The Power of Expectation: How Mindsets Shape Performance and Leadership
Growth mindset has become a foundational concept in organizational and leadership development, but it may just be the beginning of a new era where mindsets take center stage.
The groundbreaking work of Carol Dweck, Ph.D., followed by influential research from Dr. David Yeager at UT Austin, has solidified growth mindset as a critical driver of performance improvement. Growth mindset refers to the belief that abilities can be developed through effort and learning. This belief fosters resilience and persistence in the face of setbacks, leading to higher achievement. Their research has reinforced just how much the mind plays a role in shaping our future.
But while growth mindset provides a strategy for greater learning and performance, emerging research suggests that much more of our world - beyond just our ability to learn - is influenced by similar mechanisms of beliefs and attitudes.
The Expectation Effect: How Beliefs Shape Reality
In The Expectation Effect, author David Robson presents a striking collection of studies demonstrating how our minds, specifically our expectations and beliefs about the world, profoundly impact our health, performance, and even physiology.
Here are just a few ways our expectations shape outcomes according to research:
Digestion and Metabolism: Your body's response to food can be influenced by whether you believe what you're eating is healthy or indulgent.
Medication Side Effects: Being aware of potential side effects can increase the likelihood you’ll experience them.
Work as Exercise: Believing that your daily work is a form of exercise can lead to physical benefits like weight loss and improved biometrics, even without additional physical activity.
Stress Interpretation: Viewing stress as harmful can negatively impact health and accelerate aging, whereas seeing it as performance-enhancing can mitigate these effects.
Energy Levels: Expecting an activity to drain your energy can allow it to happen, but if you believe energy is infinite and replenishable, you can maintain increased focus for longer. In some cultures, this idea that energy operates like a battery, doesn’t resonate at all.
Robson's research underscores a powerful reality: our minds are in the business of creating self-fulfilling prophecies. The good news? We get to influence how that prophecy unfolds.
Leadership Mindsets: How Expectations Shape Business Outcomes
So, what does this mean for leaders?
Every day, leaders set expectations about projects, employees, and business outcomes. The way a leader frames a challenge can directly shape the team's response. As research suggests, a leader's attitude during moments of uncertainty may have a strong influence on the results that follow.
Consider these scenarios where expectation effects might be influencing business outcomes:
Perception of Team Member's Abilities: Believing a team member lacks the skill for a task may lead you to subconsciously act in ways that reinforce that belief. Conversely, believing they are capable may lead you to provide the support to set them up for success.
Project Outlook: Expecting a project to fail might inadvertently steer it toward failure. Believing in its potential increases the likelihood of making decisions that lead to success.
Handling Anxiety: Suppressing and diminishing one’s nervousness before a big presentation to the board may allow anxiety to take over. Viewing nervousness as a sign of increased focus and excitement may reframe the experience into an exciting and important learning moment.
Addressing Burnout: Regularly expressing feelings of burnout may lead to increased manifestations of stress. Reframing it as "a busy chapter I know how to manage" may reduce negative consequences of stress.
Of course, this isn't about ignoring reality. Burnout is a serious issue affecting workplace mental health worldwide. Research shows that viewing stress as harmful can make it more damaging. However, pretending employees aren't stressed won't help either. Instead, leaders must recognize that while stress creates real physical effects, how we interpret the stress can influence its impact on our bodies.
Key Leadership Mindsets to Cultivate
For leaders looking to build high-performing teams, here are four mindsets that can help create the optimal environment for success.
Growth Mindset - for Yourself and Others: Leaders shouldn't just strive to adopt a personal growth mindset; they should create an environment where everyone has a growth mindset. By default, leaders need to assume everyone is capable. This means viewing mistakes as learning moments. A simple reframe like "You don't know how to do this...yet" sets the tone for continuous development.
Grit: Coined by Angela Duckworth, grit refers to a passion to persevere during long-term goals. It complements growth mindset. Leaders should work to instill an emotional connection to the goal at hand and reinforce that setbacks are expected on the path to meaningful achievement. Attacking challenges with a sense of enthusiasm will make it more likely we’ll reach our goal.
Optimism: Optimism isn't blind faith; it's a belief in your team's ability to navigate challenges and succeed. It's the trust that big ideas can be accomplished, challenges are surmountable, and that solutions will emerge through effort, learning, and collaboration.
Stress as Performance-Enhancing: Is your team "stressed and overwhelmed" or "stressed and energized"? Reframing stress as a sign of intense focus can help teams shift from burnout to engagement. Leaders should coach employees through high-pressure moments and reinforce the idea that stress is a tool—one that must be managed but can also fuel peak performance. Of course, this requires balance; there is of course a point where performance won’t benefit from too many priorities and too much work.
The Bottom Line: Expectation Influences Performance
The implication for leaders is significant - just about every endeavor can benefit from a better outlook.
For organizations, behavior change has always been the goal. But maybe the key to unlocking exponential behavior change, is to first, cultivate the mindsets of success and performance.