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Watching Derren Brown the other day, you can't help but wonder what it is that makes his techniques work so well. The 'sticking to a seat' thing is a parlour trick that has been done many times and it's therefore no surprise that some people were affected, but being able to choose a toy out of Hamley's? How'd he do that?

 

His explanation was that he'd set up the environment to 'push' the woman into choosing the giraffe. By placing items around the shop that related to that toy, she was 'compelled' to choose it when asked.

 

Now, I'm not a magician and I'm not a psychologist but this brings something to mind I read years ago and it's the fact that an environment can sway a person's mood. It seems obvious really, if you have an office that is uncomfortable, noisy and untidy, people don't work at their most efficient.

 

Conversely, give people a great environment to work in and they will produce better products. Makes sense.

 

Derren apparently 'proved' that an environment can not only help, but it directly 'influences' the actions of a person. Is this possible?

 

This is where I bring in my tenuous link. Let's face it, this is an office seating website so I'm going to use this blog for my agenda!!!

 

Seating is extremely important. Good seating can make the difference between a happy workforce and a miserable one and investment in good support and ergonomic design can actually give percentage increases in your bottom line.

 

Simple things like making sure a seat is adjustable can mean the operator can move the seat when mood or time of the day dictates. I'm sure we don't all want to sit in the same position all day - movement is key.

 

So, if you want staff to stick to their seats every day, consider investing a little bit more in good seating - it'll pay for itself easily.