
A page from the journal of William Bradford, Governor of Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts. It is from this journal that we know about the first Thanksgiving. Photo courtesy Massachusetts State House.
The Hawthorne Effect, the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, and the Pygmalion Effect are three examples of observer effects — phenomena that describe how observers interact with the systems or people they observe. We usually think of these effects as bad news, because they create outcomes different from what we were intending.
For instance, the Hawthorne Effect causes the system we're measuring to change its behavior, which can create paradoxical measurement results. See "Getting Around Hawthorne," Point Lookout for October 2, 2002, for more.
But observer effects can work to our advantage, too. In some ways, having a coach is like having an observer who watches your inner process. When you know you'll be talking to your coach next week, you just might be a little more careful about some of the choices you make this week.
Observing yourself is another way to exploit the observer effect. There's no easier way to do it than keeping a workplace journal, where you record anything you want about your experience of work. Here are some tips for successful workplace journaling.
- Choose your medium
- Some like to journal in a word processor; some prefer a blank book and a favorite pen or pencil. Choose deliberately. Do you like the feel of paper and ink? Or do you want to be able to search using the Find command?
- Let the writing slow you down
- If you're typing your journal, try typing slowly. If you're writing on paper, write carefully. Let the act of writing slow your thinking, to help you see things differently. Thinking slowly about the events of the day is like visiting a familiar place on foot, instead of by car — you see more.
- Write as if to your future self
- Thinking slowly about
the events of the day
is like visiting a familiar place
on foot, instead of by car - Like all good writing, both the writer and the reader benefit from a journal, but only if the writer keeps the reader in mind. For your journal, your reader is yourself, some months from now. Write to that person.
- Record why and why not
- Record why you made the choices you did, and why you didn't make the choices you didn't. This kind of information makes interesting reading six months from now.
- Read the old entries
- To get the full value of the observer effects, from time to time you have to read what you've written. Notice patterns. Think about (and write about) what you might change about yourself to displace patterns you don't like, or what to keep to re-enforce the patterns you do like.
If you don't already journal regularly, here's an idea for an entry: write about the thoughts that came to you as you were reading this little essay. What did you like about the idea of a working journal? If you were to start one, what would you like to have happen? Top
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One caution: If you decide to keep your journal at work, be certain that you comply with your employer's document retention and destruction policies. You might want to keep your journal at home.
For an example of something you might want to put in your working journal, suppose you were trying acquire skill in using indirectness. You might record in your journal any incidents you observed where someone used indirectness deftly and to good effect. Or you might record your own attempts or missed opportunities, along with short discussions of how you could improve.
Working journals are also useful if you're aiming for a promotion. See "How to Get Promoted in Place," Point Lookout for August 23, 2006, and "How to Get a Promotion in Line," Point Lookout for September 13, 2006, for more.
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Related articles
More articles on Personal, Team, and Organizational Effectiveness:
When You Think They've Made Up Their Minds
- In tough negotiations, when attempts to resolve differences have failed, we sometimes conclude that
"they've made up their minds," but other explanations abound. Keeping an open mind about why
other people seem to have closed theirs can help us find a resolution.
Why Do Business Fads Form?
- The rise of a business fad is due to the actions of both its advocates and adopters. Understanding the
interplay between them is essential for successful resistance.
Creating Toxic Conflict: I
- Many managers seem to operate as if their primary goal is to create toxic conflict among their subordinates.
Here's a collection of methods for sowing toxic conflict that can help bad managers become worse managers.
The Artful Shirker
- Most people who shirk work are fairly obvious about it, but some are so artful that the people around
them don't realize what's happening. Here are a few of the more sophisticated shirking techniques.
Paradoxical Policies: II
- Because projects are inherently unique, constructing general organizational policies affecting projects
is difficult. The urge to treat projects as if they were operations compounds the difficulty. Here's
a collection of policies for projects that would be funny if they weren't real.
See also Personal, Team, and Organizational Effectiveness and Critical Thinking at Work for more related articles.
Forthcoming issues of Point Lookout
Coming February 1: The Big Power of Little Words
- Big, fancy words, like commensurate or obfuscation, tend to be more noticed than the little everyday words, like yet or best. That might be why the little words can be so much more powerful, steering conversations where their users want them to go. Available here and by RSS on February 1.
And on February 8: Kerfuffles That Seem Like Something More
- Much of what we regard as political conflict is a series of squabbles commonly called kerfuffles. They captivate us while they're underway, but after a month or two they're forgotten. Why do they happen? Why do they persist? Available here and by RSS on February 8.
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