Persistence of vision is the illusion that shapes reality. As per Collins dictionary, the phenomenon is defined as:

the retention of a visual image for a short period of time after the removal of the stimulus that produced it: the phenomenon that produces the illusion of movement when viewing motion pictures

In effect, it means that our vision is nothing more than a succession of still images. These disconnected stills are retained for a very short period of time. This allows our brain to transform them into a logical stream of continuous movement, that our consciousness can comprehend.

Efficient advertisement uses the same mechanism. As discussed before in ‘Advertising Reasonance‘, advertisement uses figments of information that our brain will retain, in order to create a logical stream that will influence our consciousness.

Management needs traction. Objectives. Purposes. Targets. Or any reasons ranging from deeply vital to shamefully shallow. A dream you point at to gather ambitions around.

Efficiency is one of these… a shiny scintillating dream shaped to feed on human potential. Faceless. Flexible. Relatable. An immaterial perfection…

It builds up, slipping in to fill organization’s cracks, up to the point of becoming utterly irrelevant. Without tangible end, efficiency is but a motivation tool, and despite Effy sometimes fighting back, she just is bond to remain a mature fantasy…

As managers, idleness is viewed as an evil to fight. Much like a disease, if we detect symptoms on one staff, we must ensure that it is treated in a timely manner. Partly because it will make us look bad as managers; and partly to prevent the disease to spread to other workers… because, you know, this might impact the sacrosanct team’s efficiency!

As a result, any sign of idleness is spied, and anything that could create idleness is eradicated. So behold: real time production lines (you sneeze, you fail!), glass walls (inspired from jail’s panopticon layout, so real that you better laugh at it), open space office (I can hear you, see you, smell you…), rotating functions and desks (so that you can’t befriend your colleague for too long), time-card segmentation (some companies even ask employees to record toilet time!), and so it goes into the great improvement of our work environment… (note 1)

Idleness boosts imagination and creativity

Idleness however is very important for human brain’s development. It is recommended for children to remain idle and ‘bored’ (Parent Co article, or Psychology Today article for example). Idleness boosts imagination and creativity. From personal experience again, for the past two decades as controllers, cigarette or coffee breaks with front line workers generated more ideas to effectively improve efficiency, than any well crafted .ppt presentation from pricey external consultants. So economically speaking, considering the added value from the new process implementations vs. idle time on production, these breaks created value! I repeat, these breaks created economic value!… but they look bad. They give a poor opinion of the company and its workers, and oh horror, of its management. (note 2).

So idleness can be source of efficiency. It is so obvious that management consultants, never shy to repackage and sell old time common sense they help to destroy, are now promoting new ‘stress free’ processes to ‘ignite’ creativity… so yeah, to basically recreate idleness, but in a hype way you can sell…

As for Effy you ask?

Well, sometimes the morning libertine likes to down on people, in their idle time…

G.M.

Note 1: from personal experience these generally does not increase employee satisfaction, and apart from very selected industries, these do not increase efficiency in the long run; but who cares… it’s trendy and makes the manager look good.
Note 2: managers’ coffee breaks look normal, workers’ coffee breaks look bad… double standard I know.

More insights:
– The Paradoxical power of idleness – The Simple Dollar
– Rethinking Idleness productivity and time management: A call to do nothing more – Through Research Gate
– Time management can ruin your productivity – Fast Company

Brain is like a field. A large patch of neuronal soil with a complex ecosystem. And, much like a field, brain needs some caring to give its best. With time, neurons gets washed away (decreasing and with lower performance). Some use chemicals to boost their neural activity, from prescribed drugs to forbidden ones, but this tends to damage the soil. Others keeps a very active life, learning new skills and trying on new environments to create and strengthen new neuronal connections.

Efficiency derives from this activity, and so Effy is using literature to keep weeds out of her neuronal pathways!

For more:

• Adobe E-Learning: How does the brain learn
• BeYou: Brain development
• Dana: How does the brain develop
• Training Industry: How does the brain learns