Your expectations become their performance

The Pygmalion effect is the finding that a leader's expectations can shape how people perform. In a 1982 Israel Defense Forces study, trainees whose instructors were told (falsely) that they had high potential scored significantly higher on objective tests. Expectations leak through attention, challenge, feedback, and patience.

Think about the person on your team you trust most. The one you give the important projects to.

Now think about the one you worry about. The one whose work you double-check.

Here's a question worth sitting with: How much of the difference between them is about them, and how much is about you?

It's an uncomfortable question. The research suggests it's also an important one.

Pygmalion goes to boot camp

In Greek myth, Pygmalion was a sculptor who carved a statue so beautiful he fell in love with it, and it came to life. The Pygmalion effect is the idea that what we expect from people can shape what they become.

The idea got famous from a 1960s classroom study, but I'll be honest: that original study has been heavily criticized for its methods, and its results haven't held up well. So I want to tell you about a stronger study instead, one from the workplace.

In 1982, researchers Dov Eden and Abraham Shani worked with the Israel Defense Forces. Before a combat command course began, instructors were told that some of their incoming trainees had been identified as having unusually high "command potential."

In reality, those trainees had been chosen at random. They weren't special.

But by the end of the course, the trainees whose instructors believed they had high potential scored significantly higher on objective achievement tests. They had more positive attitudes. And they rated their instructors' leadership more highly.

Same course. Same instructors. The only difference was what the instructors expected.

How expectations turn into performance

The instructors didn't consciously treat anyone differently. That's the unsettling part. Expectations leak out in small ways we don't notice:

• Time and attention. We give more of it to people we believe in.

• Challenge. We hand the stretch projects to the "high potential" people, and they grow from them.

• Feedback. We give more detailed coaching to people we think can use it.

• Patience. We forgive a stumble from a star and read the same stumble as proof from someone we doubt.

Over time, those small differences add up. The person you believe in gets more chances to grow. The person you doubt gets fewer. And both end up proving you right.

Sometimes the story you tell about someone is part of the reason it comes true.

The flip side

Researchers have also studied what's sometimes called the Golem effect: low expectations dragging performance down.

If you've already decided someone is "just not that sharp," watch what happens. You explain less. You delegate less. You check their work more. They get fewer chances to prove themselves, and they can probably feel that you've given up on them.

I had an owner who was ready to let go of an employee he described as "not a self-starter." When we looked closer, he'd stopped giving this person any projects that required initiative months earlier. On a hunch, he tried an experiment: he handed her a meaningful project and said, "I think you'd be great at this." Three months later, that employee was running the new client onboarding process she spearheaded the creation of.

How to use this on purpose

1. Notice your labels. Write down the one-line story you tell about each person on your team. "Reliable." "Needs hand-holding." "Not detail-oriented." Ask yourself how much of that is evidence and how much is habit.

2. Give everyone a stretch. Make sure each person has at least one challenging, meaningful assignment. Growth requires room to grow.

3. Say it out loud. "I think you can handle this" is a powerful sentence. Mean it when you say it.

4. Coach everyone like they can improve. Give the detailed, specific feedback to everyone, not just your favorites.

5. Separate the performance from the person. A missed deadline is a data point, not a verdict. Don't let one stumble rewrite your whole story about someone.

Be careful with this, too

High expectations aren't magic. They work when they come with real support, clear goals, and honest feedback. Setting impossible expectations without help is just a recipe for burnout.

But if you've been writing someone off, consider this your nudge to try believing in them, on purpose, for 90 days.

You might be surprised by who shows up.

If you want an outside perspective on how you're leading your team, that's something I help owners with.

Study to link: Eden & Shani (1982), "Pygmalion goes to boot camp," Journal of Applied Psychology

Frequently asked questions

What is the Pygmalion effect?

The Pygmalion effect is a self-fulfilling prophecy in which higher expectations lead to better performance. The original classroom study from the 1960s has been heavily criticized, but stronger workplace evidence comes from Eden and Shani's 1982 military training study.

What is the Golem effect?

The Golem effect is the flip side: low expectations from a leader can drag performance down, often because the person gets fewer chances, less coaching, and less trust.

How can managers use the Pygmalion effect?

Notice the labels you've put on each team member, give everyone at least one meaningful stretch assignment, tell people you believe they can handle it, and coach everyone with the same detail. High expectations work best when they come with real support.