did something wrong and a coworker or a manager had to correct you. What happened?” (You’re looking for their ability to accept criticism, take feedback, adapt to a new way of doing things, and their ability to be mentally strong enough to grow.)

• “When you were going to school, tell me about some of the extracurricular things you participated in, why you did them, and what you learned from it.” (You’re looking for their desire to go “above and beyond” the basic requirements, their passion for learning or experiencing new things, and how they apply that to their life now.)

What are some of your favorite interview questions that help you understand if the candidate is growth minded? (Leave a comment!)

Just because one person is growth minded doesn’t mean the whole team is. There could be some bad apples in the bunch that squash any chance of the entire team being growth minded. So how do you know if they’re growth minded or not. Here are some ways to tell:

Not Growth Minded Teams:

1. The team hordes information or the “best way” to do something
2. When obstacles come up, they’re overcome, but that’s the end of the process.
3. There’s a constant battle for “who’s has the best opinion” when problem solving
4. Everyone leaves at the exact minute they’re shift ends

Growth Minded Teams:

1. Share information and best practices freely
2. Teams talk about challenges, their approach for fixing them, and create a database for future reference.
3. The team accepts that everyone has a different opinion, no one person’s opinion is “the best” and actually appreciates the differing perspectives.
4. Individuals may either stay late to finish projects, read articles outside of work to better themselves, or invest in themselves and others outside of their standard work requirements.

Alright. So. You’ve gotten this far in the article. You know a lot about growth minded people and teams now. So, maybe you’re thinking, “I already have a team. But. They don’t sound to be growth minded. But I want them to be. How do I get there?” Good news for you!

Here are some steps to get your team to be growth minded:

1. They need to see the behaviors modeled for them. So, you have to be growth minded first.
2. Talk about the books you’re reading, what you’re learning, how you’re applying the knowledge.
3. Encourage your team to read by having a library of books available to them.
4. Create a system for tracking business process issues where everyone can participate in sharing their knowledge of fixing them.
5. Encourage people with differing opinions to speak up and ensure their thoughts aren’t squashed just for “being different.”
6. Hire a business coach with a different viewpoint that challenges you to expand your way of thinking.

Bottom line is, however, it is REALLY HARD to “get” someone to be growth minded. As the saying goes, “You can only lead a horse to water, you can’t make them drink.” I’ve added a little saying to the end of that which goes, “You can even drown the horse, but you still can’t make them drink it.” Don’t drown your team. Don’t want it more than they do. Give them the tools. Guide them. Help them activate their passions. But at the end of the day, if they don’t want to be growth minded, it’s easier to find people who already are than it is turning someone who isn’t growth minded into a growth minded person.

My baseline definition for growth minded is this:

“Someone who has a predisposition towards learning. Constantly seeking to understand: How it works, why people do what they do, what motivates them. And don’t shy away from the unknown.”

What do you think about my definition? Would you add anything? Have you ever thought about being growth minded before? What makes you a growth minded individual?

I welcome all your comments!