Processional
Friday, October 22, 2004
Count On It!
Count On It!
The Reticular Activating System and Hawthorne Effect.
"...In the late 1950s, the GE plant in Hawthorne, California brought in some consultants to measure the effect of brighter lighting on the productivity of their factory workers. The consultants first took productivity measurements to establish a baseline. Then they intensified the brightness of the lighting and measured again.
Productivity increased.
They increased the brightness even more and productivity went up again. After raising the brightness two more times, they saw two more increases in productivity. On a hunch, they lowered the lighting and measured one more time. Productivity went up!
They figured out that the productivity gains were not related to the brightness of the lights, but to the act of measuring. They were paying a lot of attention to the effectiveness of their workers. And guess what? The workers responded by working more effectively.
What do you pay a lot of attention to? What are you constantly measuring, asking your employees about, talking about and looking at?
When your team knows what's truly important to you, they'll likely pay more attention to those things, too."
The Reticular Activating System and Hawthorne Effect.
"...In the late 1950s, the GE plant in Hawthorne, California brought in some consultants to measure the effect of brighter lighting on the productivity of their factory workers. The consultants first took productivity measurements to establish a baseline. Then they intensified the brightness of the lighting and measured again.
Productivity increased.
They increased the brightness even more and productivity went up again. After raising the brightness two more times, they saw two more increases in productivity. On a hunch, they lowered the lighting and measured one more time. Productivity went up!
They figured out that the productivity gains were not related to the brightness of the lights, but to the act of measuring. They were paying a lot of attention to the effectiveness of their workers. And guess what? The workers responded by working more effectively.
What do you pay a lot of attention to? What are you constantly measuring, asking your employees about, talking about and looking at?
When your team knows what's truly important to you, they'll likely pay more attention to those things, too."
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