Pygmalion effect at work

"I want you to be successful. How can I help? I know you will be successful." 

This was what one of my previous managers asked me during a one-on-one meeting. His message has been consistent for years. Every time I finish a meeting with him, I leave feeling more motivated and energized.

If we take a closer look at these phrases, they consist of two things: The first is the "Pygmalion effect" and the other is servant leadership. Servant leadership is a focus on providing service to the team members. We can talk about servant leadership in another article, so here we want to focus on the Pygmalion effect today.

What is the Pygmalion effect? It is a psychological phenomenon wherein high expectations lead to improved performance in a given area. In the above case, "I know you will be successful" is the message that implies high expectations. According to Wikipedia, below is the summary of the research.

(From Wikipedia)

All students in a single California elementary school were given a disguised IQ test at the beginning of the study. These scores were not disclosed to teachers. Teachers were told that some of their students (about 20% of the school chosen at random) could be expected to be "intellectual bloomers" that year, doing better than expected in comparison to their classmates. The bloomers' names were made known to the teachers. At the end of the study, all students were again tested with the same IQ test used at the beginning of the study. All six grades in both experimental and control groups showed a mean gain in IQ from before the test to after the test. However, First and Second Graders showed statistically significant gains favoring the experimental group of "intellectual bloomers". This led to the conclusion that teacher expectations, particularly for the youngest children, can influence student achievement. Rosenthal believed that even attitude or mood could positively affect the students when the teacher was made aware of the "bloomers". The teacher may pay closer attention to and even treat the child differently in times of difficulty.

In modern society, we cannot conduct similar research because of ethical reasons. However, this theory is what we can use in the everyday work setting; it is supported as being a self-fulfilling prophecy. The self-fulfilling prophecy of the Pygmalion effect is also introduced in this article. (Link to be embedded) 

Here are a few tips for introducing the Pygmalion effect at work.

1. Don't be shy! 

Especially in east Asian culture, it may not be easy to share with the team members that you believe in them and you think they can be successful. Please disregard the cultural difficulties during the meeting, and communicate to your subordinates straightforwardly that you believe in them. 

2. Convey the message again and again.

Communicating once is not enough! People will not fully understand your message by listening it only once. You need to make sure you tell team members repeatedly that you have high expectations. This repeated communication of a message applies to many other things as well. 

3. Communicate the high expectations with trust

If you just say you have high expectations, the team will just feel pressured. To avoid this, you need to make sure that the team members understand that you believe in them too. If you cannot believe them to be successful, this actually shows a bigger problem with trust that needs to be addressed.

Working with motivated team members is exciting. This can be one way to excite and motivate them. Why not consider introducing this in the next meeting?