How to build (or encourage) a growth mindset at your workplace
Clinically reviewed by Dr. Chris Mosunic, PhD, RD, MBA
If you're feeling stuck at work, you may want to check in on your mindset. Explore these 16 tips to help you (or your team) build a growth mindset in the workplace.
POV: You’re staring at your screen, half-reading an email for the third time, nodding along in a meeting without really engaging. You’re doing your job… but not much more than that. Even the idea of taking on something new feels like too much to ask.
That stuck feeling at work is more common than you think. And while burnout, unclear expectations, or lack of support might be part of it, there’s another piece that often gets overlooked: having a growth mindset. Specifically, whether you believe growth is still possible at work. If you don’t, it can affect every aspect of the workday, from whether you speak up in a meeting or choose to take on new tasks that you’re more excited about.
So, what does a growth mindset actually look like at work? And how can it help you (and your team) re-engage, even in a tough environment? Here’s all you need to know, along with some simple ways to shift your mindset.
What is a growth mindset?
A growth mindset, coined by psychologist Carol Dweck, is the belief that skills and intelligence aren’t fixed. Instead, they can be developed through effort, practice, and support. This contrasts with a fixed mindset, which is the belief that people are either naturally good at something or not.
Having a growth mindset is said to shape how people respond to challenges and feedback. This mindset might sound like, “I haven’t figured it out yet, but I can learn,” while a fixed mindset might immediately say, “I’m just not good at this.” A person with a fixed mindset won’t even try, which can derail their progress and habits.
In the workplace, having a growth mindset affects more than just confidence — it shapes how people take risks, navigate change, and stay open to feedback. Those with a growth mindset stay engaged and curious, even when things get hard.
Read more: Why a growth mindset can help you thrive (and 10 tips to build it)
Why is a growth mindset beneficial in the workplace?
Most modern workplaces demand flexibility, collaboration, and resilience. But this is often paired with limited time and constant change. A growth mindset doesn’t eliminate these pressures, but it can shape how people respond. It allows space for learning, supports recovery after mistakes, and helps people stay engaged, even when things get hard.
For employees
A growth mindset can change the entire tone of your workday. Instead of interpreting every piece of feedback as criticism, you start to see it as information. You might know that you’re not guaranteed to succeed when you take on a tough assignment, but you’re open to learning, growing, and seeing what’s possible.
This shift matters because it builds internal resilience — aka, you’re more likely to bounce back after a setback. Here are some other benefits of employees having a growth mindset at work:
Skill development: You give yourself permission to try, iterate, and improve, which leads to more competence over time.
Motivation: It’s easier to stay engaged when success doesn’t require perfection.
Confidence: You begin to trust your ability to grow through challenges.
Reduced fear of failure: When mistakes are part of the process, they feel less like personal failures and more like stepping stones to learning.
For companies
On a team or organizational level, a growth mindset creates prime conditions for innovation, collaboration, and psychological safety. When people believe their contributions matter—even if they’re still learning—they’re more likely to speak up, share ideas, and ask for help when they need it. This can help a company's growth overall.
Here’s what a growth mindset looks like in company culture:
Increased adaptability: Teams with a growth mindset are better equipped to navigate change and uncertainty because they see challenges as opportunities to learn and adjust.
Improved collaboration: When growth is the goal, people are less focused on competing with one another and instead are more focused on learning.
Higher engagement and retention: Employees who feel safe to learn and grow are more likely to stay at their companies, especially if the environment recognizes effort and progress.
More inclusive culture: A growth mindset shifts the focus from inherent ability to development, which helps level the playing field and reduce bias.
9 tips to help you develop a growth mindset in the workplace
While developing a growth mindset isn’t an overnight shift, a series of small choices, reflections, and habits can gradually change how you relate to yourself and your work. These tips are designed to help you start (and sustain) that shift, even if things feel stuck in the moment.
1. Notice your internal narrative
Growth mindset work often begins with paying attention to your self-talk — the quiet stories you tell yourself about what you can or can’t do. If your inner voice tends to say things like, “I’m just not a leader” or “I always mess up when I present,” try shifting the language.
The best way is to add a simple “yet” to your thoughts. You could say, “I’m not comfortable presenting yet.” This doesn’t force positivity, but it does leave the door open for growth.
Daily tip: Catch yourself using fixed-mindset language at least once a day. Then, try rewriting the belief in a more flexible way. Over time, you’ll naturally change your self-talk.
💙 Learn how to be kinder to yourself with this Shift Your Self-Talk session with Jay Shetty.
2. Turn mistakes into learning checkpoints
Everyone makes mistakes, but what matters most is how you frame them. Instead of replaying the error on a loop and beating yourself up about it, try asking, “What did this teach me?” or “What would I do differently next time?”
Even writing a short reflection—listing what happened, what worked, and what didn’t—can help turn regret into clarity.
