Unveiling Spare’s Guiding Principles: Growth Mindset
Welcome to the second edition of our blog series “Unveiling Spare’s Guiding Principles”. In this week's edition, we take a look into our ‘Growth Mindset’ principle. Each blog will dive into one of our guiding principles—Take Ownership, Growth Mindset, Execute with Urgency, Drive Results, No Assholes, and Customer-Obsession— exploring what they mean to us, how they shape our culture, and the impact they have on our daily operations.
What does Growth Mindset mean?
At its core, Growth Mindset is about embracing challenges, persisting in the face of setbacks, and seeing failure as an opportunity for growth. Having a growth mindset embodies actively seeking feedback, taking and utilizing constructive criticism, and willingly adapting to new methods and approaches. We believe that learning is a lifelong journey and that every experience, whether a success or failure, presents an opportunity to grow.
Why does this principle matter?
Having a growth mindset empowers individuals to embrace change, overcome obstacles and continually evolve. It allows us to trust ourselves more and fuels our drive to reach new heights. Additionally, by learning from both the success and failures of ourselves and others, we accelerate our own growth and development. And as the saying goes, “When one of us grows, we all grow.”
We often falter when it comes to investing in our personal growth, finding ourselves caught in a cycle of ‘busyness’, however, by neglecting our personal growth, we inadvertently limit our potential and hinder our ability to thrive fully. When we constantly take in information and incorporate constructive feedback, we update our own ‘operating system’ and we stay agile and resilient in the face of challenges, both in and out of work.
"Grateful shoutout to Prissillya, who, with her infinite patience and good grace, has repeatedly jumped on short calls to explain the ins and outs of Quickbooks to help me build a key part of our data warehouse capabilities. She is so quick to help, is constantly thinking of different ways around solving a problem, and always does it with a smile. I always leave a meeting with her thinking, ‘Hmm, I should be more Prissillya’.”
- Jerome Mayaud (Director, Data Science) acknowledging Prissillya Mienata (Corporate Controller)
‘Growth Mindset’ at Spare
At Spare, we foster a culture where curiosity is celebrated, feedback is welcomed, and challenges are seen as opportunities for growth. Whether it’s through ongoing training and development opportunities, cross-functional collaboration, or sharing lessons learned from both our triumphs and setbacks, we foster a growth mindset in every aspect of our work.
“I want to give a shout out to Rebecca for being such a great manager for the People team, it is hard to believe that they have only been with us for about two months! Rebecca has been such an attentive, proactive, and caring manager, while also just being a super awesome and fun person to be around. They put 110% effort into everything and I'm amazed by how quickly they have adapted themself with all the People functions and things we do in such a short time.”
- Abbey Moores (2023 People & Talent Co-op) acknowledging Rebecca Apostoli (Director, People & Talent)
Regardless of your role or level of experience, your voice matters and your contributions are valued. At Spare, whether it be our newest hire or our most seasoned veteran, we believe that each of us have the power to shape Spare’s future and drive positive change. By embodying the principles of a Growth Mindset, we unlock our full potential as individuals and as a team and empower ourselves to make a meaningful impact from day one.