You Think You Know Your Star Performers? Think Again

The Power of Belief: How Positive Encouragement Transforms Potential into Top Performance

I’m often asked questions such as, “How do you consistently have such high performing teams?” or “What is your secret sauce to driving sales though the roof year after year?” While there are a variety of factors involved, I can tell one constant truth - believe and empower your people. Period.

It doesn’t matter if I’m closing a deal, working with an executive team member, or mentoring a junior employee, the one constant variable is that believing in someone is powerful. Don’t believe me? Think about a time someone believed in you and encouraged your development.

Top performance is a key distinguishing factor between success and failure in leadership, sales, and life. One powerful yet often overlooked factor is the simple act of believing in others. Research has shown that when CEOs, military leaders, or executives believe in the capabilities of those under their charge, those individuals rise to the occasion and outperform expectations. I’d like to share with you two powerful studies from Doc Eden and Robert Rosenthal that I personally found incredibly interesting.

Psychologist Dov Eden published a 1980 study on Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops illustrating how belief influences performance. His study found that troops designated as high-potential performers based on nothing more than their commanders' expectations showed a significant improvement in their performance. These soldiers were told they were expected to achieve top performance before they had even started their training.

What Eden discovered was remarkable: troops performed at higher levels because their leaders had communicated a belief in their abilities. This phenomenon, known as the Pygmalion Effect, demonstrated that people tend to live up to the expectations set for them, especially when those expectations are framed positively. The study provides compelling evidence that the way leaders perceive and communicate potential can directly influence the performance of those they lead.

The origins of this phenomenon are most famously illustrated by Harvard professor Robert Rosenthal, whose research in the 1960s revealed similar outcomes in educational settings. Rosenthal's experiment, often referred to as the Pygmalion Effect or the Rosenthal Effect, showed that when teachers were told that certain students were destined for academic growth, those students outperformed their peers, regardless of their initial skill levels.?

In the study, teachers were unknowingly given random lists of students who were described as having high potential, despite being average students. Over time, these "high potential" students outperformed their peers simply because their teachers believed in their potential and treated them accordingly. Rosenthal concluded that teacher expectations significantly affect student performance.

These findings have deep implications for organizational leadership, training, and development in any environment where human performance is central to success.

Positive Encouragement: The Secret Ingredient to Top Performance

What makes belief such a powerful driver of performance? It turns out that belief is not a passive phenomenon—it actively shapes behaviors and outcomes. When leaders, teachers, or coaches believe in the potential of those they are responsible for, they naturally engage in more positive reinforcement, provide better guidance, and are more likely to allocate resources and opportunities to help them succeed.

Psychologist Carol Dweck’s Growth Mindset theory also aligns with this. A growth mindset—the belief that abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—encourages continuous learning and improvement. People are more likely to push their boundaries when they believe success is within their grasp.

Adam Grant's Give and Take: The Role of Encouragement in High Performance

Adam Grant, in his book Give and Take, echoes this sentiment, showing how encouragement and belief in others lead to extraordinary results, especially in collaborative environments. Grant suggests that successful "givers"—people who help others without expecting anything in return—often provide the encouragement and resources that allow others to achieve top performance. He argues that such individuals foster cultures of reciprocity, trust, and collaboration, which contribute to enhanced performance outcomes across the board.

In essence, whether it’s in education, the military, or the workplace, believing in others leads to behaviors that enhance performance. Encouragement is not just a feel-good gesture—it creates tangible, measurable improvements in productivity, innovation, and leadership.

Translating Belief into Leadership and Sales

Leaders who master the art of positive encouragement can unlock tremendous potential in their teams. Whether you’re leading a sales force, managing a team of creatives, or running an organization, believing in your team members can directly lead to top performance.

Here are five strategies to implement positive reinforcement into leadership and sales to enhance performance:

1. Set High Expectations—and Communicate Them Clearly

When leaders communicate high expectations, it signals to their teams that they believe in their capabilities.

- Example in Leadership: A manager in a tech startup encourages a junior developer to take on a project that’s outside their comfort zone, believing that they can rise to the challenge. The developer, fueled by the manager's confidence, puts in extra effort and learns new skills, completing the project successfully.

- Example in Sales: A sales manager tells a team member, “I know you’re capable of landing this major client. You’ve got the skills, and I believe you can make it happen.” The salesperson, empowered by their manager’s belief, closes the deal.

2. Provide Constructive Feedback

Feedback that focuses on growth rather than criticism encourages improvement and builds confidence.

- Example in Leadership: A CEO provides feedback to a department head that emphasizes their strengths while also offering guidance on areas to improve, framing it as part of their growth trajectory within the company.

- Example in Sales: A sales director gives feedback to a sales rep after a pitch that didn’t go well, saying, “You’re great at building rapport. Next time, let’s refine the technical details of your pitch.” This feedback helps the rep improve while reinforcing their confidence.

3. Reward Effort as Well as Results

Rewarding effort fosters a culture of persistence and innovation, especially when results may take time to materialize.

- Example in Leadership: A team leader rewards an employee’s initiative on a long-term project that is still in its early stages, reinforcing the value of persistence.

- Example in Sales: A sales manager recognizes a rep who has been diligent in nurturing long-term leads, even if those leads haven’t yet closed, encouraging continued effort.

4. Promote a Culture of Learning and Growth

Leaders who cultivate a growth mindset within their teams inspire continuous learning and development.

- Example in Leadership: A director of operations encourages team members to attend professional development courses and emphasizes that learning new skills is key to advancement within the company.

- Example in Sales: A sales coach organizes weekly training sessions for reps to practice new sales techniques, framing them as opportunities to grow and improve.

5. Celebrate Small Wins

Acknowledging small victories keeps momentum high and reinforces positive behavior.

- Example in Leadership: A project manager makes it a point to celebrate when a project milestone is reached, recognizing the efforts of individual team members and building morale.

- Example in Sales: A sales team celebrates whenever a lead progresses to the next stage of the sales funnel, reinforcing the importance of each step in the process.

The Bottom Line: Believe to Achieve Top Performance

The research is clear: believing in people has a profound impact on their ability to achieve top performance. Whether it’s through Dov Eden’s study of IDF troops or Robert Rosenthal’s experiments in classrooms, the evidence shows that positive encouragement leads to extraordinary results. Adam Grant’s insights in Give and Take further illustrate that by fostering cultures of support, leaders can drive success in ways that benefit everyone involved.

Call to Action

If you’re ready to unlock top performance in your organization or team, start by believing in the potential of those you lead. Visit Molly Blomquist to learn more about how I can help you cultivate a culture of excellence and drive results through positive reinforcement and strategic leadership practices.