Growth and Hope: A Recipe for Optimism and Organizational Success

In challenging times, it is important to not only keep our spirits up, but also the spirits of those we serve and lead in our communities and organizations. Leadership scholars have begun researching paradigms related to optimism, such as growth mindset and hope, that can have implications for leaders and managers.

Growth Mindset

Dweck (2016) emphasized that having a growth mindset involves believing in yourself and your success "through hard work, good strategies, and input from others" (p. 2). A key part of growth mindset is understanding that both consistent effort and persistence are needed to achieve group goals. Consistent effort and persistence can be described as the willingness to persist when challenges and adversity arise (Duckworth, Peterson, Matthews, & Kelly, 2007). Organizations with growth mindsets tend to have more independent and dedicated employees and better teamwork among employees and volunteers (Dweck, 2016). The following strategies will help foster growth mindset among your employees and volunteers within your organization. 

Strategies to foster growth mindset in your work with organizations

We adapted the following tips based on Duckworth, Peterson, Matthews, and Kelly's (2007) work and Dweck's (2016) work to help you foster a growth mindset among employees and volunteers within your organization.

• Set high expectations. Expect the best effort from your employees through your communication. They will perform to the level you expect.
• Give sincere and clear feedback. Explain to employees and volunteers why a task was not completed correctly. Tell them how they can correct the mistake.
• Use failure as an opportunity to learn. Promote a culture of learning from one's mistakes. Demonstrate an example of using failures as chances to learn by speaking positively about the value of experience (whether successful or not).
• Recognize persistence and a job well done. Recognize employees and volunteers that both worked hard and completed a task well. Highlight those who overcame much adversity to achieve organizational goals, using them as an example for others.

Hope

Hope has been defined as a state of optimism where individuals feel willing and able to achieve their goals (Malik, 2013). Employees and volunteers with hope must have both the personal motivation to achieve a goal and the infrastructure to do so. Hope may help people to cope with stress and uncertainty in their lives (Folkman, 2010). Research has shown that organizations higher in hope have higher profits, retention, satisfaction, and commitment among employees (Snyder, et. al., 1991). The literature shows that hope can be absent if people do not feel they have control over a given situation (Folkman, 2010). The following strategies will help foster hope among your employees and volunteers within your organization.

Strategies to foster hope in your work with organizations

We adapted the following tips from Malik (2013), Folkman (2010), and Snyder et. al.'s (1991) work to help you foster hope among your employees and volunteers within your organization.

• Empower your employees and volunteers. Demonstrate that you believe in them. Give them the freedom and responsibility to complete projects independently.
• Set employees up for success. Do not set employees up for failure. Seriously consider their abilities and organizational resources available before assigning them projects.
• Recognize employees and volunteers. Thank employees and volunteers for their efforts.
• Provide professional development opportunities for employees and volunteers to manage stress. If you are a highly productive organization, there are likely times of stress in your organization. Educate employees about stress and ways to manage it. Inspire them by sharing how you have successfully managed stress.

References

Dweck, C. (2016). What having a "growth mindset" actually means. Harvard Business Review, 13, 213-226.

Duckworth, A. L., Peterson, C., Matthews, M. D., & Kelly, D. R. (2007). Grit: Perseverance and passion for long-term goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92, 1087–1101.

Folkman, S. (2010). Stress, coping, and hope. Psycho‐oncology, 19(9), 901-908. 

Malik, A. (2013). Efficacy, hope, optimism and resilience at workplace–positive organizational behavior. International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, 3(10), 1-4. 

Snyder, C. R., Harris, C., Anderson, J. R., Holleran, S. A., Irving, L. M., Sigmon, S. T., ... & Harney, P. (1991). The will and the ways: development and validation of an individual-differences measure of hope. Journal of personality and social psychology, 60(4), 570.