While the CXOs of a high performing organization (like Apple, Google, Tesla, or Amazon) are expected to be highly scalable in terms of embracing new thoughts and ideas. Even the employees of such organizations are expected to be interdependent and scalable. Interdependence and scalability of a person denotes his or her growth mindset.
Let’s understand what interdependence and scalability is all about. For example, if Elon Musk hires an employee, he looks for two things.
- How much the employee can scale up to his ideas.
- How much the employee can scale Elon Musk with his/her ideas.
Employee also expects the same two things from an employer. This complex four-way scalability equation is called interdependence.
In this video Steve Jobs as a start-up owner during 1981 talks about scalability. He hires highly scalable senior managers who are expected to grow at a rate of 400% every year. This was prior to the internet and gaming era.
Organizations cannot build quality products or services when the ratio of employees with growth mindset becomes lesser than the employees with fixed mindset. It becomes even harder to implement new ideas when the imbalance is more at both line managers and senior managers level.
Although the employees with a fixed mindset also contribute to the growth of an organization, they become obsolete after a certain period. They cannot be pushed harder to get things done because it leads to burnout. It is just like accelerating a vehicle with the breaks on. That’s one big cause of work stress and depression among several employees as they are being pushed beyond their limits.
Growth mindset cannot be determined by one’s educational background because some cultures force people to be educated though they may not be scalable. That’s why high performing organizations do not depend on highly educated or skilled employees alone. They look for highly scalable employees.
Organizations can use Express Lane Innovation model to identify interdependent and scalable employees at every nook and corner of the organization to build a high performing organization without any doubt. Bottom-up innovation happens when the employees have a growth mindset.
Express Lane also helps to identify and nurture creative talents within an organization. It helps to specialize in finding creative skills required for an organization. Organizations can master the art and science of nurturing creative talents, managing their ideas better and helping them to innovate right products and services.
