Yesterday, I went out and purchased each of the folks who regularly work with Senior Housing Forum a Mega Millions Lotto Ticket.
By Steve Moran
Some of you will hate this and the Comments section below is the place to let me have it. But yesterday I went out and purchased each of the folks who regularly work with Senior Housing Forum a Mega Millions Lotto Ticket.
Yes I know, the chances of winning the big one are lower than the chances of being hit by lightning.
I also know, that for good reason, some experts describe all forms of government-sponsored lotteries as a special tax on poor people.
Yes, I also know that some people spend so much money on the lottery that it hurts their families.
5 Reasons Why It Is A Great Idea
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It is cost effective — There are not many things you can do that give your team members a big uplift for $2 per person. It is a trivial expense . . . a petty-cash level expense with a huge payoff (even before the numbers are drawn).
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It is aspirational — We all know the chance of winning a meaningful amount is hardly more than if you didn’t purchase a ticket at all. And yet it creates this powerful opportunity for each team member to dream “What if I won?” My guess is that most dream about paying off debt, sending their kids to college, going on a vacation and, yes, even helping out their coworkers.
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Everyone is in it together — I offered my team the option to go it alone or put their tickets in a pool. Either is fine, because it gets people thinking about being in something together. Every one of them, either in the pool or separately, is rooting that one of the group will have the winning combination.
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It is just plain fun — In my little team, there have been all kinds of conversations about winning and what would happen with the money. Most have said they would want to pool and I am sure everyone will be watching to see if anyone wins.
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It is a simple way to say, “I am thinking about you.” — This from a leadership perspective is perhaps the very best reason of all. I took all of the hassles out of it for my team. I bought the tickets, put their name on one each and sent them a photo with all the tickets and all the names. They know I didn’t have to do this. They know I will expect nothing out of it or get nothing out of it. They also even know that if by some random chance one of them (or the pool) won . . . it might actually do damage to the organization when they quit.
They also know I could have spent that same money on those tickets and kept them all for myself and that if I won I would be the only one to get the benefit
Mostly though, it was a reminder that I care like crazy about them.
A couple of final thoughts . . . if you do this and offer a pool make sure you have some rules spelled out. In my case, I suggested that if someone wins $1,000 or less, that the person whose name is on the ticket gets it all. I also took a picture of all the tickets with names on those tickets so there are no secrets.
You still have time to go buy tickets for your team. But maybe you shouldn’t bother because the big win is coming to Team Senior Housing Forum.
