Mind The Gap Solutions

Seemingly a buzzword these days, the growth mindset seems to be put into many organisation policies and values statements, but what is the growth mindset actually? How do we, as individuals, teams and organisations achieve a growth mindset for ourselves or our teams and get our inner processes to flow in accordance to it?

The growth vs fixed mindset.

A fixed mindset is simply when we believe our skills, intelligence and abilities are fixed traits and that we cannot develop them. We see this quite often, with organisations buying-in costly talent instead of developing the skills of existing employees. Believing that success is dependent on talent alone could mean failure for individuals with the ever-changing career landscape due to the introduction of newer and developing technology.

Having a growth mindset means individuals believe their talents can be developed through hard work and developed strategies. This also means that organisations develop their employees through skills development and training, putting in processes to assess potential and develop talent to the employee’s individual traits. This contributes to long-term growth, with employees feeling empowered and committed.

How to develop a growth mindset.

For individuals, it starts with understanding that abilities and talent can be learned. Depending on your talents, some abilities can take longer to develop than others, but through hard work and commitment, talents, abilities and skills can be developed. Taking charge of your learning journey through continuous learning not only personally helps you learn more, but grabs attention of potential employers.

For organisations, it’s developing processes that centre around developing employee talent, through skills development and training. This could be learnerships and apprenticeships, (which contribute greatly toward your B-BBEE scorecard) or through soft-skills training. There are a great amount of options and benefits available when looking to implement skills development into an organisation. Get in touch here for an overview on the processes and benefits.

The misconceptions of the growth mindset.

Hearing the term “growth mindset” comes with a few misconceptions such as: “it is just about rewarding and praising progress” or confusing it with by being open-minded about different opinions and developing processes. It is in reality, more than this. It is about implementing genuine practices that develop talents, abilities and skills for long-term benefits.

Developing employees skills through training that is relevant could avoid costly talent buy-ins at a later date. Developing ones own skills and abilities contributes greatly to employability and career progression. These are outcomes that proceed any short-term rewards and gratification.

In short, the growth mindset encompasses long-term and sustainable goals, rather than short term rewards.

Looking to up-skill?

Mind the Gap Solutions offers Skills Development and Training for individuals and organisations. With 180 soft skills courses and accredited learnership options, get in touch for an option that suits you or your organisations needs.

We also offer psychometric assessments for talent management, career planning and personal/professional development.

Get in touch here.

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During the worldwide pandemic crisis, it has been easier than ever to become disconnected from our ambitions. So many of us have been forced to put our plans and goals on hold until a later date, with immediate plans having to adapt to the situation and circumstances at hand. In many instances it would be imperative that we reevaluate our goals and adapt our plans indefinitely. Here are four tips to get back on track:

How have your immediate circumstances changed?

Many people have been forced to take salary cuts, some have been retrenched, some are working longer hours due to being on the front-line. Almost everybody’s lives have been affected in some way or another due to the pandemic. Taking a look at the way your life has been affected and honestly considering how your immediate circumstances have changed is an important step in reevaluating your goals, and reconsidering them appropriately. Once you have a good, honest idea of where you stand currently, you are able to plan your steps and implementation of your goals properly.

How adaptable are your goals to your current situation?

Looking honestly at your original goals and determining how adaptable they are is a good way to start the reevaluation process. If you’d set a goal to start your further education this year and been set back by university closure or are unable to travel long distance, it would mean that this goal would be unattainable in this current time at first glance, however adapting it to suit your immediate needs, such as finding an online learning alternative for the time being would help you in reaching your goal.

How realistic are your goals to your current situation?

Understanding that your current circumstances may have changed, realistically obtaining certain goals may prove to be more of a challenge than others. If, for instance, your goal was to travel overseas it may be difficult to do so right now, making this goal unrealistic to the current circumstances at hand. Realistically setting a new date for the goal or replacing it with another one may be the best course of action when reevaluating.

Don’t forget to set some realistic grounding.

The best way to get things done are to set deadlines. Although difficult in some cases, it is always a good idea to set an estimate time for when your goal needs to be reached, carefully considering how realistic it is. If you have started a business that currently has 20k turnover monthly, setting a goal to make 900k turnover monthly in two months time will be unrealistic. Understanding the current market as it stands and knowing that slow and steady growth is essential to long term goal fulfillment is key.

