Unlock Your Team’s Full Potential: A Leader’s Guide

Episode Transcript
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Tim Staton (00:02):
Hey and welcome back to another episode.
I'm your host, Tim Staton.
And before we get started, I just wanted to say thank you to every new subscriber, follower,
and listener who has joined us recently.
Thank you for showing up and thank you for sharing this episode with other people.
You're tremendously helping this show grow. So thank you.

(00:23):
Whether you found the show on Spotify, Apple, YouTube, or during a casual scroll on LinkedIn
or any other social media, your support means more than you know.
If the show has been valuable to you, take a moment to subscribe, leave a review or comment,
and share this episode with one leader who needs it.
And this one is gonna be a good one.

(00:45):
And I am sincerely grateful for you to be a part of this show. So thank you.
And for today's topic, we're going to be looking at two psychological forces that sound something
like they're pulled out of an ancient story, yet they show up in the middle of your team meetings,
your one-on-one conversations, and your everyday leadership.

(01:06):
They can be the reason why your people rise or the reason why they shrink.
This is called the Pygmalion Effect and the Golem Effect.

And here is the simple truth at the center of both (01:14):
what you expect from your people is what
you will get from them.
And I see this all the time.
Not because of luck, not because of talent, but because the expectation you carry shape the way you treat them.
And the way you treat them shapes how they perform.

(01:36):
We are going to break these down.
Look at real examples, and by the end, you will have a three-step system that you can take away
to use to activate the Pygmalion Effect and keep the Golem Effect from taking root into your team.
This is Tim Staton with Tim Stating the Obvious.

(01:56):
What is this podcast about? It's simple.
You are entitled to great leadership everywhere you go, whether it's a church, whether it's
to work, whether it's at your house, you are entitled to great leadership.
And so in this podcast, we take leadership principles and theories and turn them into everyday relatable and usable advice.

Disclaimer (02:16):
And a quick disclaimer, this show process or service by trademark trademark manufacturer otherwise
does not necessarily constitute an implied endorsement of anyone that I employed by or favors them in the representation.
The views are expressed here in my show are my own expressed and do not necessarily state or
reflect those of any employer.

Tim Staton (02:27):
Now let's start with the one that builds people up.
The Pygmalion Effect comes from a Greek story about a sculptor who carved a statue so beautiful
he began to treat it as if it were alive.
He believed in it so deeply that the gods, according to the myth, brought the statue to life.
In 1968, psychologists Robert Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobson took this idea into an elementary school and tested it.

(02:55):
They randomly picked a group of students and told teachers, these kids scored in the top 20% on special tests.
Expect big things from these kids. There was no test.
They were just regular kids.
Yet by the end of the year, those bloomers outperformed everyone else, not only in grades, but

(03:16):
even in measured IQ tests.
The difference became from how teachers treated them to the teachers offering more time, more
attention and more encouragement, and more challenging questions.
Their expectations shaped a new reality.
You see, this is the Pygmalion Effect at work.
It builds what you invest in.

(03:38):
It withers what you ignore.
Now let's give a look at the other side, the Golem Effect.
In folklore, a Golem is a creature formed from clay brought to life to serve a purpose.
It often becomes clumsy, destructive, and limited by whatever its creator believed about it.
The Golem Effect describes what happens when you expect less from someone.

(04:02):
In the same study, the students who were not labeled as bloomers received less attention, less challenge, and less belief. Their performance dropped.

In the workplace, it sounds like this (04:12):
John is a good guy, but he's not a closer.
Lisa can handle admin, but I would not rely on her with certain clients.
I worked with an executive who had a list of B players on their team. Everyone could feel it.
Those employees got weaker territories, less coaching, and were first to be blamed when things broke down.

(04:36):
Eventually, they started living up to their label.
But when we took labels away and gave them the same level of coaching, challenge, and expectation,
that the top performers received, 70% of these folks hit their goals within two quarters.
The Golem Effect isn't about talent.
It's about the quiet expectations that hover around a person.

(04:57):
Over time, those expectations become the ceiling in which they operate under.

And here's the truth (05:02):
you
You're either building pyramids or you're shaping Golems.
Now let's take a quick look on how to make this practical, right?
So what can you do about it?
You can't simply hope for the best. You need a process.
And so here is a three step Pygmalion Leadership Framework.

(05:22):
You can use it and watch your team rise.
You need to look at your labels.
You need to do an audit label. That's step one.
Set aside 10 minutes this week, write down every name of your team, and beside it, write the
first three words that come to your mind and be honest.
Then ask yourself, is this based on real data?

(05:43):
Or assumptions that I have carried for far too long.
So I've watched leaders call soldiers and folks lazy or unmotivated.
And then when we checked the numbers, those same soldiers had the same metrics as top performing
people in the organization, but they had a label attached to them.

(06:05):
And so that label was wrong.
And so that story that those leaders needed to tell themselves needed to change.
And so If the data does match the label, change the label of which you would like them to be
sculpted into and start treating them that way.
So that's step one, audit your labels.
Step two, engineer your signals.

