| The day before the Green Bay Packers met the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLV, Packers coach Mike McCarthy made a brazen move. He had his players fitted for Super Bowl championship rings.
The next day the Packers beat the Steelers 31-25. But Coach McCarthy wasn’t being presumptuous or predicting the win. He was merely influencing it. Linebacker A.J. Hawk reflected on the experience, “It made things real for us.” Of course, it did! By fitting his team for championship rings, Coach McCarthy communicated his belief in his players – he deemed them “ready to win the big game.” And because the Packers respected and admired their coach, they were influenced by his labeling – they internalized the “champion” label and acted accordingly. Green Bay Packers guard Daryn Colledge said of the ring-fitting exercise, “It just set that mental mindset that we’ve got to go out there, and we’ve got something to accomplish.” Coach McCarthy was leveraging the Pygmalion effect, in which high expectations lead to improved performance. According to this psychological phenomenon, when we brand people with a positive label, they will embrace that label and then mirror the expectations we have for them (assuming they respect and admire us). They literally take on the characteristics of that brand or the label. The Packers emulated Coach McCarthy’s expectations of them with their Super-Bowl-winning actions. And as our mentee acts out the aspiring label, it becomes self-perpetuating – soon they reinforce and reaffirm that label with their behaviors, decisions, actions, and success. Unsurprisingly, “improved confidence” is among the most touted results mentees share at the conclusion of their mentoring programs. All because their mentors treat them not as they are but as they could become. © 2023. Ann Tardy and MentorLead. www.mentorlead.com. All Rights Reserved. |