Daily tip: Keep a note on your phone or computer that lists the lessons learned from your mistakes. Add a short bullet point with new lessons each time you learn.
3. Get comfortable with being a beginner
It’s hard to be bad at things, especially at work. But being willing to stumble, ask for help, and try something you've never done before is key to building a growth mindset. Normalize the discomfort that comes with learning.
Daily tip: Try asking to shadow a colleague doing something unfamiliar, or offer to take on a small task outside your comfort zone. Developing these habits can ensure you’re constantly learning.
Read more: Beginner's mindset: what it is, benefits & how to practice
4. Ask questions, even ones you think are stupid
Curiosity is a growth mindset skill. If you’re stuck, confused, or simply interested in something, ask. There are no stupid questions if you learn something new in the process.
On the flip side, if someone else asks you a question, respond with encouragement. This builds a safer environment for everyone to grow.
Daily tip: If you’re in a leadership position, start team meetings by encouraging one learning question (something someone wants to understand better), and make sure to respond with care.
5. Be open to feedback
Growth-minded feedback is about helping people expand without shaming them for their mistakes. When you’re the one giving feedback, be specific and kind.
When receiving it, take notes, ask clarifying questions, and resist the urge to defend yourself immediately. Ask how you can improve, and any tips they might have to help.
Daily tip: Your tone and intention when giving feedback matter. Try not to make the feedback about a trait, but frame it as a behavior that can be shifted. If you’re the one receiving feedback, try to keep an open mind and ask for clarification if you feel confused or misjudged.
6. Celebrate effort and progress, not just results
Of course, you want to see results in the workplace, but the path to those results often includes a lot of invisible effort. Recognize when you or your team are experimenting, trying something new, or simply working through difficult scenarios.
This reinforces the idea that growth is valuable, even when the outcomes are uncertain.
Daily tip: If you’re in a leadership role, include questions in your team meetings or 1:1s like, “What’s something you tried this week that took courage or effort, even if it didn’t work in the traditional sense?” If you are meeting with a boss or manager, feel free to share how you think you’ve grown and what you’re working on.
7. Practice reflective thinking regularly
Having a growth mindset means allowing yourself daily reflection, which helps you identify new opportunities for growth—especially when faced with challenges—and learn how to overcome negative thinking.
Every day, ask yourself one of these questions:
What am I learning right now?
What challenged me this week?
What helped me stay curious or engaged?
What did I avoid, and why?
Daily tip: Try writing these answers down or saying them out loud. Even five minutes of journaling or voice-noting can help shift your focus from performance to progress.
💙 Take time for daily Reflection during this meditation with Tamara Levitt.
8. Don’t over-identify with your strengths or weaknesses
People with fixed mindsets often cling to their strengths and avoid anything that threatens that identity. They also tend to over-identify with their weaknesses and avoid situations that might challenge that belief.
A growth mindset means holding all of it more lightly. You’re good at some things, and still learning others. Both facts are valid.
Daily tip: Try a strength swap. This means you take on a task that’s typically in someone else’s wheelhouse, and support them as they try something that’s usually in yours. You can both learn from each other… and probably laugh a little, too.
9. Surround yourself with people who value learning — not just winning
Mindsets are contagious. If you’re always around people who need to be right, hide their mistakes, or avoid risk, you may start doing the same.
Instead, try to spend time with people who are willing to be wrong, laugh at their mess-ups, and ask thoughtful questions. If you’re a leader, you should model this vulnerability yourself, because it gives others permission to follow.
Daily tip: If you lead a project, talk openly about what you’re still figuring out. It lets people know it’s okay to not have all the right answers all the time.
How to encourage a growth mindset in your employees
If you’re in a leadership role, creating a growth mindset culture shouldn’t just be delegated to the meetings you host. Instead, focus on the subtle cues people pick up on every day, like how mistakes are handled, how success is defined, and whether learning is seen as a strength or a liability.
Here are a few ways to create an environment where a growth mindset can take root and grow, no major budget shifts required.
Model it yourself, especially when it’s uncomfortable
Employees watch how leaders handle pressure, uncertainty, and failure. If you’re open about what you’re learning, where you’re struggling, and how you’re growing, you create psychological safety for others to do the same.
Daily tip: Share one thing you’re working on in your next team meeting, and explain how you’re approaching it with curiosity, instead of perfectionism.
💙 Grow your leadership skills with the Mindful Leadership Wisdom Series with Prof. Megan Reitz.
Shift your language around success and failure
Instead of praising innate talent (such as saying, “You’re such a natural at this”), focus on effort, strategy, and improvement (like, “I noticed you tried a new approach, how did it go?”).
Reframing feedback like this reinforces the idea that growth is possible and valuable.
Daily tip: During performance reviews, include questions like, “What’s something new you tried this quarter?” or “Where did you grow the most?” This lets people become more comfortable with owning their mistakes.
