Who are we? We are on a mission to get work right, and that starts with us at Plum.
Growth Mindset and Psychological Safety Policy
It is our belief that in order to get Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, right, you need the right foundation. This is why we begin with our Growth Mindset and Psychological Safety Policy. Now, these terms may be new to you, so before we jump in deeper, let's start with definitions.
Growth Mindset (Carol S. Dweck, Ph. D.)
Definition: Growth Mindset, A growth mindset describes people who believe that their success depends on time and effort, and that they can improve over time. Those who hold a growth mindset believe that working on one’s flaws and the process — not the outcome — are most important. Those who hold a growth mindset embrace challenges and learn from failure and criticism.
Psychological Safety (Amy Edmondson, Harvard)
Definition: Psychological safety is a climate in which people are comfortable sharing ideas, concerns, and mistakes without fear of retribution or embarrassment and a climate in which people feel like their contributions will be heard. It involves trust, candor & mutual respect.
Growth Mindset & Psychological Safety – Why?
“For some people, failure is the end of the world,” writes Stanford psychology professor Carol Dweck, “but for others, it’s this exciting new opportunity.” At Plum, we are building solutions that help get work right, to do that, we can't simply continue to do what's always been done before. It's critical to begin with the understanding that improvements can be made: Growth Mindset. To foster a growth mindset, we must create the right climate or culture on our teams: psychological safety.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging at Plum.
What Does Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging Mean to Us?
We believe that building a culture of belonging, inclusion and equity first where people feel safe to show up as themselves leads to diversity of thought and encourages people to contribute their unique and individual perspectives, experiences, and backgrounds to help achieve our goals.
At Plum, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion are foundational to how we get work, right. Plum believes everyone should be
- Happy, fulfilled and thrive in their career; and
- Treated fairly, ethically, and with dignity and respect.
That starts with ensuring everyone has a seat at the table and the psychological safety to share their ideas, thoughts, without fear of judgment and know their voices will be heard.
We are in a unique position to get this right. When we take the time to understand people, we can ensure they are aligned and supported so they can thrive at work. That is why DEIB is not a bolt on — but instead is built into everything we do at Plum. It's foundational to the way we operate.
In addition to using our own assessment, Plum also has the following initiatives in place:
Prioritize Collaboration & Alignment
We believe Alignment is key to ensuring individuals and our organization Thrive. To foster alignment Plum has designed a Collaborative Operating System.
Prioritize Flexibility: Right to Disconnect Policy
Employee health and well-being are important priorities while working and away from work. At Plum, we want to partner with you. This means providing the flexibility you need to realize your full potential and maximize your performance at work, while creating the boundaries necessary to manage personal commitment.
View the full policy here.
Maintain open dialogue with your leader and discuss:
- What hours are most productive for you? What hours are expected that you will be working? When does the business need you (Normal work hours, team meeting times, stand-up, Townhalls, customer meetings, etc.)?
- What personal time would you like to protect (i.e., child drop-off, lunch breaks, protected family dinner, bedtime, weekends)?
- What are the conditions when/where you do your best work?
- How do you maintain good mental health? What do behaviors look like when you feel overwhelmed or stressed? How could your manager best support you during these times?
Prioritize Supportiveness & Care
We build trust and connections through open, clear, and honest communication. We not only support our people to realize their full potential at work, but we also encourage continual growth to level up your skills.
We work together, both internally and externally, to achieve more. We strive to be helpful, respectful, kind, and inclusive in everything we do for our colleagues, customers, and ourselves.
Creativity & Experimentation
We know better work happens when everyone is empowered to contribute, everywhere. Titles and teams don’t limit the impact we can create, we have the courage to ask “why”. Rather than avoid the unfamiliar, we dive in headfirst.
Outcome Orientation
We take pride in our work, we leverage each other’s Plum Talents and set high standards, we celebrate our success, and then we set the bar higher. We deliver on our promises and do what we say we are going to do. We drive success by delivering exceptional results to our customers. We look beyond the present to deliver future value.
Building Our Team (Talent Acquisition)
We use our Talent Assessment to hire for every role at Plum. Plum screens people "in" based on their transferable innate capabilities, rather than past experience and education. This ensures we have diversity of thought and diversity of backgrounds. Plum has helped companies like Whirlpool increase the diversity of their hiring by 78%.
Setting You Up for Success (Onboarding, 1-1s and Development)
We also use Plum's Talent Guides to help onboard our employees. Each employee completes their Developmental Worksheet and adds their development goals to their COS every quarter. These are reviewed every quarter with managers as they discuss individual goals.
Plum Developmental Coaching Log
We want to ensure our employees are supported and have the tools they need to thrive. Our Development Coaching Logs were designed to help our employees have an outlet for self-reflection and to set goals. Developmental Coaching Logs are completed by the employee and added to the COS to be discussed with their manager twice a year and provide a guideline for them to have effective 1-1s with their leaders.
Helping You Grow
Managers leverage Plum to understand and support their teams holistically by understanding the collective Talents that drive and drain the team, as well as each individual. We use our own Platform to identify internal mobility opportunities which has resulted in many internal employees moving internally into new roles.
Worksheet: FY24_Developmental Coaching Log.docx
Previous: https://www.plum.io/hubfs/Talent%20Guide%20Localized%20Worksheets/Plum-Talent-Grow-Worksheet.pdf
Always Sharpening and Improving
Plum hods companywide learning and development sessions several times a year by leveraging an external CHRO expert to ensure the company is following best practices and prioritizing learning and development.
In addition to regular 1:1's, our People Operations Team prioritizes listening sessions for all of our employees to ensure they have what they need to thrive.