 Performance is often a result of self-fulfilling prophecy. Those who think they are capable of succeeding are often empowered to do so. Here’s some fascinating recent research on this topic:
Carol Dweck, a psychology professor at Stanford, gave a group of low-achieving seventh graders a seminar on how the brain works and put the students at random into two groups. The experimental group was told that learning changes the brain and that students are in charge of this process. The control group received a lesson on memory, but was not instructed to think of intelligence as malleable. At the end of eight weeks, students who had been encouraged to view their intelligence as changeable scored significantly better (85 percent) than controls (54 percent) on a test of the material they learned in the seminar. This is a breathtaking example of self-fulfilling prophecy and the “as if” principle in action. And there are many more. As we point out in our book Be Quiet, Be Heard, many studies have demonstrated that leaders’ expectations of employees have an impact on organizational effectiveness. Those who are treated as if they are capable of doing well, often do. We want to hear. Do you perform better when you believe you are regarded as smart and capable? What do you do to make others feel this way? To join the conversation, click "comments" on our Community of Practice Forum. If you would like to read more about creating a habit around masterful communication, check out our book: Be Quiet, Be Heard: The Paradox of Persuasion.
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 What makes hospital patients feel better? Medical interventions aside, a 2015 Johns Hopkins study revealed simple things hospitals do to improve the patient experience.
Based on responses to questionnaires and letters sent to CEOs and medical personnel from a nationwide sample of 53 hospitals, researchers concluded that successful interventions included: * Proactive nurse rounds, where nurses regularly visited patients’ bedsides, asking questions about their care; * Leader rounds where hospital leaders, including executives, visited patients and staff members to check on concerns or issues; * Always making eye contact with patients; * Sitting at patients’ bedsides, rather than standing or hovering over them Note that these practices all fall under one essentially important category: respectful, engaged human contact. Patients are hospital “customers”, and customers want to feel valued. What applies to hospital staff applies to us all: Listen to customers and treat them with respect, and they will give you high marks. We want to hear. Can you give an example of when you, as a customer. were treated as a valued human being? What do you do to make your own customers feel this way? To join the conversation, click "comments" on our Community of Practice Forum. If you would like to read more about creating a habit around masterful communication, check out our book: Be Quiet, Be Heard: The Paradox of Persuasion.  We hear so much about machines or artificial intelligence replacing workers. Perhaps that is why some uniquely human skills—like empathy, flexibility, and collaboration—are increasingly valued. Occupations requiring strong social skills have grown far more than others since 1980, according to new research. In fact, the only occupations that have shown consistent wage growth since 2000 require both cognitive and social skills.
David Deming, associate professor of education and economics at Harvard and author of a new study cited in The New York Times says that adjusting behavior during the course of conversations is “a hard thing to program.” Jobs that require both socializing and thinking have fared best in employment and pay. Social and emotional skills have not fared as well when it comes to being taught at school, but now many schools—including business and medical schools—are experimenting with how to add social skills to the curriculum. In our opinion, this is a much-needed supplement. The value of communicating with clarity, sensitivity, and respect cannot be over-estimated. We want to hear. Does your job or profession value and remunerate social skills? How are social skills being taught to newcomers in your field? To join the conversation, click "comments" on our Community of Practice Forum. Would you like to read more about creating a habit around masterful communication? Check out our book: Be Quiet, Be Heard: The Paradox of Persuasion.  In a 2015 study by the Pew Research Center, 89 percent of cellphone owners said they had used their phones during the last social gathering they attended. But they weren’t proud of it; 82 percent of adults felt that the way they used their phones in social settings hurt their conversations.
Sherry Turkle, MIT professor and author of the new book, Reclaiming Conversation, has been studying the impact of online connectivity on face-to-face conversation for the last five years. In a recent New York Times Op Ed, she noted that the benefits of dropping in and out of conversation to be online—such as never being bored, staying connected with work, and always being heard somewhere—are offset by a sense of loss. Studies of conversation both in the lab and natural settings show that when two people are talking, the mere presence of a phone on a table between them or in their visual periphery changes both what they talk about and the degree of connection they experience. People keep the conversation lighter, on topics where they won’t mind being interrupted., and they don’t feel as invested in each other. “Even silent phones disconnect us,” writes Turkle. What to do? Turkle says we face a choice. “It is not about giving up our phones but about using them with greater intention. Conversation is there for us to reclaim. For the failing connections of our digital world, it is the talking cure.” We want to hear. How do you react when people use their phones while talking to you? Do you use your phone this way? How does it affect the quality of your conversation? To join the conversation, click "comments" on our Community of Practice Forum. Would you like to read more about creating a habit around masterful communication? Check out our book: Be Quiet, Be Heard: The Paradox of Persuasion. |
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