By Daniel Bobinski
Let me tell you about Dr. Rosens (not his real name). After 10 years at the same hospital, he was known for setting high standards yet being encouraging at the same time. One day he noticed a new young doctor struggling with a complex case. He knew he could coach her, but instead he wanted to boost her self-confidence. He told her, “I know you can handle this. You have the skills.” Encouraged by these words, the young doctor dove into the challenge. She collaborated with her colleagues and ultimately found a solution. Before long, the patient recovered.
Yes, Dr. Rosens could have stepped in to help, but that wouldn’t have enhanced the young doctor’s self-confidence. Instead, Rosens conveyed his faith in her abilities, and she rose to the challenge. Interestingly, that young doctor developed a similar practice of communicating her faith in her coworkers’ abilities to perform.
The Pygmalion Effect
The truth is that when leaders genuinely believe in their team’s potential and actively communicate that belief, high performance often becomes reality. This concept is closely aligned to the Pygmalion Effect.
For those who don’t know, the Pygmalion effect is a psychological phenomenon named after the Greek myth of Pygmalion, a sculptor who fell in love with a statue he created, which then came to life. The idea is that our beliefs shape our outcomes.
The term was popularized after a 1968 elementary school study called “Pygmalion in the Classroom.” In that study, all students in a particular school took intelligence tests at the beginning of the academic year. Without even looking at the test results, researchers randomly selected 20% of the students and told the teachers that these children’s test scores showed they had unusually high potential for rapid academic growth.
Eight months later, all students were tested again, and researchers found that those children who were labeled as having high potential scored significantly higher on the follow-up tests compared to their peers. This was despite the fact that the only difference between the selected students and others was in the mind of the teachers.
High expectations must be communicated
Effective leadership goes beyond merely holding high expectations, it requires actively communicating and reinforcing these expectations to bring out the best in our teams. This proactive approach involves several key tactics.
- Teach how to set goals. Effective leaders understand the importance of creating ambitious yet attainable targets that push their teams beyond their comfort zones. Therefore, teach people how to set goals. Goals should be specific, measurable, and identify specific actions to be taken. They also need an expected time of completion. When first starting out, involve team members when setting goals, as that creates deeper levels of buy-in. By setting the bar high and communicating confidence in each person’s capabilities, leaders cultivate confidence in their team members.
- Give feedback. Feedback is best if it’s constructive and specific. In other words, saying something like, “Great work” is minimal feedback, at best. Solid, constructive feedback is saying, “I love the way you guys thought through ‘x’ to get around the ‘z’ obstacle. The solution you found also saves us money.” Feedback should also be timely, meaning take initiative and praise good performance as soon as possible after it occurs Also, don’t milk it. If you take more than a minute, you’re taking too long. If a situation requires you to address something that needs improvement, try to address that in a separate feedback session. Whenever possible, it’s a good idea not to mix positive and negative feedback in the same conversation.
- Encourage risk taking. When team members feel safe taking risks, they’re more likely to innovate, think creatively and push boundaries to find viable solutions. This doesn’t mean encouraging reckless behavior. It means fostering atmospheres in which well-considered risks are seen as opportunities for learning and growth. Just remember that when failures occur (and they will), effective leaders use these as teachable moments. Instead of focusing on what went wrong, ask what went right and perhaps something like, “What lessons can be gleaned from what happened?”
Leading by example
While it’s true that powerful results can come from setting high expectations, the practice can fall flat on its face. The person setting high expectations must also demonstrate the same high standards expected of others. This applies to both actual work plus one’s attitude toward work.
Some behavioral styles set high expectations for others but regularly make excuses for themselves. Success may occur for such leaders in the short term, but over time, team members develop attitudes of resentment and sometimes even passive aggressiveness.
Also, if a leader expects high standards, that leader should be ready to invest in those standards becoming a reality. Human resources development is a completely different field than human resource management. Those in leadership must be willing to invest in their teams’ skill development.
Allow me also to emphasize the need for listening. When teams or individuals are challenged to solve high-level problems, they may arrive at solutions that the leader has never considered. Just because a solution doesn’t fit into a leader’s conception of normal does not invalidate the solution. Patience is key here. Choose to value and consider all ideas. This doesn’t mean all ideas must be identified as good nor that all ideas must be implemented. It does mean that all ideas should be explored and weighed for their potential ripple effects before being implemented or rejected.
Increased trust and motivation
Many leaders struggle with building passion-driven teams. To be clear, passion is developed, not forced. A powerful ingredient for that is creating conditions for people’s natural motivations to be recognized and rewarded.
People want to succeed. They want to know they’re doing a good job. They want to be recognized for having intellect and being useful. With that in mind, when leaders set high standards and equip their teams with the tools and encouragement to meet those standards, team members feel more valued and trusted. Their natural motivations emerge. And, when given good feedback, they learn that they’re capable of excellence.
When those things happen, workplace collaboration improves and people develop attitudes of excellence.
– Daniel Bobinski, who has a doctorate in theology, is a best-selling author and a popular speaker at conferences and retreats. For more than 30 years he’s been working with teams and individuals (1:1 coaching) to help them achieve excellence. He was also teaching Emotional Intelligence since before it was a thing. Reach him by email at DanielBobinski@protonmail.com or 208-649-6400.
