Motivation and Third Calling Coach Richard Bergstrom
In a recent Jack in the Box ad, Jack says, “I’m bringing back my spicy chicken strips, and while I’m at it, my most popular former employee, Mark Hamill. To which Mark replies, “Well, what’s my motivation?” Jack responds, “To not get fired again.” “I can work with that,” Mark responds.
The story behind the ad is from a long time ago, in a galaxy not so far away, Mark Hamill was fired from Jack in the Box, as he says, “Yeah, I got fired, for being in character.” He was doing character voices for drive through customers and did a clownish impression that made him think of the restaurant’s mascot, “Jack.” The manager told him to not come back.
Fast forward to today and the current commercial, and I have to ask, “If your motivation is to simply “not get fired again,” is that a sufficient motivator to inspire your performance and loyalty? I think not. The simple truth is that external motivators don’t work, and are not effective in recruiting and retaining staff. In this era of “the great resignation,” employers need to find a better way. And that is by discovering and unlocking what motivates their people.
In Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, Daniel Pink writes “Most of us believe that the best way to motivate ourselves and others is with external rewards like money–the carrot and stick approach. That’s a mistake. The secret to high performance and satisfaction–at work, at school, and at home–is the deeply human need to direct our own lives, to learn and create new things, and to do better by ourselves and the world.”
I’ve become a student of the field of motivation in the last decade, having discovered my core motivations later in life. To that end I became a certified practitioner in the administration and interpretation of the motivation code, an assessment to help individuals “discover the hidden forces that drive their best work” (From The Motivation Code, by TODD HENRY). I would love to help you and your team unlock their core motivations. Contact me for more information on taking the assessment.