The Missing Piece to Culture Work: Mindsets

When I first began my own journey as a culture coach, I didn’t realise quite what an impact mindset has on organisational life. And ultimately how it shapes everything. I had discovered the power of a growth mindset through my own personal development and coaching. But that was much more on an individual level, something I was conscious of and consistently working on for my own progression. It wasn’t until I started getting into team dynamics and culture that I truly felt the pains of not addressing mindset, and skipping straight to the practical stuff. 

If, like me, you’re itching to just ‘do the work’ and skip over the intangible, heed my warning. As someone who’s been there, done that, and got the mental scars; if the mindset work isn’t done, everything else will quickly fall down. It’s unstoppable. Change happens for a moment, and then because the mindset work hasn’t been done, it doesn’t stick. Like poor foundations on a building, we need the mindset to ensure everything else we work on together can hold. 

You can do all the actions and change processes you like, but ultimately a mindset can sabotage your best intentions. 

No-one says this better than Author James Clear in his bestselling book Atomic Habits. 

Although James is talking about changing habits in his book, it draws upon the fundamentals of how our beliefs shape our world. “Behind every system of actions is a system of beliefs. The system of democracy for example is founded on the beliefs of freedom, majority rule and social equality. The system of dictatorship is based on the beliefs of absolute authority, strict obedience. Behaviour that is incongruent with the self will not last.”

Before we address how to change mindsets, and what can be done to begin to make this shift, I want to deepen your level of knowledge about mindsets. My reasoning for this is so that a) my point is made as to why you should not dismiss this area, and b) you have at least a basic understanding of how this element will influence anything and everything you do in your culture work and beyond. 

Your mindset is a set of beliefs that shape how you make sense of the world and yourself. These internal beliefs influence how you think, feel and behave in every aspect of your life. 

For example, with a belief of “I’m bad at maths” , you may then avoid any type of work related to numbers. 

We all have mindsets that have been shaped by our experiences, our environment, our upbringing and even our religion and wider culture. When you start to identify your own beliefs, in many cases you can remember where they came from. For example your “I’m bad at maths” belief may have come from a teacher telling you that you were bad at maths. 

In 2000 the phrase ‘growth mindset’ started to be used in many coaching and organisational development practices. The phrase and theory was developed from Carol Dwecks’s research into self-theories and motivation. Dweck argues that how people view their intelligence, their mindset, can be classified into two main types; growth mindset and fixed mindset. 

With a growth mindset, people believe that their intelligence is something that can be changed and developed with dedication and effort. They believe that challenges are learning opportunities and not failures. 

Fixed mindset on the other end of the spectrum, is where people believe that things cannot change. Their skills and attributes are in a stasis, and that talent is something you either have or have not. 

Of course, none of us are either one, or the other, so growth and fixed mindset continues to be debated. My belief is that some people have a tendency to be more growth mindset oriented than others, but may still have some fixed mindsets around particular topics. It isn’t an either or situation. 

The field of mindset study is a deeply fascinating area of expertise, and something I can get lost in for hours. There are numerous studies on the science of mindset and its influences, showing us that this isn’t just about our psychology, but also our physiology. 

In a phenomenal TEDTalk by Dr. Allia Crum (Science of Mindsets for Health and Performance) there is clear scientific evidence of how our beliefs not only shape our behaviour and emotions, but quite literally change how our body reacts to food and medication. 

The power of mindset cannot be underestimated. By now, you might be wondering what mindset has to do with culture. If our beliefs shape how we behave, then they also shape how we work and the cultures we create.

Within a culture there is a complex dance of mindsets that exist. The leaders mindsets about employees, and the mindsets employees have about work and the leaders. For example, leaders may have a belief that “people cannot be trusted”, and therefore create a rigid environment of micro-management, with rules and strict policies. 

The mindset is the thought which triggers the process: “I don’t trust my team, therefore I will create x process and x rules”.

Another example could be around failure. “Mistakes are bad, and may cost me my job, therefore I will not speak-up about this failing.” 

The process and bureaucracy that ensues creates the culture of mistrust. A company may not outright say “we don’t trust you”, but by the things they’re doing, they’re basically shouting it from the rooftops. 

Too often when it comes to culture, we’re focussing on the tools, structures and practices, and forgetting about the very mindset which is triggering things to be this way in the first place. 

If you are to shape your culture with intention, then you have to start with the underlying mindsets that exist. Some might be obvious. Others less so, and may emerge as you evolve your ways of working and shaping your culture. 

Be aware that many mindsets are incredibly ingrained into our psyche because they have been conditioned over long periods of time. These mindsets can also be reinforced by other factors which means learning to adopt a new belief system can be incredibly slow and painful work. 

Having an awareness that mindset will influence people’s behaviours, and the collective culture, is the first step in being able to work on moving things forward. And don’t forget, often despite learning something new, our brains are energy conscious, so without realising we will often resort to old ways of thinking and doing simply because our brains have gone down that path before. Be compassionate towards both yourself and others.

