SPG

Graded Assignment 9

Telenor's Innovation Journey Through Growth Mindset

In the fast-changing world of telecommunications, Telenor, a global company based in Norway, began a major transformation to become a leader in digital innovation. Facing intense competition and constant industry changes, Telenor’s Leadership Development team introduced a growth mindset culture. This approach aimed to encourage innovation, adaptability, and continuous improvement throughout the organization.

Why a Growth Mindset?

Telenor decided to promote a growth mindset to stay successful during times of rapid technological change. The goal was to build a culture that supports self-awareness, lifelong learning, and the confidence to question old ways of working. Under the leadership of CEO Sigve Brekke, the company aimed to make growth mindset a part of everyday work linked with values like perseverance, curiosity, and constant improvement..

Strategies for Building Everyday Growth Mindset Habits

Telenor began its growth mindset journey by first targeting senior managers, encouraging them to embrace change and stay curious. The Leadership Development team led this effort, and the positive response from early workshops inspired a broader rollout. As a result, the program expanded to include all 22,000 employees, making growth mindset a part of the organization at every level. This strategy reflected a comprehensive approach, aiming to influence multiple aspects of the company’s culture and daily work.

Telenor has strategically embedded growth mindset principles into its performance management framework, aligning organisational culture with its long-term innovation and capability-building objectives. This initiative involved a deliberate shift in language across performance dialogues, evaluation criteria, and leadership communications, ensuring that the values of innovation, adaptability, and continuous improvement were consistently reinforced. Senior leadership, including the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO), played a pivotal role in championing this transformation. By integrating growth mindset terminology into monthly town hall meetings, they set a clear tone from the top, signalling that openness to learning and experimentation is both expected and valued across all levels of the organisation.

The adoption of this language and approach extended beyond leadership communications and became ingrained in the daily practices of Telenor’s office employees. Staff began to incorporate growth mindset concepts into everyday conversations, team collaborations, and project discussions, fostering a work environment where curiosity, resilience, and adaptability are actively encouraged. This linguistic and behavioural alignment demonstrated a tangible shift in the organisational mindset, with employees recognising that personal and professional growth are integral to both individual success and the company’s overall performance trajectory. Such cultural reinforcement ensured that the principles of the growth mindset were not merely aspirational but operationalised in the way work was conducted

Impact on the Workforce

Telenor’s growth mindset efforts brought significant changes to its workforce. Conversations between managers and employees became deeper and more meaningful, with growth mindset concepts becoming part of everyday discussions. The phrase “working red” emerged, representing the company’s belief that failure is a valuable part of the learning journey. This helped encourage rapid testing of ideas and ongoing improvement.
Telenor’s approach to innovation also evolved  placing greater importance on failing quickly, learning from those failures, and focusing on growth. Employees began to adopt a mindset where learning mattered more than just reaching perfect results, leading to a major cultural shift in how problems were solved and creativity was encouraged.

Summary of Learnings

The experience of Telenor in adopting a growth mindset offers practical lessons for organizations aiming to drive innovation and respond to change effectively. The active involvement of leadership, the integration of mindset-based language into daily routines, and rewarding self-learning helped create a culture focused on improvement and adaptability.
For individuals looking to join companies like Telenor, Microsoft, or Cigna, the main takeaway is the value of staying curious, welcoming change, and seeing failure as part of the learning process. Building such a mindset can help individuals align with the culture of progressive organizations.
In conclusion, Telenor’s story highlights the powerful role a growth mindset can play in shaping a company’s culture. By making it part of everyday work, Telenor has created an environment of learning, resilience, and forward thinking.