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©2010 James Henry McIntosh.
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Glare to boost fly sense

Once upon this time there is a person who often looks into a mirror and asks: “Mirror, mirror on the wall, am I fairest of us all?” Here’s the interesting bit. This person never asks ‘am I ugliest of all?’

Why not? Because this person instinctively wants to be ‘better than’. And the person who defines ‘better than’ is called You. In scientific terms this person is called Ego, but that’s another story.

It seems that mirrors bring out the best in us, or at least the desire to be better. Research has confirmed this. When there is a mirror in the room, people work harder, behave better and are simply nicer.

It seems that the virtual person watching from the mirror makes us more self-aware and thus makes us think before we act, which results in better behavior.

A mirror is a cheap way to a better you and that’s no fairy tale.

The power of the glare

Hey, wait! It is not the mirror that triggers better behavior! In the time of our Harry Potter I feel compelled to point this out. It is the thought that someone is watching you that triggers a change in behavior.

This effect was first formally documented in 1924. During productivity research at a factory near Chicago called the Hawthorne Plant, researchers noticed that workers’ hourly output increased when more light was added. And even when the lights were dimmed. It seemed at the time that workers, aware of being observed, worked harder.

Mirrors have no power except the power we see in them. The same applies to bosses – we give them power. And yet, many bosses still believe in the power of the glare.

Three days to boost productivity

Oh-oh, it turns out that nonsense was at work. Scientifically, the magic mirror watching you does pass the smoke and mirrors test. However, the glaring boss could be mere smoke because that famous Hawthorne Effect was actually no effect.

New research on the old research has revealed research flaws. When was plant productivity at a peak? On Mondays. When were the experimental lights changed? On Sundays!

In reality, productivity was always highest on a Monday, tapering off as the week progressed. Productivity swings had little to nothing to do with attention paid to workers or changing of lights.

Here is the real lesson. We can easily boost productivity by having a three day work week. And we can reduce unemployment by having two sets of workers working two sets of three days. With or without lights and glaring bosses.

Kill your fly report

Here’s a story that illustrates another way to boost productivity. Once upon a time a forester lived all alone in a wooden cabin in the woods. Wait! This is a true business story. My MBA professor said so and he wouldn’t lie.

With only trees to talk to, our hero needed a diversion. This came in the form of the weekly report he had to submit up the bark chain. His habit was to write his report sitting on his wooden deck while swatting the annoying flies. Because he was bored, he chalked up the number killed. And because writing boring reports really bored him, he began to report the number of flies killed each week.

One happy day he was transferred. Within a month his replacement got an angry letter from above: “Where is your fly report?”

Now I beg you, please think carefully about the information you so routinely provide today. Your dead flies will surely return to buzz the poor innocent who inherits your chair.

Too many voices, not enough sense

Like fly reports, technology has created multiple mediums for mouthing off. From the tethered telephone to mobile phones, emails, text messages, blogs, video calls, webinars, on-line presentations, off-line presentations, and so on.

Every new technological mouthing medium triggers its own babble of ‘how to’ training programs, using the very tool to teach that which it is touting. And every new tool seems to come with a roll-call of ready made experts who know the secret steps to becoming a potent presenter, a better blogger, a noticed networker, a treble tweeter or a fabulous faceb. . . no, I won’t say that word.

Please, oh, please teach these constant communicators that the first step, the golden step, is to have something meaningful to say! If you having nothing of great import to impart, then you will be spreading nonsense.

And that, Dear Reader, is a function I already claim as my own.

∞

Want to spread your nonsense?
Click here to submit your fly report.

∞

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