The frustrated director of a public transit system once described his expectations for employees to me. All he asked of his bus drivers were three simple things: be at work every day, be on time, and be in uniform.
Why, he wondered, does his staff respond to such undemanding requests with ongoing absenteeism, tardiness, and dress code violations?
As it turns out, maybe his expectations are too low.
Psychology professor and researcher Robert Rosenthal studied the effects of expectations extensively throughout his career. In one experiment, he and a partner convinced teachers that a written test could predict which students were about to embark on a school year of academic and intellectual “blooming.” But the test was a ruse.
Instead, the researchers randomly chose 20 percent of the students and identified them to the teachers as likely bloomers. Eight months later, the researchers returned and found that the arbitrarily picked students had displayed greater intellectual gains than their classmates. Because the teachers believed that the researchers’ predictions were legitimate, they unconsciously helped fulfill the prophecy.
But what’s especially interesting is how the teachers treated the low expectation students, those who were not identified as bloomers.
Low expectation students were seated farther away from the teacher; teachers called on them less often; teachers smiled at them less and maintained infrequent eye contact with them; teachers criticized them more frequently for incorrect responses; and teachers demanded less work and effort from them.
Do you notice any similarities to the ways in which leaders treat workers from whom they have low expectations?
A leader’s expectations often create self-fulfilling prophecies in which employees live up — or down — to what is expected of them. In the case of our transit manager’s employees, when the greatest challenge their boss assigns them is to show up each morning, they sense the low expectations set for them. In turn, those employees expect less from themselves. Their performance reflects those low expectations, completing the self-fulfilling prophecy.
If you’ve been developing unwanted self-fulfilling prophecies for your employees, try altering your internal beliefs about your own ability to lead.
In other words, it’s the expectations you have for yourself that you must change.
Regardless of your perceptions of your employees’ potential, you must believe in your own talent to teach and inspire. Leaders who consider themselves highly effective are more likely to view all workers as capable of meeting high expectations.
So set high expectations for your employees. But more importantly, expect more from yourself. Make sure that you are setting the bar high enough to be challenging.
What are the expectations you have of yourself as a leader? Are they set high enough? Or, are you on the other end of the spectrum where your expectation of yourself are set unrealistically too high? And how is your “expectations set” impacting your performance and the performance of your team? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
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George Brymer is author of Vital Integrities and the creator of The Leading from the Heart Workshop®.
He can be reached at [email protected]
Image Source:redbubble.net
