In recent years, Mindset Management transformed from a term with a rather unclear meaning to a key tool for improving corporate culture, teamwork, and individual employee performance. The leading companies in the market rely on mindset management to create and maintain a work environment oriented towards growth, inspiration, and motivation.
This type of HR policy has proved particularly successful in the context of high market dynamics caused by the global pandemic.
We asked Katerina Shopova, Human Resources Director at Lidl Bulgaria, who was awarded the HR Manager of the Year for 2020 by the Bulgarian Association for People Management (BFSA), what are the tricks for successful mindset management initiatives even in these challenging times
In 2021 TOP Employers Institute announced for the second year in a row Lidl Bulgaria as a TOP employer for Bulgaria and Europe. How do you maintain a growth mentality in your organization even during a crisis?
Katerina Shopova: The key in crises is effective leadership. The past year has been very challenging in this regard due to its dynamics and unpredictability. Many contacts became virtual, which complicated the communication processes and took away some of the tools.
For us at Lidl, the leadership topic has been a priority long before COVID-19 - effective and inspiring management has always been at the heart of our corporate culture. I believe that this attitude and the good preliminary work in the company for building trust, allowed us, in the crisis, to quickly find effective communication formats. We overcame the challenges thanks to sincere, clear, accurate, and timely communication. In difficult situations, it is critical not to leave people uninformed about upcoming changes and activities and why they will be happening.
An essential element here is also a sustainable HR policy, as it creates security for people. Let me give an example - the expansion of the Lidl team continued, and in 2020 alone it increased by nearly 20% to 3,200 people. Key employee development programs have even been upgraded, and new benefits have been introduced.
Among the successful ways to engage and motivate people are various feedback loops. Through feedback polls, we measure how our employees feel about the steps we make and assess whether they need adjustment.
We are happy to share the feedback from Lidl Bulgaria employees about our actions during the crisis is extremely positive - over 90% find them appropriate, and nearly 87% believe that communication in the situation was effective.
And what are your good practices for stimulating creativity and cooperation within and between your teams?
Katerina Shopova: Creativity and cooperation are very important in the work, especially in value-added projects. The key to encouraging them is faith in everyone's potential and giving people freedom and enough space to express themselves. The positive work environment that offers you support and space to share and realize your ideas is also fundamental. At Lidl Bulgaria, we strive to provide this set of prerequisites to motivate people to be creative and succeed together as a team.
And finally, do you think there are any specifics in the Bulgarian way of thinking that predispose to building a growth mindset?
Katerina Shopova: I think that the process of building a growth mindset in Bulgaria can be positively influenced by our adaptability - Bulgarians manage to find a way to make things happen, despite the difficulties. The fact that education continues to be valued is also positive, and a large part of the young people are looking for opportunities to improve their knowledge and skills - we are convinced of this every year, with our various youth programs. Entrepreneurship development and contact with different cultures could also help build a growth mindset. But the most important thing is to create the right attitude - that we can achieve everything and that even difficult situations offer opportunities, not just obstacles.
