How many times have we talked about what motivates people? Is it money? Is it prizes? Is it a trip? Is it recognition?
Throughout my career, I have won so many contests and I was the proud recipient of fishing poles, tackle boxes, golf clubs, tickets to The Masters, tickets to Nascar and the list goes on.
Think about it, as a woman, would those “prizes” motivate you to work harder? Would they have any affect on you at all? In my case, being one of a handful of women in the industry, I was constantly competing against successful men. In most instances, they thought when I won, and they knew I would, I probably wouldn’t take the prize anyway so it would be up for grabs for them. Unfortunately for them, I didn’t work that way. I won fair and square and did what I was supposed to do and I won and kept the prize.
Last month, we had the honor and privilege of having one of the Colonel’s AF friends, also a Colonel, stay at our home with his beautiful daughter.
She was in a major dance competition and this was not just go in dance and be done. No this had all the makings of an entire weekend of bonding, team playing, dancing, nervousness, competition and excitement. Now, there was a trophy to be had by the winning team but, do you know why these young girls and boys wanted to win? You do know you can’t wear a trophy right? And you also know that none of the participants will have the trophy in their homes right? Well, these young adults were competing for, wait for it…
an amazing jacket.
It’s like the letter jackets that HS Athletes wear or better yet, their girlfriends do.
Tensions were high. Could they take the coveted first place? Even though they danced early in the morning, they would need to wait until the afternoon to find out who the winners were and even then, if they didn’t perform up to their fullest potential, the jackets may not be within their reach.
But, they did win, and they did put everything they had into the routine, and they did get the jacket, and it’s pretty special. Check out the picture. Congratulations Victoria Pinard and the entire team for an amazing job and kudos to all the parents for making the commitment to pick up, drive, drop off, travel, hug, cry, laugh and support these young adults on their journey through life.
Here’s a tip for all of you managing a team…if you don’t know what motivates your team, ask them. It truly might be a jacket!