What kind of mindset culture are you cultivating at your organization?

Find out with EA’s Mindset Culture Climate Assessment

Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash

Every company, organization, classroom, team and group has a Mindset Culture: the beliefs and behaviors that signal what success is, how to achieve it, and who can be successful. And these Mindset Cultures shape our thoughts, feelings, behavior, and performance. But how often do organizations stop to ask: What kind of mindset culture are we cultivating—and is it helping us achieve our goals?

At The Equity Accelerator (EA), we believe the first step toward building a stronger, more inclusive, and higher-performing organization is to understand your existing culture. That’s why we developed the Mindset Culture Climate Assessment—a powerful, research-backed tool that gives organizations a clear picture of how their employees perceive the culture around them and allows them to make data driven decisions about the next steps for culture change.

Why invest in building Growth Mindset Cultures?

Culture is a critical determinant of an organization’s success, because it influences not only employee satisfaction and retention, but also business outcomes and productivity. A recent survey of nearly 1,900 CEOs and CFOs revealed that over half of senior executives place organizational culture as a top-three predictor of firm value, and over 92% believe that improving organizational culture would increase their firm’s value. Yet only 16% of these executives think their organization’s culture is where it should be. Executives also recognize growth mindset is a key driver in people’s motivation, engagement, learning, and success—a different survey of 300 business leaders and 1,000 employees revealed 88% of executives agree that a growth mindset is important for a company’s success, with nearly two-thirds reporting higher productivity, performance, and engagement as a benefit (Graham et al, 2017).

At EA, we recognize that it’s important to hone your individual mindset and that organizations also have mindset cultures. Organizations display their mindset culture through the way they communicate their beliefs about whether intelligence and ability are more fixed, innate traits or more malleable qualities that can be developed and improved. Fixed-minded cultures—or Cultures of Genius—communicate the idea that people’s abilities are unchangeable, or fixed. People either have what it takes to be successful or they don’t, and there’s little anyone can do to change this. Conversely, growth-minded cultures—or Cultures of Growth—emphasize and embrace personal learning and growth through hard work, the use of effective strategies, and ample support. Mindset culture is expressed through what culture creators (like managers and leaders) say and do, including the routine norms, policies, practices, and interpersonal interactions in those environments. What’s more? Employees care about their organization’s mindset culture: 52% of employees in the survey described above said that they would leave their current job for an organization that provides them with more opportunities for learning and development (TalentLMS, 2024).

What the Assessment Measures

For many, culture can be a hard thing to quantify, and in this era of leadership, it's important for leaders to make data driven decisions about company performance and strategy. The Mindset Culture Climate Assessment gives leaders the data they need by evaluating employee perceptions across multiple cultural dimensions that are critical to understanding team and organizational performance. These include:

• Organizational Mindset: What does your organization communicate about the nature of intelligence, ability, and talent?

• Collaboration: Does your organization encourage working together toward a shared vision or goal?

• Innovation: How do you encourage individuals to be creative and try out big, new ideas, and where do you reinforce “business as usual”?

• Risk-Taking: How do you empower individuals to take appropriate risks? How do you support one another when risks don’t work out?

• Ethics and Integrity: Does your organization discourage unethical behavior and recognize learning and growth require transparency and honesty?

• Equity and Inclusion: Is it recognized that having different perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences is essential for fostering broad, creative thinking and addressing the organization’s most significant challenges?

• Leader Mindset: What do the leaders of your organization communicate about the nature of intelligence, ability, and talent?

It takes only five minutes for employees to complete the survey, which encourages great participation and engagement results.

Every organization that completes our survey receives a comprehensive report with personalized insights showing where it falls on the mindset culture continuum—from a fixed-minded Culture of Genius to a learning-oriented Culture of Growth—along with strategies to explore the behaviors that contribute to each.

Your Culture Shapes Your Outcomes

If you want to improve performance, retain top talent, and build a resilient and innovative organization, your culture must support those goals. The Mindset Culture Climate Assessment is more than a tool—it’s an invitation to lead with intention, equity, and a belief in every person’s capacity to grow and succeed.

Ready to learn how your culture is experienced—and how it can evolve? Contact us to get started with the Mindset Culture Climate Assessment.