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Mind the Gap Solutions offers soft skills training and short courses for personal and professional advancement. We also offer turnkey solutions to all B-BBEE, EEA and SDA related legislation. Contact us here. Have a look at our comprehensive services here.

According to statista.com, the unemployment rate of youth in South Africa reached 53.18 percent in 2019 and the unemployment rate of youth climbed in Q1, with youth accounting for 63 percent of the total unemployed population according to statssa. This poses a problem to both youth and companies looking to adapt.

With these statistics growing annually, and in honour of Youth Day, it’s now more important than ever to explore the benefits of employing young talent.

They offer a fresh perspective.

With the rise in changing customer perceptions through millenial buying patterns, younger workers understand the trends and technology associated with it. They offer fresh perspectives on targeting new clients and bring new energy to the workplace, ultimately contributing to overall diversity.

Easier onboarding.

Younger individuals adapt better, and would contribute toward an easier onboarding process, by getting them familiar with company processes and procedures more quickly.

Training, up-skilling and workforce development.

Training younger employees and unemployed youth through learnerships and apprenticeships not only contributes toward your Skills Development spend on your B-BBEE Scorecard, it develops your workforce. Ultimately it aids in training youth to become leaders in their respective fields and if unemployed learners are absorbed, they contributes towards better productivity and further points on the Scorecard.

Affordability.

Studies show that it is more cost effective to grow your workforce than to buy in talent later on. Learnerships and apprenticeships are beneficial for both companies and youth, with the benefits for companies ranging from stipend payments to tax incentives, with reports that employers are able to recoup their training spend within two years.

Adaptability.

According to a study made by sciencedaily.com, younger people adapt easier to sudden change. With technology rapidly progressing and the corporate landscape changing to adapt to those changes, it is beneficial that our workforce is able to easily move forward and adapt with it.

Are you looking to hire young talent? Do you need a Training Provider or a B-BBEE advisor?

Mind the Gap Solutions offers Recruitment Services, Skills Development and Training and B-BBEE advisory, design and implementation. Get in touch with us here for information on the comprehensive services we offer South African businesses.

The importance of lifelong learning cannot be understated, learning is imperative to growth, both professionally and personally. However, sometimes, we can be put off by learning new skills because we find it difficult to grasp certain concepts.

There is, however, a way we can learn better. By assessing our unique learning style, we can accommodate our own learning needs to learn better and grasp both simple and complex concepts easier. Below is a list of the different learning styles, here you can read through them and see which are applicable to the way you learn and apply them to your own learning journey.

The visual learner.

Also known as the spatial learning style, you take in information better when seeing pictures, images and videos. You may find it difficult to retain information by exclusively read books that contain no images to accompany the words. When learning, it’s recommended that you draw visual cues to help you in retaining your information or finding video-related clips to aid in better learning.

The aural learner.

This is also known as auditory-musical learning style. Aural learners grasp information better when it is presented in the form of sound. This technique is commonly used in learners learning how to read, by clapping and sounding out phonics to a tune to aid in the better in-take of information. If you are an aural learner, you can create short musical tunes to key pieces of information to remember them better.

The verbal learner.

Also known as the linguistic learning style, verbal learners prefer both spoken and written words to learn. Most learning we come across will be in the form of the linguistic learning style, where we receive text books to learn from, go to course training or sit in classrooms and lectures. If you are a verbal learner, you’ll do well when reading more and listening to more lectures related to your learning topic.

The physical learner.

Known as the kinesthetic learning style, physical learners prefer using their sense of touch to learn. Physical learners learn better by doing physical tasks related to the topic at hand and utilizing classroom activities to learn. If you are a physical learner, doing a practical activity about the topic at hand will help you retain the information better.

For in-depth and comprehensive training, Mind the Gap Solutions offers short courses and soft skills training for individuals and teams. Get in touch with us here to find out more information on how you can book. View our website here for an overview of the comprehensive services we offer South African businesses.

