How a Professional Keynote Speaker creates a Culture of Growth at your Corporate Event.

Every topic at a Corporate Event is ultimately a topic about Growth. Directly or indirectly, explicitly or implicitly. Whatever is being presented or discussed at the Event in the end is about: ‘How do we do what we do better or different?’ or, ‘How do we reach the next level of Growth?’

This is why of the 1000’s of speeches I have given, the key topic that rises to the surface is ‘Growth’. And why creating a Culture of Growth is the red-line that runs throughout all Keynote Speeches and defines every Corporate Event.

The goal of the article is to highlight how you can use your Corporate Event, with the help of a Professional Keynote Speaker, to stimulate a Culture of Growth within your organisation.

The Ultimate Goal of Corporate Events

Growth* is the number one goal of Corporate Events and it can be expressed directly in the theme of the event, for example, 2020 Growth & Beyond. Or it can be expressed indirectly through Speech topics, for example, The Impact of Disruptive Technologies (because whatever is said about ‘Disruptive Technologies’ needs to be related to your organisational dynamics, in other words, to your organisational Growth).

* It should be noted that Growth all too often has come to mean ‘bigger’. However the full definition of Growth includes not only ‘bigger’, but also ‘better’, ‘smaller’, and ‘different’. To suggest that Growth only means bigger is to misunderstand its concept. For an organisation to Grow to its next level the path may not be to ‘Grow bigger’, it may be to ‘Grow smaller’.

Whether it is addressed implicitly or explicitly, Business Growth remains the number one goal of Corporate Events. See our article: Professional Keynote Speech Hot Topic ‘Business Growth’

So how can you use your Corporate Event most effectively to stimulate Growth?

The Key Driver of Growth

First, it is important to highlight, what I believe to be, the key driver of Business Growth: your people. Specifically, Growth is first and foremost about the mentality of your people because how they think defines how they will act.

Growth is first & foremost a mentality.

Second, it is important to understand that these individual mentalities connect to form a collective Culture. Whatever is the combined collection of the individual mentalities in your organisation is your Corporate Culture. So a Culture is nothing more than a collection of Mindsets.

A Culture is nothing more than a collection of Mindsets.

So if you want to create a Culture of Growth you start by creating individual Mindsets of Growth. It is essential to get the Mindsets right because they are the key drivers of Growth. See our article: Can a Keynote Speaker help you Design your Corporate Event?

And it is here that I believe a Professional Keynote Speaker can stimulate a Culture of Growth at your corporate event because a Professional Keynote Speaker always works to create new Mindsets (then to connect them to create a Culture). See our article: Professional Keynote Speaker Paul Hughes reflects on ‘What really is a Keynote Speech?’

Creating a Growth (Mind)set at your Corporate Event.

So to create a Culture of Growth we start with individual Mindsets. In fact we can unpack a Culture into a collection of individual mentalities. These mentalities then can be unpacked further into a ‘(mind)set’ of elements.

So we can ask: What are the ‘elements’ in a ‘Growth (mind)set’?

While there are potentially many ‘elements’ that can come together to form a Growth (Mind)set, there are three that emerge repeatedly across all organisations:

Growth (Mind)set 1: Engagement.

A Growth (Mind)set is stimulated when people feel they can be fully engaged in their work; when they can bring more of themselves to their work. And this begins with an invitation to do so.

Leaders invite people to be engaged in what can be done, rather than dictating what must be done.

So creating a Culture Growth beings with an invitation for people to be more engaged in their work; a invitation to bring more of themselves to their work. And this can be kickstarted by inviting people to use not only their cognitive knowledge, but also their intuitive knowledge. So that they can enrich their operational knowledge.

This is what is called inviting people to engage their Head (cognitive knowledge), Heart (intuitive knowledge), & their Hand (operational knowledge). The best Cultures invite the engage of all three.

Our goal is to always reflect, in our Events, the type of Culture we want to create in our organisation. So this can be encouraged by creating a program that invites participation, and by hiring a Professional Keynote Speaker who is inclusive in their content. See our article: A Keynote Speech is the Right Balance Between Entertainment & Information.

Our goal is to reflect in our Events the type of Culture we want in our organisation.

Growth (Mind)set 2: Learning.

A Growth (Mind)set is stimulated when people feel they are learning in their day-to-day work. In todays complex, interconnected, and fluid world, learning on the job is now standard.

Yet all too often there is an old mentally where ‘not knowing how to do something’ is considered a sign of weakness. And ‘learning’ is often considered something separate from action.

Instead, ‘not knowing’ has become the new business-as-usual and learning-by-doing has become key. This however requires a shift in mentality and a new (mind)set of concepts that embrace processes that are fluid.

At your Corporate Event this can be encouraged by creating a program that emphasis the importance of learning and by hiring a Professional Keynote Speaker who encourages people to share their learnings. See our article: Future of Keynotes.

‘Not knowing’ has become the new business-as-usual.

Growth (Mind)set 3: Questions.

A Growth (Mind)set is stimulated when people are encouraged to ask questions. Indeed, one of the characteristics of a Culture of Growth is the ability to ask great questions.

Asking the right question is often more important than providing more ‘answers’. Leadership today can be defined by its ability to ask the right questions. Indeed, there is a growing movement of Leading-by-questions that offers an alternative to top-down leadership models.

The right question is worth a thousand answers.

At your Corporate Event this can be encouraged by creating a program that invites people to ask questions and by hiring a Professional Keynote Speaker who asks key questions, rather than just giving quick answers. See our article: How a Professional Keynote Speaker uses the Power of Questions.

So the next time you are organising a Corporate Event consider how you use it, with the help of a Professional Keynote Speaker, to invite people to learn by asking questions. This will help create individual Growth Mindsets and, when you align these at your event, it will create a Culture of Growth.

For more information on the how to chose the perfect Keynote Speaker & Speech for your Corporate Event download: Guide to finding the right Keynote Speaker for your corporate event.