Scooby Snacks

by Don Harkey

Its 3:20PM and I am running home. I want to get home in time to grab a cupcake for a snack and catch Scooby Doo at 3:30PM. By the way, I'm in the 3rd Grade... or at least I was.

I used to really love Scooby Doo. I would try to guess who the villain was before he or she was unmasked at the end by those "meddling kids". Hanna-Barbera certainly had a formula and within that formula was always a scene where "the gang" needed Scooby to do something dangerous or scary. Scooby would always refuse until someone whipped out the conveniently branded "Scooby Snacks". "Would you do it for a Scooby Snack?" "Would you do it for two Scooby Snacks?" Eventually, Scooby (and sometime Shaggy) would find their price point and decide to take on the task in exchange for the Scooby Snacks.

Many people believe that in business, the "worker" works for their own form of Scooby Snacks. A management professor told me once that his students thought that the only two ways of getting a worker to do something was to "reward them or punish them". No one wants to be the bad guy, so management prefers the reward. If you can hit your targets, I'll give you a bonus.

Many people also believe that profit is what drives a company. It's time to launch that new product line. Would you do it for a Scooby Snack? Would you do it for $140,000 in revenue? So companies and people have a lot in common with Scooby Doo. They trip through life looking just looking for a snack. (Hint: I am being sarcastic here!)

What about non-profits?

The very existence of non-profit organizations challenges our "Scooby Doo View" of people and organizations. Yes, some people get paid to work for a non-profit, but often times the pay is significantly less than they could get doing similar work for a "for profit" company. Churches do most of their work using volunteer labor working for nothing more than a cup of coffee on Sunday morning. What's going on here?

The fact is that while people can be motivated by money, money is a poor motivator. While this may seem counterintuitive within our TV society, it is actually very intuitive if you apply it to your life. What is truly most important to you? If you could do anything right now, what would it be? Are you saying this because of the money you would make?

Consider a person who is paid $50,000 to change diapers, clean up puke, and wait hand and foot on another human being who cannot take care of themselves. Now consider a parent who does the job for nothing (actually at a significant financial cost). What is the difference?

The difference is that people want to have a purpose. The 3 needs that drive motivation are competence, autonomy, and relatedness. The first two are common for people in their jobs. You were probably hired because somebody thought you were capable. Hopefully, you know that you have a choice to go to work or not. However, how do you relate what you do with the others around you and with your core purpose?

"For-Profit" business can learn a lot by looking at Non-Profits. Many of these organizations have low budgets and struggle continuously for resources. However, these same organizations have a clear vision (like Erica at Lighthouse or the great folks at Messiah Lutheran Church) and do amazing things. People are willing to bend over backward when they feel "called" to do so.

The challenge for businesses is to find this purpose. What is higher mission (higher than profits) that makes them special. The story of Pixar is a great example. The people at Pixar have a great passion for making great movies out of great stories. They have a remarkable track record of success. The reason is that they are focused on great stories rather than target markets and projected profits.

Find your purpose and your profits will come!