Systems and processes - second Pillar from Three Pillars of sustainable business growth

1. A Winning Mindset:
digging a little deeper

2. Recently, I published a post on the Three
Pillars of Sustainable Growth…
Interestingly, responses to my blog showed that people
had different areas where they felt most comfortable.

3. As such, I thought I’d dig a bit further into one of
the areas and explain
the “winning
mindset”

4. When I first mentioned Winning Mindset, I stated it
as being a softer skill, like
• having emotional intelligence
• being self aware seeking growth
• taking ownership
…Things that are defined by how we
think, and then the actions that follow.

5. So how is a
winning mindset
developed?

6. Firstly, look at
Accurate self image
• Research suggests that despite
changes to the results we get or the
things we achieve, very often our
own internal image of ourselves
doesn’t change.
• Having a realistic and positive self
image, defined not by what others
have said we can and can’t do, is
actually vital in realising our true
potential.

7. We’ve all have heard the famous Henry Ford
quote…
“Whether you think you can or you can’t, you’re
right”
In other words, to develop a winning mindset, we need
to start by being self aware and confident.
It’s a big concept, but it’s the basis on which everything
else will stand.

8. Having a purpose
Secondly,
• Many people believe that businesses
without a real purpose lack a reason for
being and therefore fails to motivate
staff. If we apply that thinking to
individuals, if we don’t have a purpose
in what we’re doing, how is our
motivation likely to be?
• Purpose gives direction to everything
we do, it gives our ambitions a purpose,
it gives our careers a purpose…
• As leaders of businesses, having that
purpose ourselves, and for our business,
reflects out to others in our
organisations who take that forward
themselves.

9. A purpose ensures that the positivity we
can feel from a winning mindset doesn’t get
wasted on positive thought, but becomes
positive action.

10. • We’re often subjected to a whole range of
negative external influences such as staff
difficulties, costs, cashflow, government
regulation etc.
• All of these things need dealing with, but
it is also our role to be the person who
leads and projects positivity to the wider
team.
• This isn’t just about saying the right
things, but by making positive things
happen.
• The power of seeing positive results from
positive thinking can have a significant
impact in a business …and it is contagious.
Positive thinking

11. However, positive thinking is not always a
natural skill – sometimes it needs to be
worked on.
Invest time in thinking about the positive
elements of your business, developing them,
communicating them and encouraging
people to talk positively around them.

12. Next is
Having passion
• It might be cliché, but it’s quite
common in an office environment
that a word like passion can be
derided – particularly in the UK, as we
tend to be reserved rather than
outwardly excitable…
• This does us a disservice… when we
first started our businesses, how
passionate were we about it?
• Then as we grew our knowledge and
we learnt more about how to run our
business… we eventually see the
passion knocked out of us.

13. By being passionate about our business,
we create a winning mindset.
We go to work every day truly gripped by our
business and what we’re trying to do…
and when we combine this with positive thinking
and having a purpose, all of a sudden we are
creating the drive for our business to succeed.

14. In summary, a winning mindset is not
made up of one thing, but rather
consistently working and focussing on the
elements that create a winning mindset.
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