(06:27):
High expectations are not about cheerleading, they're about showing up and consistent behaviors.
For each person on your team, write down a stretch goal in public.
How can you help these people grow publicly?
Give them the tools or training that they need.
Sometimes people lack tools and training because we didn't give it to them, but we expect them

(06:49):
to do things that they've never been exposed to or that they've never had the opportunity to
rise to the occasion on.
Then we need to check in with curiosity rather than judgment. And this is huge.
When you check in on somebody and you go, Hey, how is this thing going?
What are we doing about it?
You need to check in it with as like a kid asking questions for clarity and understanding versus

(07:16):
questions of are you doing this the right way?
Are you doing this the way that I would have do it?
Are you doing this the way that I would have seen a top performer on my team do it?
Those two questions and those two perspectives aren't the same.
So check yourself on that.
Then you need to celebrate the process, not only the final result, but the wins along the way,

(07:36):
the small wins along the way.
And this signals to build belief and these signals build a belief in yourself and around the
person that that we're developing and building into.
You are an a player.
You are a top tier performer.
You are the best and talented that we have.
And the last and final step for step three, as you need to catch the Golem early on.

(07:58):
So I would offer up once a quarter, have an expectation reset conversation.
You need to ask two questions.
What do you think I expect from you?
And then the other one is, what do you need from me to reach that?
You'll be surprised at what you'll uncover.
I talked to some folks and had some one-on-ones and the leader believed that his leader viewed

(08:19):
him as reliable, but not strategic.
In reality, the leader saw him as a future executive.
And a future leader material in the organization.
And these expectations had never really been talked about.
And once they hammered these expectations out and the roles out and what they thought that this
person was moving forward as a strategic thinker, as a mover and shaker in the organization,

(08:42):
that person's behavior did change.
And they're like, oh yeah, you do believe I am this, so I'm going to make that change.
We had this, conversation, and we're easily going to be able to fix this and remedy this.
So that's like a really good example of how we can catch the Golems early on.
We don't need someone out there thinking that we have a different expectation of them than what

(09:06):
we actually really have, because then that creates the Golems.
So to do a quick recap, we have the Pygmalion effect, which is higher expectations create higher performance out of folks.
You have the Golem effect.
Which is lower expectations becomes their limit.
And in your toolkit right now, we gave you the ability to audit your labels and do like a self-assessment

(09:27):
of how you view you and your team and where you expect them to be and how you can engineer signals
along the way that show people that, no, I believe you're a top tier performer.
I believe you are going to be a mover and a shaker in this organization.
And then we can reset expectations when it comes up to folks who we think we might not have the right expectation set.

(09:52):
So we need to reset that.
Okay, now I want to share like a real life true story about how this plays out.
I once had a soldier who was brand new to the organization and who was struggling with a lot of different things.
And this soldier was a private.
And I remember one day walking into the building.
And this soldier had a beanie cap on his head and was asleep at his desk.

(10:17):
And in the room there were E4s, E5s, E6s, and an E7, a sergeant first class in the room.
And they all were just letting this soldier sleep.
And I walk in the door and I was kind of dumbfounded on why, one, he was wearing a beanie cap
and he was asleep and all these people were in the room It didn't say anything to him to wake

(10:40):
him up or to hold him accountable or to do anything.
So I woke him up and said, Hey, listen, I understand you're new. We PT hard. You might be tired.
Go get an energy drink, go get a coffee, get up, walk around, drink some water, do something.
You can't be sleeping at work. It's not acceptable behavior.
And then I talked to the E7 and we had a come to Jesus moment, right?

(11:02):
Where that behavior is not accepted and we're not going to tolerate that behavior from folks.
And he told me, he goes, well, He was like, you don't understand, sir.
He's just not that good.
And no matter what we do, he's just not living up to the occasion.
So I've just written him off.
Then over the next several weeks, he started going to behavioral health to get out of showing

(11:22):
up to work, to get out of going to PT in the morning, to get out of things that he didn't want to do.
He found a way to shirk all his responsibility, because if you go to behavioral health or mental
health, You know, it's during that timeframe, like you couldn't keep soldiers from going to mental health.
And it, you know, if you held somebody accountable for showing up to work, you'd get in trouble.

(11:45):
And it just wasn't really a good environment and time in the army for certain things.
And so it was interesting that I eventually pulled the soldier aside and asked, what do you,
what is your end goal?
Like, what do you want to do here?
Do you want to continue to serve or do you want to get out?
And he told me, he goes, I don't want to be here.
I want to get out.
You wouldn't let me go do one thing that I wanted to go do.

(12:07):
Which was like singing like this choir thing.
And I was like, well, look, you join the army to do like computer stuff.
You're going to do computer stuff for deploying.
You're not going to be able to go sing.
That's like a nice to have, not a, not a need to have.
And I need you to be fully engaged so that way we can deploy together and be successful.
He goes, yeah, I'm just not feeling I don't want to be here. I want to go. Oh, okay.

