BlogGold Medals and German Shepherds
One Minute Pause No 5
In the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games all eyes were on Carl Lewis. His fourth gold medal awaited him in the long jump - to give him the record for the most medals won in the event (ever).
However, as he was lining up to take his third, and ultimately gold medal winning jump, his thoughts weren’t on why he should win.
Instead, he was thinking about his family in the grandstand and how they would be disappointed in him if he lost.
It seems odd that such a successful athlete was motivated by what would happen if he failed to make the jump, versus the glory of winning.
But the truth is around half of us are motivated by gold medals, and the other half are motivated by the threat of failure (being chased by a German Shepherd).
Sometimes we’re equally motivated by both.
When really pressed on this, most professionals in business would agree. They are equally as motivated by success as they are by the thought of having to face their friends, family and colleagues and tell them that their latest project has failed.
The good news is that as communicators in business, we can use the gold medals and German Shepherds concept to our advantage when we communicate. The trick is to use both success, and the fear of failure, in one idea.
Combining both gives your statements more power to motivate, and stops you from getting blank faces.
Actual example #1:
During a spoken presentation skills workshop for Kraft, I was talking to a production manager who was struggling with articulating the benefits of workplace safety:
“Surely it’s obvious - the team gets a financial bonus for being safe at work”, he said.
I pointed out that the benefits of safety might seem obvious to half of his team because they are motivated by success (gold medals). But the benefits probably wouldn’t strike home as much to the other half who are motivated by fear of failure (German Shepherds).
So, his newly re-worked message to the team spelt out the financial rewards of keeping a safe workplace, while also mentioning the downside of spending time off work in rehab
like Lefty McMullin. It worked.
Real-life example #2:
An advertising account manager we coached had a similar issue. Her publication - a school holiday guide - had a great campaign mocked up for a client who organised horse riding and other experiences for kids during the school holidays.
The campaign was well researched and she argued her case well.
But the client remained unconvinced and didn’t accept the idea.
For the next school holiday campaign, our persistent account manager tried again. After hearing about gold medals and German Shepherds, she ensured that with each gold medal benefit, she incorporated the potential fear of failure - the German Shepherd.
This time her presentation included clear gold medal benefits of advertising, such as increased market share and revenue, combined with a German Shepherd dis-benefit, such
as ensuring the client didn’t lose out because a competitor might advertise there.
Try it for yourself. If you can’t make people see the benefits, try incorporating the dis-benefits if they fail to take action.
It doesn’t mean that you will become a prophet of doom and gloom, but it does mean you can start getting colleagues and customers to act according to what truly motivates them.
