(and women, children, employees, students and, of course…rats.)

As happens in the hallowed halls of Harvard, two sets of students were given two different groups of rats to run through a maze.

Dr. Robert Rosenthal, who supervised the experiment, informed the students that one set of the rats were “Bright” – smart and good at running mazes. The other set of rats were introduced as “Dull” – slow and easily confused in a maze.

Dr. Rosenthal asked the students to run their rats through the maze and score their times. As expected, the “bright” rats performed brilliantly and quickly made it to the end of the maze. Meanwhile, the “dull” rats struggled in the same maze. They were uncertain, lost or confused; they just had a more difficult time quickly navigating it. Or so the students thought.

There were, in fact, no “bright” or “dull” rats. All the rats were normal lab rats. Dr. Rosenthal had randomly assigned each rat to a group labeled “bright” or “dull”. Subconsciously, this difference in expectations led the students to relate to the rats differently. The normal lab rats performed up or down to the students’ expectations.

If this is true for rats – can it also be true in your relationships at work? What about at home or with those around you in the community?

This study has actually been repeated many times. In fact, it’s now called the Expectancy Effect. Many of these studies explore how the expectations of teachers impact the performance of students. And the results are the same as with the rats.

Teachers were introduced to students at the beginning of the year. The students were, unknown to them, randomly labeled in some tests as “high performing” or “low performing” or, in other tests, “expected to ‘bloom’ this year” or “not expected to ‘bloom’ this year.” Time and again – students proved to live up to the unspoken expectations.

If this impacts rats in a maze, or student performance, how might this impact leadership?

The ramifications are clear: How I see others, the expectations I have for them, creates or inhibits the conditions for success.

Leadership is a relationship

This is truth. The way we choose to relate to those around us, and the way we help them relate to others, is what makes or breaks leaders. This extends to our relationships with clients, partners, vendors and those we serve. Our leadership creates the conditions for, or against, successful relationships.

Coaching Tip:

Identify one person at work (or at home) with whom you feel frustration or disappointment. Without self-editing, list the first 8 words that come to mind as you describe this person. Review your list and evaluate: Did you list more positive or negative attributes?

For many people the list will lean towards negative descriptors.

Now, try this: Rewrite your list with 8 accurate words or phrases that describe the same person in a positive way. For the next 21 days, prior to interacting with that person, thoughtfully review your list. Imagine that person and those positive traits, one by one. Each day either add one new positive description or add something that you are grateful for, about that person, to your list.

Continue this practice for 21 days and watch as your relationship begins to change. It’s not a magic wand. However, by committing to this practice, you’ll change the conditions for relational success.

Ready to commit to this challenge? Without naming names, add comments about your commitment below.