(12:27):
Well, you don't want to be here.
You don't want to go.
I'll help you out with that.
So I told him, I said, here is my expectations of you.
You're not gonna report to any NCO anymore.
You're gonna report directly to me every single day.
And I'll tell you what you need to do, and then I'll let you go to your appointments, and then
we'll work with them on making sure you have the mental evaluation you need in order to get out.

(12:48):
Now, don't be surprised if you get out with a discharge that you don't like, but I'll help you get out of here. And so he agreed.
So I said, okay, first thing, show up at 6:00 a.m. in my office, NPTs, so I know you're alive.
And he goes, okay, sir, I'll do that.
So he showed up for 6:00 AM and then it's like, Hey, thank you for showing up. I really appreciate that.

(13:10):
If you don't mind, I need someone to work out with because we have an uneven number of folks.
You mind working out with me today?
He was like, no, I'll work out with you.
So we worked out and we had some conversations, got to find out his background story a little
bit more about him as an individual.
And then I said, okay, I'll see you at 9:00 AM.
Go wash up and then be in my office at 9:00 AM and I'll tell you what you need to do.

(13:33):
He goes, well, at 9:15 I have my appointment. I said, that's fine.
It takes you 10 minutes to get there.
You'll have five minutes with me, 9:00 a.m. show up.
So he showed up at 9:00 a.m. I said, okay, great.
Thank you for showing up at 9:00 a.m.
You can go to your appointment.
And then he said, and when you're done, come back here because I have some things I need you to do.
And he asked me, what do you want me to do?
Well, I have some special projects for you that only special people get to do.

(13:57):
So if you don't come back, you don't get to do these projects.
And I'm gonna write down that you failed to report, which is another thing that you wanted to
do so I can help you get out of the Army quickly. Quicker.
So I'm giving you opportunities to fail.
And he just kind of looked at me, goes, well, well, what do you want me to do?
Well, I need you to do something with the general and his staff and all this other stuff.
But don't worry, just don't show up on time.
I'll write it down and we'll get you out of here.
And he said, okay, sir.

(14:18):
And he went to the appointment.
And immediately after his appointment, he came back, which I, which I was surprised that he even came back.
And he said, hey, sir, I'm here.
What do you need me to do?
I said, I thought you wanted to get out of here.
He goes, well, I do, but I'm also interested in what you want me to do.
Okay, I need you to get the serial numbers off everyone's computers and everyone's phone and
then ask everybody in that office politely what issues they're currently having and then tell me.

(14:44):
And he goes, oh, okay, I can do that.
So he coordinated with the secretary and when it was a good time and everything else, and he
got the simple task done, whatever wall needed to get done.
He came back and he told me, All the serial numbers and everything.
Did it to standard, no issues. I said, okay.
Well, that's all I need you to do today.

(15:04):
You can go to your room, your release for the day. He goes, that's it. That's it.
That's all you need to do. Don't do anything else. I'm good.
See you tomorrow. 6:00 a.m. We'll do PT again.
So we started doing this every single day for about a month.
Then I found him over with the other soldiers when I didn't give him specific tasks to do, but
I said, you still need to be in the area.

(15:25):
And they need you to read something.
And he started reading through the standard operating procedures of the different processes
that we had and he started looking into all the other technical aspects.
And he started asking other soldiers questions.
Long story short, he ended up being one of the best soldiers we had and he ended up getting
promoted and moving on and doing great things.

(15:47):
I said that not because of anything that I did other than I shaped the expectation of him of
that I expect you to do things that I know you can do them and I'm going to give them to you
in a way that you can.
And I told him I'm giving you special assignment.
And those special assignments led to him having a mentality of I can do this.

(16:09):
I am special enough to be here to show up to work and do the things I need to do.
And when I don't have these special things, I want to be part of the team now.
Which also were high performers.
And all of that is contagious.
When we write people off early on and we apply that Golem effect to them of like, ah, this person

(16:31):
is just not showing up. They're just not good.
We just kind of let them do whatever.
He'll service time and we'll move them on.
That does nobody any good.
It doesn't do that individual any good.
It doesn't do your organization any good.
And There's really nothing that you can do to overcome that other than shaping them into the
Pygmyllions that we want them to be.
So, all right, so here's what I want you to do this week.

(16:53):
Complete your label audit inventory by like Monday or Tuesday.
Then identify one person you may have underestimated and offer them a clear Pygmyllion signal.
Whether it's a stretch goal, encouragement, or one-on-one coaching session, go ahead and do that.
Then do that for a little bit and then send me a note.

(17:16):
Find me on, you know, LinkedIn or X, YouTube, whatever, find a platform and then let me know what happened.
And I want to share it.
I want to share the most powerful stories that I get back in the next episode.
And if this resonated with you, subscribe, leave a review, and share it with another leader
who might be carrying unspoken expectations of other folks and that they could benefit from this.

(17:40):
And that's it for today.
Remember, your team does not rise to the occasion, they rise to the expectations you set.
So thanks for stopping by, I'm Tim Staton, stating the obvious.

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