Change and the Pygmalion Effect
- rgg027
- Jul 20, 2021
- 4 min read
Dealing with rapid change is difficult. Apparently, the change curve looks like this below and you can in fact have multiple change curves happening all at the same time and be in different phases in different contexts. This of course could easily lead to a feeling of accelerated uncertainty because you are finding it difficult to get to the “problem solving” or “moving on” phases.
Most of us will know where we would like to get to in the change curve but there is often a gap between our intentions and the implementation of those intentions. A range of factors can impact this ‘knowing-doing gap’; things like not knowing where to start on issues, the sheer busyness of it all and the shifting nature of multiple priorities.
One of the recommendations from Dan Sullivan that can bridge the ‘knowing-doing gap’ is to ‘think about your thinking’. Below is something that he has designed that can possibly help move people through the change curve and get us closer to acceptance and even transformation.
The importance of our narrative and the associated and underlying cognitive road map is something he believes is critical and worth reviewing. The impact and combined effect of words and thoughts is something that has been well documented over the years. But even though we intuitively understand those connections and its effect on behaviour, we readily fall into the trap of nuancing our thoughts, language and behaviours so that they result in bias dynamics. This is well expressed by Margaret Heffernan in Unchartered a frightening poignant book written in 2019 and well worth a read (a link to the associated Ted talk is shown below).
“Telling a parent, or a teacher, that a child is destined for greatness – or not – is not a neutral action; it can influence how they see and respond to their children and what they expect of them. Well understood as the Pygmalion effect, the insight derives from an early experiment where primary school teachers in California were told that a few named pupils were especially talented. At the end of a year, when the researchers returned to the school, they found that, indeed, these children had achieved high marks. The catch was that the children had been chosen at random. The prediction had changed the way the teachers treated the children more subtly than the teachers themselves noticed. (A later experiment with Israeli military platoons showed the same effect.)”
In an environment of rapid change our ability to mentally construct self-fulling negative predictions becomes super charged. So how can we move toward being transformative daily. Here are a few ideas from people like Verne Harnish and the folks at Growth Coaching International.
Firstly, get a coach, this person doesn’t need to be trained in coaching, but someone who can listen and ask questions. Probably don’t do this with your spouse, I’ve seen that go horribly wrong; perhaps someone at work, they don’t have to be in the same area as you. Secondly, in high change environments the cadence of meetings and contact must be higher than normal, so in this case contact them once every 48 hours. The thinking around this is that ‘we are going to talk and exchange ideas in a rapid rhythm of exchange, this is our way out of this crisis not just thinking alone’; so, networks are now more important than ever. Thirdly, discuss with your coach only those things you can directly control and furthermore stay well out of the ‘ant country’ those mid-term issues that are more than a week out. Remember the shelf life of any goals is now very short because the contexts are changing so rapidly. Next develop a goal with your coach that has meaning, is small, singular and FASTT (frequently discussed, ambitious, specific, transparent and transformative) goal. The next and fifth point is important, try not to be problem focused when developing your goals; now there are plenty of those. Try and focus on the transformative solution by considering the following.
What is your platform, what do you specifically want to be looking at in the next week?
What is your realistic best hope for that platform in the next week?
What do you need to make this happen?
Suppose you achieve your best hope, what will you walk away with? And what else, and what else….
What will others be saying, noticing, doing and how will you be interacting with them when this has been achieved?
What will be the first sign of progress toward this goal?
When will that happen?
Coaching in this way may assist with four things;
It may help in developing transformative (column 4) narration and thinking
It may assist with network discussion and the evolution of ideas
It may provide support and the recognition and celebration of small but important successes
It may assist in positive change as people feel accountable to one another and we are more likely to do what we say we are going to do
As Margaret Heffernan suggests the more opportunity, we can have to develop our “messy human skills” together then the more we can ‘invent things we have never seen before and make any future we choose”.
References;
Dan Sullivan;
Margaret Heffernan;
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