What do your company’s talent  conversations sound like?If you’ve spent more than a few minutes managing, succession planning, or doing a performance review, you know that total talent conversations can morph into a bias founded upon a single experience. Here’s what I mean. The Halo EffectThe Halo Effect surfaces when someone has an outstanding characteristic and we allow our positive reaction to that singe characteristic to influence our total judgment of the individual. What follows is a high assessment on many traits because we believe the person is a star in one trait. We ascribe a range of related talents that simply may not now, nor ever will, exist. We see this in the realms of celebrity and politics when a physically attractive person is presumed to have a host of other positive traits. We also see it in companies where “the smartest guy in the room” moves up the hierarchy until it’s discovered that his “smartness” not only doesn’t extend to other fundamental traits e.g., cooperation, teamwork, initiating communication–but the individual may actually get in the way of the flow of work. The Horn EffectThis one, often called the “Devil Effect,” is the flip side of the Halo Effect and doesn’t get quite as much attention. I don’t know why that is. Its organizational impact is equally profound. In this scenario, if a person seems particularly lacking in one key trait, then that person will often be assumed to be deficient in many other traits. A manager who is constantly overdue on  project delivery (possibly due to unreasonable work demands and a boss who won’t renegotiate what makes realistic sense) is assumed to be uncommitted, perhaps a little lazy, and even negligent in their overall work life.Expectations and Self-Fulfilling PropheciesWe live up to our expectations. People who expect to be successful are more likely to succeed. People who expect failure are more likely to fail. A manager’s or supervisor’s expectations about employees’ performance will effect that performance. Period. Remember that performance evaluations and performance feedback will influence and mold future performance based upon the implicit and explicit expectations that managers convey. (The same is true in families regarding the messages conveyed between spouses those between parents and children).Today’s thought: Be aware of how you might be contributing to self-fulfilling prophecies in your workplace and in your life. It’s important, because you very often get what you expect. _______________________________But that’s not all! As we were hitting the “publish” key, The Leadership Carnival–Oscar Edition went online with more than top-notch articles on leadership by top-notch leadership writers. Be sure to add to your knowledge and check them out.
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