The way you imagine people is the way that you’ll treat them. We all have opportunities in our life to look at people through different lenses. At the Coaches Training Institute, coaches are taught to look at people from a framework of being creative, resourceful and whole.

Whether you are a manager of a team of people, an HRBP, or a professional in learning and development, how we look at the people we serve will impact how they behave.

If we look at people as broken or not able to learn, we will treat them that way. We will have low expectations and they will rise to those low expectations. If we look at people as though they are doing the best they can and they have so much talent and possibilities, we will bring that out in them.

This is certainly not a new concept. It has been around in education for years with the research in the past on the Pygmalion Effect — that is, when we have high expectations, people will rise to higher levels of performance. We need to make sure that we also hold this to be true in business. Don’t be limited to looking at your co-workers and teams and boss in this manner. A friend of mine was breaking up with her long-time companion. It was really hard, because they thought the other person was weak, fragile, and couldn’t take care of themselves. It made the breakup very difficult. When they began to see the other person as “creative and resourceful,” they were able to interact with them, during a very difficult situation, as capable, and connect with them on a much more positive level.

At BetterManager, we develop managers. We help them understand the researched best practices that help them develop others through one-on-one coaching. We work with their specific strengths and areas of development, knowing that the more a manager develops, the more they have the capacity and potential to develop their team resulting in a more robust business. This improves the work environment for everyone!

Karen Benz is a member of the coaching team at BetterManager!

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