Starting a new business has always had it’s challenges, and now with the added challenge of lockdown during COVID-19, starting a new business or project can be daunting. This however, hasn’t deterred many hopeful entrepreneurs who despite the added hurdles have decided to go ahead and start their new business. This could be for a number or reasons, including retrenchment. According to a recent insight posted by the NYTIMES, the pandemic may be the right time to start a business with the right idea.

Here are a few tips to get you started:

Adaptability is key.

We’ve heard phrases describing the “new normal” and what life is projected to be like after the pandemic. However, we can only project and analyse these statistics based on the information we currently have available. The ability to adapt your business to new changes is the key to thriving during ever changing circumstances. Setting up a business structure that supports the adaptability factor is the difference between just surviving and thriving.

Listen to your target market.

With potential clients focusing their energy on saving money and staying safe, pushing products onto clients that aren’t necessarily deemed a necessity may not be the best idea to get your business on track. Aggressive and expensive marketing campaigns won’t work if your products don’t serve an immediate purpose or solve a current problem. Understanding your target market better by finding out what their immediate needs are is crucial to generating sales and gaining leads. This doesn’t necessarily mean niche markets don’t do well, by simply adapting their business model around clients needs, they are able to thrive. Doing surveys directed at leads and clients and actively listening to their immediate needs with the intent of providing a service that solves those needs is key.

Online spam and scams.

While it is essential that your business is online, whether simply having a contactable email address and viewable website or a fully functioning e-commerce store, clients are now becoming more wary of online scamming and spamming and avoiding businesses that seem suspicious by the impression of their marketing campaigns. While you as a business owner should be aware of scams, you should also be aware of the impression you make when marketing your own business. Watch out for comments made on ads and view them objectively, this will determine how well you’re presenting your brand to the world.

Sending well wishes to all.

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Mind the Gap Solutions offers soft skills courses for professional and personal development, aimed at educating, empowering and transforming. Sign up here for our monthly newsletter. View our website here for a look at the comprehensive services we offer South African businesses relating to B-BBEE, EEA and SDA related legislation.

Conflict resolution can sometimes be challenging, it can be especially challenging if you’re working remotely. Some methods of online communication can leave a sense of ambiguity about how a person truly is feeling, often coming forth as cold and aloof. Email, for instance, within it’s methods of business professionalism leaves little room for emotive context. So how do we combat conflict when working remotely? Consider these tips:

Focus on the problem, not the person.

Trying to focus on the problem itself without passing judgement to the person who raised the issue helps view the problem from an objective point of view. This helps eliminate unnecessary disputes about defensive statements, and aids in productive problem solving.

“Problems are always solved when it’s you and me vs. the problem, and not you vs. me.”

Anonymous

Keep an open line of communication.

Often, when we’re overwhelmed by our email inboxes, we never really give thought to having a quick, casual chat with a colleague or team member who’s feeling unheard. Keeping an open line of one on one communication with team members on another platform other than email so that they can raise their concerns goes a long way in resolving conflict that arises, helping team members feel like they’re being heard confidentially.

“Explain your anger instead of expressing it, and you will always find solutions instead of arguments.”

Anonymous

Try to consistently have team meetings.

Whether you use Zoom or Skype, having a weekly conference call with your team and colleagues will help raise problems collectively. This lessens any confusion there may be about any problems that may have been already raised. This also helps team members communicate with each other openly, eliminating assumptions. Video conferencing helps put an emotive context behind certain issues to a degree, helping eliminate the aloof and passive manner of email and text communication.

Take time to encourage and celebrate each other.

In an office setting, there are a lot of informal chats that happen while making coffee or around the water-cooler, which was quite important for encouragement, support and celebration, whether it was a small thing like celebrating the end of the week or something bigger like congratulating someone for their birthday, we cannot underestimate the importance of those informal chats. While working from home, it may have a slightly bigger impact on those needing that little bit of encouragement or support, lessening frustration. Taking the time to celebrate those small end of the week achievements helps encourage employee morale, leading to less conflict stemmed from frustration and feelings of discouragement.

“When we fail to acknowledge and celebrate small victories, we get discouraged, and the flame inside us starts to dwindle.”

Kristen Koonce

In our quest for adapting to change it is important for us to keep learning. Sign up and get alerts about our soft skills courses here. For a look at the comprehensive services we offer South African businesses visit our website. Get in touch with us here for more info.