Here are some examples of mindsets in company culture. These beliefs shape the processes, structures and behaviours we present. 

Trust vs. Control

Fixed Mindset: “Employees will take advantage if given too much freedom.”

Growth Mindset: “People perform best when trusted and empowered.”

Cultural Impact: A fixed mindset here results in excessive rules, strict monitoring, and micromanagement, leading to people feeling restricted. A growth mindset fosters autonomy, flexible work arrangements, and a culture of responsibility.

Failure and Innovation

Fixed Mindset: “Mistakes are a sign of incompetence.”

Growth Mindset: “Mistakes are learning opportunities.”

Cultural Impact: A fear-based culture stifles innovation, as people avoid risk. A culture that embraces learning from failure fosters creativity and continuous improvement.

Collaboration vs. Competition

Fixed Mindset: “Knowledge is power—hoard information to stay valuable.”

Growth Mindset: “Knowledge grows when shared.”

Cultural Impact: A culture of silos and internal competition emerges when people hold a scarcity mindset. A culture of collaboration thrives when knowledge-sharing is encouraged and rewarded.  

Leadership Development

Fixed Mindset: “Not everyone is leadership material—some people just don’t have what it takes.”

Growth Mindset: “Leadership can be developed with the right support and opportunities.”

Cultural Impact: A fixed mindset leads to gatekeeping and a lack of career progression. A growth-oriented culture invests in training, mentorship, and leadership development at all levels.

Change and Adaptability

Fixed Mindset: “This is how we’ve always done it.”

Growth Mindset: “We can continuously improve and evolve.”

Cultural Impact: Resistance to change can keep an organisation stagnant. A culture that embraces learning and adaptation stays agile in a shifting world.

Now that you’ve become aware how these mindsets are having a very real impact on your culture, you’re probably wondering how we go about shifting these mindsets. 

Awareness 

As with anything we wish to change, we must become aware of what exists in the first place and how this influences our environment. We cannot change something we do not have an awareness of. 

Using surveys can help us become aware of what the assumptions are in the wider culture. A culture audit, with a third party can also help in this, as teams feel more comfortable sharing experiences than with their own colleagues. 

Choice

Once we have an awareness of our collective mindset, we can change the things that are creating this atmosphere, and choose a new belief. 

Under this new belief you can ask your team how things could change. 

For example, if there was an atmosphere of mistrust, and this was proved by some of the processes in place, what would a new process look like if trust was high? 

As I mentioned earlier, this won’t be a quick fix, as shifting our beliefs takes time, and will require constant attention and conscious action. But just by building up an awareness of mindsets in your team will ensure that you all become stewards for when things are going off course because of a rampant mindset. 

 Using the examples from above, here’s a few ways you could begin to shift mindsets;

From Control to Trust

Mindset to Shift: “Employees need strict oversight to be productive.”

New Mindset: “People perform best when trusted and empowered.”

How to Shift It:

• Move from micromanagement to outcome-based performance measurement.
• Provide autonomy in decision-making, allowing teams to self-manage.
• Implement flexible work arrangements to show trust in employees’ ability to manage their time.
• Train leaders on coaching skills rather than command-and-control styles.
• Regularly communicate success stories where trust led to better results. 

From Fear of Failure to a Learning Culture

Mindset to Shift: “Mistakes are a sign of incompetence.”

New Mindset: “Failure is an opportunity for learning and innovation.”

How to Shift It:

• Normalise failure by encouraging leaders to share their own mistakes and learnings.
• Introduce “retrospective” or “post-mortem” sessions that focus on learning rather than blaming.
• Create a psychologically safe environment where people feel comfortable speaking up.
• Shift language: Instead of “What went wrong?” ask, “What did we learn?”

From Internal Competition to Collaboration

Mindset to Shift: “Knowledge is power—hoard information to stay valuable.”

New Mindset: “Knowledge-sharing strengthens the organization.”

How to Shift It:

• Recognise and reward collaboration.
• Implement cross-functional projects to encourage interdepartmental teamwork.
• Create open knowledge-sharing platforms (e.g., wikis, internal forums).
• Adopt mentoring or peer-coaching programs to foster knowledge exchange.
• Encourage leaders to model transparency in decision-making and communication. 

Fixed Potential to Growth & Development

Mindset to Shift: “Not everyone is leadership material.”

New Mindset: “Leadership and skills can be developed with the right support.”

How to Shift It:

• Offer continuous learning opportunities (workshops, coaching, online courses).
• Implement career growth frameworks that focus on development, not just routes to promotion.
• Encourage stretch assignments that challenge people beyond their comfort zones.
• Provide feedback that focuses on effort and progress, not just results.
• Highlight stories of people who have grown within the company.

Shifting organisational mindsets is not going to happen overnight —it requires conscious effort, consistent reinforcement, and leadership commitment. By recognising how deeply ingrained beliefs shape workplace culture, you can begin to unpick the habits and rituals that are reinforcing these beliefs, and start to choose a new way of working. 

Transformation starts from within—when mindsets shift, everything else follows.