Are You Making Monsters of Your Employees?

Have you heard of the golem?

It’s said that in 16th century Prague, a Jewish ghetto came under attack by the anti-Semitic Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf II. Desperate to defend his people, and with no other choice, the local rabbi remembered today as Maharal forged a great beast out of clay. It was known as the golem, referencing a Biblical term used to describe a creature in its raw form.

Brought to life by Hebrew incantations and a control rod called a shem, the golem was capable of performing any task ordered of it. The only rule was that it could not be used on the holy day of the sabbath – Saturday. As such, Maharal was required to remove the shem every Friday evening. Unfortunately, one day he forgot, and the monster rampaged through the ghetto, destroying everything in its way. Eventually, it too was destroyed, but not before catastrophic damage was done.

A cool tale, but what does it have to do with your business?

Today, we don’t have to worry about golems, but we do need to be aware of The Golem Effect, a psychological phenomenon that’s just as devastating.

The golem effect is what occurs if an individual feels they are being under-utilised, or that lower expectations are being put on them than their peers. We see it often in classrooms, where the children perceived as incapable or simply dumb act accordingly, whether they are able to complete a task or not. The same frequently occurs within businesses, and when it does, studies have shown that it can impact not just those immediately involved, but the entire organisation.¹

It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy ordained by what revered psychologist Carol Dweck defined as The Fixed Mindset. “In a fixed mindset, students believe their basic abilities, their intelligence, their talents, are just fixed traits. They have a certain amount and that’s that…” Dweck explained in a 2012 interview. She estimates that 40% of people have a fixed mindset.

What must be understood is that a fixed mindset is the result of the golem effect, instilled at some point through the individual’s life. Nobody is born with a propensity for mediocrity. It is only through leadership – poor leadership – that such traits are developed.

A constant mistake workforce leaders are guilty of is the assumption that adults can conjure motivation with the flick of a switch. It’s understandable; as managers, directors, entrepreneurs etc. we are more likely to have growth mindsets, and know that advancing ourselves and our work takes time. We just need to understand how to inspire that in others.

The opposite of the golem effect is The Pygmalion Effect, named after a Greek sculptor who put such passion into a particular carving that he fell in love with it. Those effected by it work harder when greater expectations are placed upon them.

Of course, abolishing a fixed mindset is not simply a matter of heaping tasks upon a golem. It takes time, patience, and most of all, understanding. In their classic book, Pygmalion in the Classroom², researchers Robert Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobson listed four key factors in inspiring such change:

1. Climate – It’s natural for people to show preferential treatment, but to do so as a leader is to compromise the ability of those who are ignored. An inclusive climate where all are treated with equal respect is one that thrives.
2. Input – Leaders tend to spend more time with those they place high expectations upon. How does that make sense? If anything, the opposite should be true, in order to discover how best to inspire those fixed in their ways.
3. Response Opportunity – An expansion of the first point, those in charge are often guilty of not only giving those they prefer more chances to make suggestions, they also spend more time helping them shape these suggestions. Those offered by others are shot down much quicker, in turn strengthening the golem effect. Balance is required, and justification given when an idea is rejected.
4. Feedback – Another astounding irony is that leaders are likely to give more feedback to those who do an outstanding job than those who simply carry out the task given to them. If you’re willing to treat enough as enough, enough is all you’re going to get.

Ultimately, you might not think you have the power to change anyone’s mind, but you do. Just think about all those stories of children who had been told they would never amount to anything until someone placed their faith in them. Put your faith in your employees, every single one of them, and you too can bring about such potent, profound change.