When building a team, you need to find the right balance.
What role do you play in your organisation? Is it the right one for the business now? Does your business have the right balance between agility and order; between creativity and inertia?
A good friend who is a serial entrepreneur told me a few years ago that his team was complete now that he’d hired his Minder.
I was fairly certain he wasn’t talking about a bodyguard because, not only did I know the person he’d hired (a most unlikely bodyguard), but there was also no noticeable presence of personal security whispering into their sleeves in the coffee shop where we were chatting.
He went on to explain that every business needs a Finder – someone to identify new business opportunities; a Grinder – the execution person who’ll make things happen; and the Minder – who keeps everything in order and looks after the money.
In fact, his latest, multi-million Euro operation would have no more than those three roles.
And there we left it and looked out at the crowds in Eyre Square and finished our coffees.
FMG Pyramid
Over the following months I worked with mature businesses and start-ups and the Finder-Minder-Grinder (FMG) concept seemed to fit well, so I decided to look into it further.
In professional services FMG is widely used with the Finders (e.g. partners) at the top of the pyramid, management being the Minders and those at the bottom being the workhorses, or Grinders, who do the work and generate the billable hours.
GROWING BUSINESSES
FMG has also gained traction in other sectors, particularly start-ups and growing businesses, although it’s interpreted more broadly – more collaborative than hierarchical – i.e. not a pyramid!
Finders identify new business opportunities whether they’re investments or sales. A finder is motivated by the chase and has a knack for turning relationships into opportunities.
Minders are operators and organisers. They look after the process, the people and the cash; and focus their energy on nurturing the organisation internally. A minder constantly keeps an eye on process and harmony—and cares that the ship is steered in the right direction and moving at the right speed.
Grinders are the executional arm of the organisation. They work like crazy to turn the opportunities into scalable products or services. They make the vision happen.
In my experience, business founders tend to be either Finders or Grinders.
In start-ups, the founder often pays all these roles or they overlap where there is more than one initiator.
As a business grows, in order for it to be sustainable, you must delegate roles to the right people, striking the right balance among the team. There is no perfect formula for how many of each type a team needs.
In addition, a growing business needs a Binder – someone (or more) who develops or enhances the organisation’s culture and values, unifying finders, minder and grinders around a core mission.
GETTING THE BALANCE RIGHT
Getting the balance right can be tricky. Too many minders when you’re trying to scale a business can slow it down as they can get bogged down in the detail.
Smart recruitment is key to making sure the balance works best for the development stage of the business. It’s not necessarily about qualifications and experience but about capabilities and aptitude.
For example, an experienced Sales Manager may appear to be a good fit as a Finder for your growing business but if her skills are mainly for account management rather than new business generation then there could be a longer learning curve than anticipated.
On the other hand, if there are too many Finders a lot of business will be won but retention of customers and over-worked staff will be an issue.
Understanding the need for these roles and the balance between them in business is important. Outside the very early stage of a business, few of us have the ability to be all three.
Being able to identify what role you, as founder, will take on as the business grows and recruiting smartly to fill the others when the time is right is key to the success of any organisation.
DHKN’s professional advisory team has helped many businesses grow from one-person operations to multi-million Euro enterprises. Contact Dave Hickey at dhickey@dhkn.ie to see how we can help you and your business.
