Growth Mindset in the Workplace: Examples and Strategies That Actually Work

When Satya Nadella took over as CEO of Microsoft in 2014, the company was widely described as a “know-it-all” culture — brilliant people who had stopped learning. Within four years, Nadella’s growth mindset transformation had tripled Microsoft’s market value and made growth mindset the foundational pillar of the company’s culture for its 131,000 employees worldwide. 

That’s not a one-off story. Across industries — telecom, healthcare, pharmaceuticals — organizations are discovering that a growth mindset isn’t just a feel-good HR initiative. It’s a measurable driver of innovation, resilience, and performance. 

In this article, we’ll break down what growth mindset means in a workplace context, examine real-world examples from companies that have done it successfully, and provide evidence-based strategies you can apply with your own teams. 

What Is a Growth Mindset? (And Where It Comes From) 

The concept originates from Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck, who spent decades studying how people’s beliefs about their own abilities shape their behavior and outcomes. In her landmark 2006 book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Dweck distinguished between two core beliefs: 

Fixed mindset: The belief that intelligence, talent, and abilities are static traits — you either have them or you don’t. 

Growth mindset: The belief that abilities can be developed through dedication, effort, and the right strategies. 

In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work — brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment.” — Carol Dweck 

In the workplace, a growth mindset translates to something specific and practical: employees who view challenges as opportunities to learn, who seek out feedback rather than avoid it, and who believe their professional capabilities are not fixed but continually expandable. 

Growth Mindset vs. Fixed Mindset at Work 

What the Research Says: Growth Mindset and Workplace Outcomes

The academic evidence for growth mindset in professional settings has grown substantially over the past decade. A 2020 scoping review by Han and Stieha in Human Resource Development Review synthesized findings across global organizations and identified growth mindset effects at three levels: 

Individual level: Higher work engagement, creativity, task performance, and job satisfaction 

Dyadic level: Improved supervisor–employee relationships and better conflict resolution 

Organizational level: Increased organizational citizenship behaviors and stronger collective growth orientation 

Here are the specific studies and data points that matter most for business leaders:

Growth Mindset Drives Innovative Behavior

A 2022 study published in Frontiers in Psychology surveyed 244 employees across diverse Chinese organizations and found that growth mindset was positively and significantly correlated with innovative behavior (r = 0.41, p < 0.01). The mechanism? Employees with a growth mindset were more likely to actively use their strengths at work, which in turn fueled innovation. Strengths-based leadership from managers amplified this effect further. 

Takeaway: Growth-minded employees don’t just work harder — they work more creatively, especially when leaders help them identify and apply their strengths.

Leaders’ Behavior Directly Shapes Employee Mindset

A 2025 multilevel study published in the Baltic Journal of Management tracked 209 employees over 12 days, generating 2,223 daily responses. The findings were clear: leaders who intellectually stimulate their teams — asking challenging questions, encouraging new approaches, and framing problems as learning opportunities — directly foster a stronger growth mindset in their employees. That growth mindset, in turn, led to more proactive strengths use and measurably higher daily performance.

Takeaway: Growth mindset isn’t just an individual trait — it’s a culture that leaders create through their daily interactions. 

The “Dual-Growth Mindset” Creates Lasting Happiness at Work

Research by Justin Berg at Stanford Graduate School of Business (with colleagues at Yale, Wharton, and Google) introduced the concept of a dual-growth mindset: believing that both you can grow and your job can be reshaped. In their first experiment, 149 employees at a Fortune 500 tech company attended career development workshops. The dual-growth mindset group experienced a happiness boost that lasted at least six months — and was visible to coworkers and managers, not just self-reported.

A second study of nearly 400 full-time workers confirmed the finding. Participants who adopted a growth mindset about only themselves or only their job did not experience lasting benefits. The combination was essential. 