Create low-stakes opportunities for experimentation
People are more likely to take risks when the cost of failure isn’t as high. Carve out small ways for your team to try something new (like maybe a pilot project or a test run), and normalize the idea that first drafts are part of progress.
Daily tip: Work still needs to be fun sometimes. Consider dedicating one team brainstorm per month to exploring out-of-the-box ideas without judgment — just playing with all possibilities.
Celebrate learning, not just achievement
Recognition systems matter. If the only people being praised are the top performers, everyone else learns that they’re only seen if they achieve more. But to cultivate a growth mindset, you need to highlight stories of resilience, persistence, and growth… even when they’re still in progress.
Daily tip: Start a growth shout-out tradition where team members acknowledge each other for trying something new or stepping outside their comfort zone. There shouldn’t be any results-based talk here: Just focus solely on the attempts.
Make feedback a two-way street
Invite feedback from your team about how you lead, how meetings are run, and if any support is missing that you might be able to help with. This not only builds trust, but it also shows that you’re committed to learning and growth.
Daily tip: Use anonymous pulse surveys or feedback boxes to encourage honesty about your leadership skills without fear of retaliation.
Related read: How to create a psychologically healthy workplace
Align development with real-time goals
When learning feels relevant, people are more likely to cultivate growth mindsets. So, aim to link development conversations to actual projects and challenges.
Instead of vague future planning, ask specific questions. A good one is, “What’s one skill you want to build this quarter that would help with your current role?” This helps your employees realize that any difficulties they have will be faced together, and also helps them in their day-to-day.
Daily tip: Offer microlearning opportunities, like short trainings, articles, or shadowing, that fit into people’s workflows. This will help them learn each day, but because they’re not very time-consuming, they won’t feel like huge chores.
Protect time for reflection and rest
People don’t grow as well when they’re in survival mode. That’s why protecting their time for breaks, reflection, and recovery isn’t just a perk. In fact, it enhances sustainable learning.
Make space for your team to step back and integrate what they’re learning, rather than expecting them to produce all day, every day.
Daily tip: Encourage a “no meetings” block each week, or set aside 10 minutes at the end of major projects for team reflection. Also, allow for mental health days when needed.
Growth mindset in the workplace FAQs
How do you encourage a growth mindset at work?
Encouraging a growth mindset at work starts with creating psychological safety. You want to make sure you’re fostering a culture in which people feel safe to make mistakes, ask questions, and admit they don’t know everything.
To do this, you need to model vulnerability as a leader, give thoughtful feedback that focuses on development as opposed to just results, and celebrate effort and experimentation. The key is not to focus only on polished outcomes.
It’s also about making space for reflection and learning, both formally (through training or 1:1s) and informally (through conversations, check-ins, and shared stories of progress). The more consistently a growth mindset is normalized, the more people will trust that it’s safe to lean into it.
What are some signs you have a fixed mindset at work?
A fixed mindset at work often shows up as resistance to feedback, avoiding new challenges, or a deep fear of failure. You might find yourself sticking only to tasks you’re already good at or comparing yourself harshly to others who seem more skilled than you.
You might interpret mistakes as proof that you’re not cut out for something, rather than as a part of the learning process. Over time, a fixed mindset can shrink your sense of what’s possible and make work feel more stressful, because you’re constantly trying to prove yourself instead of allowing space to grow.
Can anyone develop a growth mindset at work?
Yes, because a growth mindset is not a fixed trait: It’s a practice. And like any practice, it can be developed over time with intention and support. You may not be able to change how you think overnight (in fact, that's close to impossible), but you can practice awareness so that when fixed-mindset thinking shows up, you gently shift how you respond.
It helps to be in environments that reinforce this shift, such as teams that value effort, feedback, and curiosity. But even in less supportive settings, individuals can build growth-mindset habits by staying curious, reframing challenges, and reflecting on their progress.
What are some examples of a growth mindset?
A growth mindset can sound like, “I haven’t figured this out yet, but I’m working on it,” or “That didn’t go as planned, but I learned something useful.” It shows up when someone asks for feedback without fear of judgment, or when they volunteer to try something new, even if they’re not sure how it’ll go.
On a team level, a growth mindset might look like brainstorming without fear of failure, celebrating learning moments even if the result isn’t what they wanted, or treating tough feedback as a tool for growth, rather than a personal critique.
How long does it take to create a growth mindset culture in the workplace?
Creating a true growth mindset culture takes time, consistency, and, most importantly, trust. Still, small shifts can happen in a matter of weeks, especially when leaders start modeling new behaviors and making room for reflection.
But building a sustainable culture where people feel genuinely safe to grow can take months or even years, depending on the size of the team, the depth of the company’s previous habits, and the level of buy-in across the organization. The good news, though, is that even slow, steady progress often makes a difference. Every small step helps reinforce the larger shift.
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