May 2022 Countdown to Success On how your expectations affect client performance

5 Inputs, 4 Quotes, 3 Thoughts, 2 Challenges and 1 Question (May 19th, 2022)

“Helping you achieve high performance medicine.”

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Happy May,

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Here are 5 Inputs to Inspire, 4 Quotes to Contemplate, 3 Thoughts to Ponder, 2 Challenges to Conquer and 1 Reflection Question to help you grow this month.

5 Inputs to Inspire

I. The Decision Lab does an excellent job describing the Pygmalion Effect, aka The Rosenthal Effect, and it's foundation research which can be found in Study 1 which is described in this article.

II. There are many ways you can apply the Pygmalion effect in practice; perhaps the simplest is by just having a happy face on! Science has shown that a smile, regardless if it's "true" or not, induces an improved or happier state of mind. This means you're more likely to approach a situation positively and therefore get a better end result with your client. Learn more about how the Certified Coaches Federation recommends we use these psychological principles in our "coaching" interactions.

III. Could we have been the products of The Pygmalion Effect? The Pygmalion Effect aka The Rosenthal Effect is most readily identified and studied in classrooms and on teams. In fact, past teachers, mentors and managers might be as responsible for our success as we are! Additionally, our own mentorship is uniquely affected by this psychological effect.

IV. Want to bring your team to the next level; then begin applying the Pygmalion Effect as a manager. Learn how the effect is not only limited to individual interactions but can also set the framework for higher team aspirations.

V. Does your clinic environment or personal manor setup up your client interpersonal interactions for increased conflict or the golem effect? Learn how the environment around the client, even prior to interpersonal interactions, can affect later interactions.

4 Quotes to Contemplate

I. Psychologist and author Dr. David Burns on the importance of allowing other people to be understood in the moment vs placing your current highest priority on them:

The biggest mistake you can make in trying to talk convincingly is to put your highest priority on expressing your ideas and feelings. What most people really want is to be listened to, respected and understood. The moment people see that they are bring understood, they become more motived to understand your point of view. – Dr. David Burns

II. Leadership guru and my personal favorite author John Maxwell on the power of empowerment:

People will go farther than they thought they could when someone they respect tells them they can. – John C Maxwell

III. Harvard Business School professor and consultant Dr. Sterling Livingston about people and performance:

People perform consistently as they perceive you expect them to perform – Dr. J. Sterling Livingston

IV. Investigative journalist and writer I. F. Stone brings an interesting internalized take on the Pygmalion effect, what we we can craft our own internalized positive motivation and through that change the world:

Every man is his own Pygmalion, and spends his life fashioning himself. And in fashioning himself, for good or ill, he fashions the human race and its future. - I. F. Stone

3 Thoughts to Ponder

I. Though many people would not admit it, we are often more responsible for holding our clients and team members back than we'd care to admit. We don't train them in new skills because "they cant handle it." We don't share the latest drug updates because "their old school." We don't critique their operations because "they'd never change." Be careful of the labels you assign those you work for and around.

II. Guard carefully the opinions you value around you. The Pygmalion effect is not only an effect from you outward but outward effect on you. Be sure to ID who you actually listen and value; in the age of social media and instant contact it's all too easy to let a critic have your ear.

III. Be sure to regularly reflect upon the expectations you're putting on yourself. Don't "Golem" your potential with unfounded assumptions. This act of "self limitation" is much more common in the human population than most would believe.

2 Challenges

I. Create a list of 10 limiting beliefs you have about yourself. Then describe why you believe them to be true vs their "positive" opposites. What if you actually manifest even the smallest hint of these positives? Would that change your perspective of this limiting ideal? Could this simple fact craft an internalized positive mentality in this area for you.

II. ID 3 discrete skill areas in 3 separate clients (or client employees) that you or a team member think less of but has potential to change their operation. Then contact those clients and offer to show them how to learn, manifest or improve upon those skills.

1 Reflection Question

Close your eyes and visualize the one person who has most impacted your professional journey and all the moments through time their support was manifest. What skills are they manifesting that you can mimic with your team, yourself or your clients.

Until next month, Dr. Eric Rooker Founder of Operators to Owners