Givers, Takers, and the Impact of Motivation (Bechukotai 5774)

Minneapolis Park Old Fashioned Teeter Totter

In a motivation study of the medical staff at a hospital, Adam Grant put up two versions of a sign to encourage handwashing.  

One sign reminded doctors and nurses that their patients could catch diseases if medical staff was lax about handwashing.  The other sign focused on how doctors or nurses could catch diseases themselves if they were lax about handwashing.  Which sign do you think had the most impact?

I’ll come back to that study soon. First a connection to the Torah portion this week as we wrap-up the book of Leviticus with a parsha that is itself a study in motivation.  The Torah portion, Bechukotai, puts up a similar range of "signs" during the wilderness journey of the ancient Israelites seeking to motivate them.

The Torah describes a general set of blessings that will flow from following the path of goodness and behaving as God encourages us to behave. That’s one sign. Then the Torah describes a set of gruesome, explicit curses that will flow from detouring from that path.

Through these "signs" Torah is trying to draw an image of the future that will motivate our conduct -- blessings in the future for the right conduct; curses for the wrong conduct. It is a study in motivation.  Each of us is inspired to ask: Am I motivated more by the desire to achieve a blessed future or the desire to avoid a cursed one?  

As to the handwashing study, it was conducted by Adam Grant, a Wharton professor who recently published a book called “Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success.” One of his lessons is that the greatest untapped source of success is focusing on how our work contributes to other people rather than the seemingly obvious motivation of self-interest.

Grant believes that success depends on how we interact with and relate to others. He suggests that each of us tend to have one of three styles of interaction: give, match, or take. Takers not only seek to serve themselves, they also see others as doing the same. Matchers seek to get equal benefit for themselves in exchange for serving others. Givers are always trying to help other people.

As we consider the Torah’s attempt to engineer our motivation, consider what motivates you using the Adam Grant framework:

• Self-interest
• Matching self-interest with interests of others
• Interests of others

[spoiler alert] Back to the handwashing study . . . the sign that focused on others -- the risk to patients -- yielded a 45% increase in use of soap compared to the sign that focused on self-interest -- potential impact on the medical staff itself.  (See New York Times Sunday Magazine Story About Grant).  Powerful motivation indeed.   

As we pause this Shabbat to reflect on the week passed and the week ahead, may we consider how to spend more of our effort and energy as givers, putting the the interests of others high on our lists.