Add an egg…
In the 1950s General Mills launched a line of cake mixes under the name/brand “Betty Crocker”. The cake mixes included everything in a powered form milk/eggs etc… All you needed to do was just add water, mix and then pop in the oven. It saved everyone time and effort and was error free.
The product did not fly off the shelves. General Mills decided to bring in some psychologists. They needed to work out why consumers were not purchasing the product and the short answer was “guilt”. People felt bad using the product despite its convenience.
General Mills could have spent more money on advertising promoting the benefits of the time saved instead they made it less convenient. The product was revised with the addition of a “real”egg as well as the water. They relaunched the product with the slogan “Add an egg”. Sales of Betty Crocker soared.
By adding the egg, it took away some of the guilt, still saved time and most importantly the egg symbolised ownership and effort so the cake maker was invested.
The significance of the egg is relevant in so many ways at work:-
- When delegating allow for team members to add their egg (their ideas and input)
- Leading a team invite “eggs”
- Motivating yourself, add an egg, make a task slightly harder
- Measure yourself against the egg metaphor – how invested are you in the project
- Team meetings ask for eggs don’t tell
The egg is such a powerful story and shows how we can motivate and empower our team members by asking for their input. Never present or delegate a project step by step, you will have presented a complete powder mix. The enlightenment and the novelty comes from the “real egg” which means team members connect as they can see their input.
Please do reach out and share your stories about adding an egg – bev@nuggetsoflearning.co.uk
