Growth Considerations and Examples

Growth is the process of individuals aligning their work with their personal goals and developing their skills and abilities. Growth looks different for different people. It can also refer to the university's ability to evolve its policies, processes, and culture and to support student, faculty, and staff's personal and professional aspirations across time, experiences, backgrounds, and viewpoints.

A growth mindset is the belief that there's always room for improvement, and it can contribute to institutional growth. Encouraging learning opportunities that expand the horizon of experience, perspectives, and ideas can help employees and students become more growth oriented.

Student Examples

  • Taking on new responsibilities including leading a group project or joining the leadership of a student organization.
  • Gaining new skills including those attained through course work, internships, or other co-curricular activities.
  • Exploring interests including volunteering to help a charity, taking exploratory course work, learning new self-care and mental health strategies, or joining a career community [coming soon].
  • Building professional competencies including understanding and articulating how your coursework builds professional competencies or taking an internship or job.
  • Expanding horizons of experience and perspective through exposure to a wide variety of perspectives, ideas, cultures, and experiences through programs including study abroad, community service, dialogue opportunities, etc.
  • Finding connection to something larger than self, engaging in reflection, seeking purpose, caring for others by serving the community, and making values-based decisions.

Faculty Examples

  • Taking on new responsibilities or leadership role in your unit, partnering with another unit to create new research or creative activities.
  • Gaining new skills including taking advantage of professional development, coaching or mentorship opportunities, specifically seeking a variety/breadth of programming to expand exposure to experiences, ideas, cultures, languages, and perspectives.
  • Exploring interests including attending conferences or symposia or joining a committee focused on work that you are passionate about.
  • Building professional competencies including partnering with community members in mutually beneficial ways, taking advantage of resources in the B1G Ten Academic Alliance, professional development opportunities, or pursuing continuing education opportunities.
  • Supporting student growth in the classroom or lab including orienting materials to be relatable, giving students the opportunity to dialogue with people of differing perspectives, and exposing students to a variety and breadth of programming.

Staff Examples

  • Gaining new skills and professional competencies including attending professional training courses, joining a mentorship network, participating in Write@Work, LinkedIn Learning, or attendance at a professional conference.
  • Exploring interests including volunteering, starting a professional project that you are passionate about, or expanding your horizon of experiences and perspectives through exposure to different areas on campus with different perspectives on higher education.
  • Supervisors building opportunities for employee growth including elevating professional development for direct reports and exploring a variety/breadth of access points and programming where people can find pathways for growth.
  • Student-facing staff supporting student growth by orienting interventions to where students are in their development and having a variety of access points where people can find pathways of growth.

Institutional Examples

  • Implementing institution-wide policies or practices including practices like 12 hours of professional development time for all employees, and access to a variety of programming to meet people where they are.
  • Institutional commitment to a variety and breadth of programs by prioritizing new or existing programs that expose students, faculty, and staff to a variety of perspectives, ideas, and experiences.