In coaching sessions, I am often asked the question: ‘Yes, but what does that have to do with feelings? This is a purely factual issue. It just really upsets me!’
How can it be that a supposedly factual discussion triggers us emotionally to such an extent that we ‘only see red’ at that moment? How do emotions influence our actions and what do they say about us?
I often experience this in my day-to-day work. Bosses and managers hardly perceive their employees as individuals. Instead, it is more a mixture of desire and expectation with which they look at their employees and colleagues.
The expectation with which we look at someone and their behaviour and – in a positive sense – also place our trust in them, has a major influence on the actual performance and development of the employee. The so-called Pygmalion effect. This means that our expectations and assumptions actually have an influence on the positive or negative course (note: the Pygmalion effect with negative effects is also sometimes called the Golem effect) of projects, but also on the performance of employees and colleagues. You are no doubt familiar with the colloquial expression: the so-called ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’.
The term Pygmalion comes from Greek mythology. Pygmalion was a sculptor who created a marble statue of a woman with whom he eventually fell in love, as he was firmly convinced that she was alive. When Aphrodite and the other gods saw that he was undeterred in his belief that the statue was alive, they honoured his wish and brought the marble statue to life for him.
Before I go into the context of the Pygmalion effect in HR work, I would like to tell you about an experiment that was carried out in a primary school in the late nineteen-sixties by social psychologists Leonore Jacobson and Robert Rosentahl.
As part of the experiment, an intelligence test was carried out at the school and a number of primary school children were then selected at random and the teachers were informed that these children would develop excellently intellectually over the course of the following year.
What happened?
A year later, an intelligence test was carried out at school and how do you think the randomly selected children performed compared to the others?
Exactly! Their results were actually better than at the beginning of the experiment. These results were confirmed several times in later studies.
In later experiments, video analyses showed that teachers smiled more at the so-called ‘smarter’ pupils, made more eye contact and praised their contributions more. This predominantly unconscious behaviour had an effect on the children’s actual performance – even when the pupils were unaware of the expectations and the teachers assumed they were behaving neutrally (cf. Freimuth and Haritz, 2009).
‘What you convey to the unconscious as true, becomes true’. (Dr Joseph Murphy)
The Pygmalion effect in HR work
Personnel selection: You may be familiar with this. A business friend whom you hold in high regard recommends a person as a potential employee for your company. Simply by recommending the person, you show them goodwill and positive expectations and you act accordingly. The likelihood that you will hire the person and that they will perform well is very high, unlike if you work with a person who you expect will not meet the requirements. You will therefore spend less time with them, reduce communication to the bare minimum and be more critical. As expected, the person is more likely to make mistakes or develop worse than the employee you are positive about.
Personnel appraisal: What began in personnel selection is continued in personnel appraisal and thus influences the so-called objective assessment or makes it impossible.
On-boarding and personnel development: The saying: “You grow with your challenges” definitely has meaning in this context. Expectations that are too low underchallenge, expectations that are too high overchallenge – especially if there is no support whatsoever. On the other hand, employees who are supported with positive expectations and trust are very likely to take the next steps in their career successfully.
Leadership: How are goals formulated and to what extent is there an inclusive leadership culture? Convincing goals and an open, appreciative environment promote sustainable, trusting working relationships and usually result in stronger identification with the company and more loyal behavior towards the employer and colleagues.
Strategies for reduction
As with any unconscious behavior (example test: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/germany/), the Pygmalion effect cannot be avoided without awareness. To reduce the power of unconscious bias, it is helpful to consciously reflect on yourself and your expectations and, for example, ask yourself questions in a coaching session such as:
- What do I like about a person?
- What are his/her most important qualities?
- What does he/she do particularly well?
- What do I intuitively like about his/her work?
By focusing specifically on the positive qualities and achievements of a person, it may be possible to change false or distorted perceptions.
What I focus on is what I see.
Systematically standardized processes help with expectation management, e.g. through personality tests, potential analyses, uniform assessment procedures, structured (multimodal) interviews, etc. It is also helpful to make decisions within a committee and to coordinate with sparring partners.
No one is free from unconscious behaviors and assumptions, but conscious and honest self-reflection, whether within a trusted committee or with a coach, makes it possible to expose and become aware of them.
Have fun with it! – And if you have any questions about multimodal interviews, personality tests or potential analyses, I look forward to hearing from you!🙂