“You inevitably end up having to change either yourself or your job to be able to sustain change. If you just view one or the other as flexible, you’re going to bump up to a situation where you’re not going to be able to make the change that might make you happier.” — Justin Berg, Stanford GSB 

Takeaway: Encourage employees to see both their own abilities and their roles as malleable. The biggest gains come from the intersection. 

Growth Mindset Amplifies Job Crafting — With Autonomy

A two-study investigation (180 participants in an experiment, 236 in a longitudinal survey) found that growth mindset significantly increased job crafting — the proactive way employees redesign their tasks, relationships, and roles. But there was a critical condition: job autonomy. In the high-autonomy condition, the effect of growth mindset on job crafting was large and significant (F(1, 174) = 37.85, p < 0.001). In the low-autonomy condition, the effect disappeared entirely (p = 0.989).

Takeaway: Hiring growth-minded people isn’t enough. You must also give them the autonomy to act on that mindset. 

Growth Mindset Managers Boost Belonging and Retention

A 2024 study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (N = 1,777 across two preregistered experiments, plus N = 300 in a real-world survey) found that managers who endorse a growth mindset significantly increase belonging, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment among employees from working-class backgrounds in white-collar settings. The mechanism: growth-mindset managers reduce identity threat, making employees feel that their potential is recognized regardless of their background.

Takeaway: Manager mindset isn’t just about performance — it’s an inclusion and retention lever. 

Real-World Examples: Four Companies That Built Growth Mindset Cultures 

The NeuroLeadership Institute (NLI) documented how four major organizations — across telecom, tech, healthcare, and pharmaceuticals — systematically embedded growth mindset into their cultures. Their approaches share common patterns but differ in execution, offering a practical blueprint. 

Microsoft: From “Know-It-Alls” to “Learn-It-Alls” 

When Satya Nadella became CEO, he made growth mindset the foundational culture attribute of Microsoft’s transformation. Inspired by Carol Dweck’s work, Nadella and CHRO Kathleen Hogan set out to shift the company from a culture of know-it-alls to learn-it-alls.

What they did: 

• Developed leadership principles in partnership with NLI to engage all 131,000 employees 

• Created interactive online modules with storytelling and multimedia for growth mindset learning 

• Built conversation guides for managers to enable meaningful team discussions 

• Eliminated performance ratings and rankings — shifted to a model focused on continuous development conversations

• Embedded growth mindset into talent reviews, succession planning, and goal-setting 

• Used games, quizzes, lending libraries, and a “mobile empathy museum” to engage employees 

• Ran daily pulse surveys to continuously measure growth mindset culture 

Results: 

• Growth mindset favorability scores trended between 78% and 80%

• Growth mindset was proven to be the primary driver of all other Microsoft culture attributes: customer-obsessed, diverse and inclusive, one Microsoft, and making a difference

• Microsoft’s market value tripled within four years of the culture shift 

Telenor: Growth Mindset as a Digital Transformation Engine 

Telenor, a 160-year-old Norwegian telecom serving 172 million customers, faced existential pressure from technological disruption. The company’s Leadership Development team introduced growth mindset as a way to increase self-awareness, challenge existing processes, and push beyond comfort zones. 

What they did: 

• Started with 60 senior managers in a one-day growth mindset workshop 

• Rolled out to all 22,000 employees company-wide 

• Revamped the performance management process around growth mindset principles 

• CEO and CHRO consistently used growth mindset terminology in monthly town halls 

• Leaders rotated desks daily to interact with new colleagues 

• Created a growth mindset learning badge on the Telenor Campus platform 

• Embedded growth mindset into team development, executive programs, and high-potential assessments 

Results: 

• 8,500 employees worldwide completed the six learning modules (average 1.2 hours per learner) 

• Growth mindset became embedded in everyday language and meetings across the organization 

Cigna: Continuous Conversations Replace Annual Ratings 

Cigna, a global health services company with 74,000 employees and $48 billion in revenue, linked growth mindset directly to its shift from annual performance ratings to continuous performance conversations. 

