Imagine lunchtime at a high-valuation tech startup. One of the lead programmers, Arun, regularly sees one of the janitors, Tara, periodically go into the supplies closet and read through a Python for Beginners book. He’s impressed by her dedication to learning Python and decides to sit for an hour after lunch every day, teaching Tara how to code, troubleshoot and conduct data analysis. Tara studies wholeheartedly because of Arun’s encouragement, and within a few months, Tara joins his team and becomes a huge value addition to the startup because of her technical skills.
This is the Pygmalion effect at work. The Pygmalion effect can be summarized as a self-fulfilling prophecy. Our beliefs influence our actions towards others, which influences their beliefs and expectations, leading to changes in their actions. This cycle finally leads to both parties having their beliefs and expectations fulfilled. In 1964, psychologist Robert Rosenthal conducted an experiment where young children were made to take mock IQ tests. The scores of the children weren’t revealed to the teachers, but the names of “gifted” children were given to the teachers. At the end of the school year, the children were made to take the test again. While all the children had shown significant growth, the biggest jumps were made by those children who were noted as “gifted”. The teachers also tended to show the “gifted” children more attention and more detailed feedback, though this tendency was noted to be only subtle and not overt.
In the above experiment, the children who were said to be “gifted” were expected to do better by the teachers. That led to the teachers giving them more attention and better feedback, and that help was a contributing factor to their better performance. Arun expected great things from Tara which is why he coached her daily, which led her to change her profession and become a valuable member of the programming department.
This effect plays an important role in management. As noted by J. Sterling Livingston, “The way managers treat their subordinates is subtly influenced by what they expect of them. If a manager’s expectations are high, productivity is likely to be excellent. If their expectations are low, productivity is likely to be poor.” These expectations need to be introduced and reinforced from the moment the employees join the company. They need to know that the management believes in their capabilities and that they will be given the support they need to achieve those expectations.
The point of an induction program is to acclimate the new employees to their new work environment, the goals and values of the company, and the role they will play in achieving those targets.
Through our e-learning induction programs, companies get a platform to show the employees the company’s goals, vision, and values in a clear and concise way. We provide interactive and engaging programs that are structured to not just induct employees, but to help them really integrate into the company. Reach us for induction solutions info@torah.co.in