Many of us are competitive. People that know me well have always said that if you want me to do something, tell me that I can’t do it.
“You’ll never be able to get that tennis ball out of the gutter hole on the 2nd story of the house…”
Oh yeah, I can do that no problem, I say to myself and then almost kill myself doing it.
If you are an Omar blog follower, you’ve read some of my thoughts around speculation. People speculate all the time why we can or cannot do something. So I’ve been kicking around strategies to deal with speculative people’s ideas and have resorted to a tried and true method of speculation standoff.
I’ve started making bets with people. Betting lunches.
You’d be surprised at how much interest you get when a burrito is on the line.
Recently, one of our team members was speculating about a new process that was going to deliver this and that to us. So I said, “great, the first time what you’re telling me will happen actually happens, I’ll buy you lunch.” Sure enough, he later came back with a big smile and said, “where are you taking me to lunch?” He was proud that he did it and made it happen.
I think this gave him some focus to “put his money where his mouth is” and try even harder at executing what he was saying because this gave him some motivation, as something tangible—even if it were just a burrito—was on the line. He had to walk the walk, and it gave us a fun forum to do good work, which in the end is the most important point. I, like someone did with me and the clogged gutter, used his competitiveness to drive execution. And, it was fun!
Honestly I hope most of the time that I lose the bets like this.
Try it sometime–I bet you a burrito it will work! Really.
(This blog, and the content within, is not endorsed by any Burrito company who may or may not have a long line at lunch time
omarreece 