What they did: 

• Brought in NLI to teach senior leaders the neuroscience of change and quality conversations 

• Rolled out growth mindset coaching to all managers company-wide 

• Used the SCARF model (Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness, Fairness) alongside growth mindset messaging 

• Shifted from ratings to frequent, development-focused discussions 

• Positioned growth mindset as a tool for building resilience and change agility 

Results: 

• Growth mindset became the foundation for a more agile, feedback-driven performance culture 

• Employees reported greater comfort with continuous change and feedback 

Bristol-Myers Squibb: Scaling Growth Mindset in Pharma 

BMS, a National Medal of Technology recipient with 23,300 employees, took a measured approach to growth mindset adoption. 

What they did: 

• Ran a Performance Innovation Trial with 1,300 employees in 2017 

• After validating the approach, scaled to 24,000 employees globally in 2018 

• Delivered ongoing training and workshops to reinforce the change 

• Embedded growth mindset principles into performance management 

Results: 

• Successfully transitioned from a trial to a global rollout, demonstrating that growth mindset culture can scale across a large, complex organization 

7 Practical Strategies to Foster a Growth Mindset in Your Team 

Based on the research and case studies above, here are seven evidence-backed strategies you can implement: 

1. Model Growth Mindset Language as a Leader

The 2025 Baltic Journal of Management study showed that leaders’ intellectual stimulation directly predicts employee growth mindset. Use language that frames challenges as learning opportunities. Instead of “Why did this fail?” ask “What did we learn from this?” At Microsoft and Telenor, leaders deliberately used growth mindset terminology in town halls, team meetings, and one-on-ones. 

2. Shift From Ratings to Development Conversations

Both Microsoft and Cigna eliminated performance ratings in favor of continuous, development-focused conversations. When you remove the pressure of a single annual score, employees become more willing to take risks, seek feedback, and focus on growth rather than defending their track record. 

3. Grant Autonomy —It’sthe Multiplier 

The job crafting research was unambiguous: growth mindset without autonomy has zero effect on proactive behavior. Give employees decision-making authority over how they approach their work. Let them shape their tasks, choose their methods, and experiment with new approaches. Autonomy is the condition that activates a growth mindset. 

4. Celebrate LearningFromFailure 

Microsoft celebrates demonstrated growth mindset behaviors publicly. Create rituals where teams share what they tried, what didn’t work, and what they learned. When failure is treated as data rather than deficiency, people stop hiding mistakes and start extracting value from them. 

5. Invest in Growth Mindset Training — and Make It Scalable

Telenor’s six mobile-friendly learning modules reached 8,500 employees at just 1.2 hours per learner. BMS started with a 1,300-person trial before scaling to 24,000. Start with a pilot group, validate the approach, then scale with digital learning modules that are accessible and short. 

This is where a learning platform like KREDO LMS becomes invaluable. KREDO enables organizations to design, deliver, and track growth mindset training modules across teams — with mobile-friendly access, built-in assessments to measure mindset shifts, and analytics dashboards that show engagement and completion rates in real time. Whether you’re running a pilot with 60 leaders (like Telenor) or scaling to 24,000 employees (like BMS), KREDO’s scalable architecture supports rollout at every stage, while its learning experience platform (LXP) capabilities let employees take ownership of their own development paths. 

6. Help Employees See Both Self and Role as Malleable

Stanford’s dual-growth mindset research showed that lasting improvements come from believing both you can grow and your job can be reshaped. In career development conversations, don’t just discuss skill-building — discuss how the employee’s role itself could evolve to better leverage their growing strengths. 

7. Measure Continuously

Microsoft’s daily pulse surveys tracked growth mindset favorability at 78–80% and identified it as the primary driver of all other culture attributes. Don’t treat growth mindset as a one-time initiative. Measure it regularly, track trends, and use the data to identify where managers or teams need additional support. 

Platforms like KREDO LMS make this measurable. Its built-in learning analytics track course completion rates, assessment scores, and learner engagement — giving L&D teams real-time visibility into how growth mindset training is landing across departments, geographies, and individual teams. When you can see the data, you can intervene early, celebrate progress, and connect learning outcomes to business results.

