Guest post: Motivation for Minions
I have a very special surprise for all you darlings out there! We have a guest here today who will be sharing with us all the wonder and magic of how to motivate the minions of your organization. You know, the ones you always throw between you and the hero so you can get to your cryogenic escape pod/rocket. How else can you guarantee that they will delay the hero long enough if they aren’t properly motivated to sacrifice their life for you? Be sure to pay close attention now, Lance Haun knows a thing or two about world domination.
Throughout my career, I’ve had minions to do my evil HR work and I know how difficult it can be to keep them happy and motivated. I’ve also been a minion and I know how difficult it is to not be cynical and skeptical of any employee recognition program. In those years, I’ve actually learned some pretty great things about how to do motivation the right way:
1.If you are going to care, you can’t pretend – People see through this false sense of care a mile away. Minions in particular are great at sniffing out phonies. If you don’t care and can’t bring yourself to care about your employees, at least don’t try to fake it.
2.If you say something, you better do it – Nothing brings more accountability than having the livelihood of several people on your plate. That means when you say something, doing it is not optional. Follow through is important.
3.Communication? You better work on that – Minions aren’t satisfied with grunts and empty stares (unfortunately, I am good at both). Amazingly simple things like what people are getting paid or what basic expectations are often don’t get communicated in some organizations.
When I was approached by MeritBuilder about doing outreach for them after I lost my job, I was skeptical. Employee recognition and incentives often don’t tackle the true issues behind what is lacking (typically, solid leadership). MeritBuilder is different though. It focuses on building up employees first. And when you build up employees, what happens to the organization? It rises with its people. Sort of like a boat on water. It encourages true organizational leadership, one that recognizes that the best way to achieve your goals is to identify and foster relationships with minions whose goals align well with your own.
It can’t replace a bad leader (perhaps a minion revolt could) but it can help them think about motivating their minions in the right way.
Lance Haun is VP of Outreach for MeritBuilder and full on blogger at YourHRGuy.com. He likes long walks on the beach and… whoops, wrong bio. Feel free to contact him with any questions.
