We’ve been struggling with afternoon clean-ups.  The Tragedy of the Commons.  Our promises as Guides means we don’t want to intervene from above.

All of this raises an interesting question. What works best for motivating a team – the carrot or the stick?  Or something else?

Yesterday, we opened class with the “something else:” Showing a series of the “Don’t Mess with Texas” commercials.

In the 1980’s, Texas faced a crisis: its roads and beaches were littered with garbage.  Large fines hadn’t helped. Neither had encouraging better behavior.  But as our Eagles quickly realized, the “Don’t Mess With Texas” commercials appealed to Texas pride; Texans are different; we love Texas; therefore, we have too much pride to litter.

Our Eagles decided to appoint a committee to draft their own series of commercials to encourage Eagles to do a better job of cleaning up.  Here are their first drafts:

Learning math; writing; science and other subjects is relatively easy.  Properly motivated, Eagles love to learn.  Learning how to motivate yourself and others?  That’s a subject that takes a lifetime to master.

But our Eagles are off to a good start.