Common Challenges (and How to Overcome Them) 

Challenge 1: “Growth Mindset” Becomes a Buzzword 

Many organizations adopt the language without changing the systems. Employees hear “growth mindset” in all-hands meetings but still experience rating-based performance reviews, zero-autonomy task assignment, and punishment for failure. 

Solution: Audit your systems. If your performance management, reward structures, and promotion criteria still reward only outcomes — not learning behaviors — the language is hollow. Microsoft embedded growth mindset into talent reviews, succession planning, and goal setting. Do the same. 

Challenge 2: Managers Don’t Model It 

The 2024 study on managers and working-class employees showed that manager mindset directly affects employee belonging and commitment. If managers still operate from a fixed mindset, employees will follow their behavior, not the company’s stated values. 

Solution: Train managers first. Telenor started with 60 senior leaders before rolling out to 22,000 employees. Microsoft developed specific leadership principles with NLI. Invest in manager capability before expecting culture change at scale. 

Challenge 3: Growth Mindset Without Autonomy 

As the job crafting study demonstrated, growth mindset in a low-autonomy environment produces no measurable behavioral change. Employees who believe they can grow but aren’t allowed to make decisions become frustrated rather than empowered. 

Solution: Pair growth mindset training with structural changes that increase decision-making authority. Redesign roles to give employees more control over how, when, and where they work. 

Challenge 4: One-Time Training With No Reinforcement 

BMS recognized this challenge and delivered “ongoing training and workshops” after the initial rollout. A single workshop doesn’t change deeply held beliefs about ability and intelligence. 

Solution: Treat growth mindset as an ongoing practice, not an event. Use continuous measurement, regular refreshers, manager coaching, and embedded rituals (like learning-from-failure reviews) to reinforce behaviors until they become habits.

The Business Case: Why This Matters 

The evidence is clear. Organizations that invest in growth mindset culture see measurable returns: 

• Innovation: Growth mindset is significantly correlated with innovative behavior (r = 0.41, p < 0.01) 

• Performance: Leaders who foster growth mindset see measurably higher daily employee performance 

• Resilience: Dual-growth mindset employees show lower mental ill-health symptoms and higher resilience, especially under stress 

• Retention and Inclusion: Growth-mindset managers increase belonging and organizational commitment, particularly for employees from underrepresented backgrounds 

• Happiness: Dual-growth mindset interventions produce happiness boosts lasting six months or more — visible to coworkers 

• Culture: At Microsoft, growth mindset favorability of 78–80% drove every other culture attribute the company valued 

Growth mindset isn’t soft. It’s a strategic capability that determines whether your organization can learn, adapt, and innovate fast enough to stay competitive. And with platforms like KREDO LMS, the tools to build, deliver, and measure that capability are already at your fingertips.

Key Takeaways 

Growth mindset — the belief that abilities can be developed — is backed by decades of research from Carol Dweck and increasingly by workplace-specific studies. 

Real companies like Microsoft, Telenor, Cigna, and Bristol-Myers Squibb have successfully scaled growth mindset cultures with measurable results. 

Leaders play the most critical role — their intellectual stimulation and modeling of growth mindset behaviors directly shape employee mindset. 

Autonomy is the multiplier — growth mindset without decision-making authority produces no behavioral change. 

Systems must align with language — performance management, rewards, and talent processes must reinforce growth behaviors, not just the vocabulary. 

Measure continuously — what gets measured gets managed. Microsoft’s daily pulse surveys proved that growth mindset culture can be tracked and improved. 

About KREDO LMS

KREDO is an AI-powered learning management system by Tesseract Learning, designed to help organizations build culture-driven learning experiences. From scalable training delivery to real-time learning analytics, KREDO empowers L&D teams to foster growth mindset cultures that drive measurable business outcomes. Learn more about KREDO LMS.