4 Minion-Inspired Lessons for Successful Business Teams

This Minion video on YouTube has at least four takeaways for successful business teams that are too good not to share.

Four Pieces of Advice Minions Have for Building Successful Business Teams

Google the phrase successful business teams and you will find links to serious stories and checklists business leaders can use to build and manage teams and departments within their organizations. Even though it’s a serious and important topic, that doesn’t mean that a light-hearted 48-second illustration starring none other than the breakout stars of Universal’s “Despicable Me” can’t offer up advice that is equally valid.

For one thing, the Minions are the epitome of successful business teams and the kind of team players every business leader dreams of: tireless, relentlessly optimistic, diligent, innovative, humble, and willing to pitch in wherever its needed.

Can Minions truly be considered successful? Successful is defined as (a) accomplishing an aim or purpose; or (b) having achieved popularity, profit, or distinction. Once again, Minions fit the bill on both counts. They get the job done and do so in their own unique style, reminding us that there is often more than one way to accomplish the goal and encouraging us to keep an open mind when the creatives in our midst suggest that the road to success lies in a path the rest of us would never otherwise imagine traveling.

4 Things Successful Business Teams Can Learn from a Minion YouTube Video

1. Nothing is ever out of reach.

Individuals, departments and teams that are working on a problem may feel stymied when they believe that they don’t have what it takes to accomplish the goal. Sometimes they work for countless hours and expend serious resources trying to figure out how to get the job done on their own when the real answer is that they need to ask for outside help or imagine a different way of achieving the end result they are looking for.

2. Bring enough resources to get the job done.

Successful business teams with a vision have no problem adding the right people to the team – and enough of them – to accomplish their goal. They make it easy for others to see what role they can play within the team to get the win.

Once they have a plan of action, obtaining the corporate resources needed to pursue it is critical to success. Behind successful teams you will find corporate leaders willing to empower and enrich them adequately to see the project through to the finish line.

3. It’s ok to have fun.

Even when Minions are working hard, you feel like they’re hardly working. They understand that “work” isn’t a four letter word, no matter how physically, mentally or emotionally demanding. In fact, creating an environment that is fun can even help team members to bond with and trust one another more quickly, enable creativity, and ensure a free flow of ideas.

Humor itself is linked to creativity and problem solving. University studies have even shown that “Humor stimulates the brain, inspires novel linkages, and improves problem solving.” (ChiefHumorOfficer.com)

Incentives, contests, celebrations, social events – all of these tactics can help teams (and individuals) to get more “fun” out of the job. These types of payoffs aren’t what most people think of when they think of an organizational culture and aren’t likely to exist without purposeful planning on the part of leadership (and empowerment from the top).

4. When things change, improvise.

Even the best laid plans of mice, men and Minions can go awry. In the video, nearing the finish line, an important resource is lost. Do the Minions give up and start all over? No! They improvise and imagine an alternative solution.

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