The Unintended Consequences of High Expectations

By Elise Foster, Co-Author of The Multiplier Effect: Tapping the Genius Inside Our Schools

How often do you see administrators who wholeheartedly believe their students and teachers are smart and capable? At the same time, how frequently do you see these same leaders missing out on the full talent and capability of their staff, students and community members? It happens frequently and usually it happens without the leader’s awareness – we call these leaders Accidental Diminishers – they believe their people are smart and capable; they follow popular management practice and still, they subtly shut down the intelligence of others. As I introduce this idea to leaders, I’m met with varied responses – some, nod in agreement saying “yes, yes, I tend to do that… and that…;” they are almost proud of their behaviors, signaling their lack of awareness and recognition that their actions have a diminishing impact. Most, including me, respond with some form of “oh my, I had no idea…!” No matter where you fall in this mix, I invite you to consider how your noble intentions – even the inherent belief that someone or some organization is capable of more – limits your access to talent and capability.

It may seem counter-intuitive to think that your elevated belief in someone’s capability might be the very reason that person isn’t performing, but that’s just what happens to people when they work around the Pacesetter. This is the achieving leader who strives to improve the organization, setting a high standard for performance, because they envision a teacher or their school as being capable of more. The approach seems logical: set the bar high and people will rise to the challenge. Isn’t this the message we often hear in our leadership programs and licensure courses? Believing this is the way to get people’s maximum capability, we move forward and we expect that our people will take notice, follow, and of course, catch-up.

The pacesetter leader is half-right: people do take notice and catch-on, but rarely do they catch-up. Instead of speeding up, they generally assume the role of spectator. After all, here’s what they see: you, their leader, out front, moving fast and working hard. It looks like a lot of work, so it must be either easy for you or just plain fun. They start to think: Good show boss! When you lap me next time, let me know if you need any help! While you are busy expecting your staff to speed up, they are actually slowing down or sitting down. Or perhaps, they are recognizing the growing gap between you and them and they simply give up.

Even after sharing the idea of the Accidental Diminisher 100s of times, and owning up to my own tendency toward the “Always-On” leader, it wasn’t until I received a text message from a friend that realized I also tend toward being a Pacesetter. The text was simple – a photo of our two kids making a box-brownie mix. The caption read: “making brownies. So far I haven’t helped at all!” The looks on their faces were focused, engaged and joyful. It reminded me of how different baking was at our house. The picture from our house would more than likely have shown a detailed recipe, raw ingredients (box mixes aren’t for real bakers) and a kid half-engaged, barely making it through just to please her mom (an avid baker).

You might wonder – how does an author of The Multiplier Effect, who knows the limitations of these tendencies, fall into the very behaviors she helps leaders avoid?

It all started innocently with a well-meaning mom who loves to bake and a precocious 7-year old who wanted to learn how to bake. After countless baking adventures with my girl at my side, this time she wanted to do it herself! After mulling over a few cookbooks, she selected the recipe and set off organizing her ingredients and baking tools. Mom was on-hand to answer questions, lend a hand and reach the top shelves.  Knowing she is a quick-study and quite capable with a whisk, the relative difficulty of the recipe didn’t cross my mind (In retrospect, I wonder – when does the average kid learn the difference between beating, creaming and folding?). With each stir of the batter, you could see the enthusiasm draining. I didn’t understand it – she’d seen me make cakes, brownies, and cookies hundreds of times and even helped before. Seeing nothing but capability, I pushed her to stick with it, even demanding so at times (sounds fun, right?). I was completely oblivious that I might have sized this baking experience a few sizes too big. I kept wondering – why can’t she keep up? She’s the one who asked to bake together.

It took me more than a year, and an innocent text message, to realize what I had done. I set the bar out of reach, expecting a 7-year old who had never baked on her own, previously, to start with the Julia Child sized recipe. What was wrong with starting out with a good old-fashioned box mix or even something out the junior chef kit we got her when she was three (oops, that’s another pacesetter moment for me)? My pacesetting was more than likely a combination of things – a love of baking, my belief in her ability, and one too many episodes of Master Chef Jr. In any case, the experience crushed her interest in baking, and worse yet, her confidence. The problem is: I got out too far ahead of her, setting the standard beyond reach, causing her to give up. There is no doubt she has 5-star baking in her, but it’s unfair to expect a first time baker to tackle from scratch recipes that even stump some adults. So, what’s a mom, or a leader, to do when they pull out too far ahead?

If you’re in the thick of an initiative and notice people hanging back, you might hit pause and jump into Extreme Question mode. What are they most enjoying? What project elements seem reachable versus out of reach? What might need to change for the goal to feel like a stretch, but not impossible? Let your curiosity guide the questioning and use what you’ve learned to resize or re-scope the work. You can also employ Extreme Questions when you’re kicking off a project, so you have an appropriate size and scope at the start. For example, who’s ready for a new challenge? Who has a unique genius to bring to the project? Take what you’ve learned to create a super-size challenge for a team member. This is your opportunity to give someone a job or a task that is a size too big and help them “level-up, as they grow into the role. The critical piece that a pacesetter, like me, often misses is the significant difference between one-size too big and two-sizes too big (or 5-sizes in my baking miss).

Since receiving that text message our ill-fated baking adventures are no more. I went straight to work sizing up the challenge – considering options like, refrigerated slice-n-bake dough, cookie mix, or junior cookbook recipe and bake or no-bake recipes. She knows how to crack an egg, so we’re beyond slice-n-bakes; but not quite ready to measure multiple ingredients. She’s worked on the stove; what if we try the oven? The next baking experiment was packaged cookie mix – just add eggs, oil and water. The smile and delight of that experience said it all. Not only did we walk away with delicious cookies, but we had a girl with increased confidence and a sense of accomplishment that propelled her into her next baking adventure with a from scratch recipe.

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About the Multiplier Effect

Education leaders at the classroom, school and district level are faced with rising expectations and stagnant funding—doing more with less has become standard operating procedure.  Instead of pinning one’s hopes on a cavalry of new resources, a leader might ask “are we getting the most out of our staff?”  This is a very different question than “Can our staff work harder?”  The former is the kind of question that confronts basic assumptions; it is a question of “multipliers,” leaders who use their own intelligence to grow others, literally making the people around them smarter and more capable.

After analyzing over 150 leaders across 4 continents the authors found that certain leaders weren’t just intelligent themselves they were intelligence multipliers. Our research outlines the five key differentiators between intelligence Diminishers and intelligence Multipliers. These differences explain why some leaders get vastly more capability from their people!

 Elise Foster will be presenting on this subject at the upcoming Quality Educators Convention. Come and hear more about this topic and register today!

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