Employees are NOT created equal

I've managed hundreds of people during my career and I can tell you one thing for sure, people are definitely different! An organization may have one person who is hard working and highly productive but has terrible interpersonal skills. On the other hand there may also be an employee who is great at communicating but has marginal technical ability. Their personal goals and motivations may be all over the place also. I found that the best business leaders are those who understand these differences and have the ability to lead, motivate and coach all types of employees who may have many different personalities. I believe there are three employee types; Minders, Finders and Grinders. The "Minders" are the folks who have organizational and process skills. These people are highly skilled at motivating coaching and getting projects completed. "Finders" are sales-driven and in many cases become CEO's or presidents of businesses. Most of their energy is focused on producing for the future. The "Grinders" live for today. Key attributes of a Grinder are they like to work only in the present, often dismiss the past, fear the insecurity of the future, do not like to delegate, like doing one thing at a time, and will do as instructed, are very skilled at their jobs but rarely generate new ideas. Most of us have a few attributes of each in us, but those who are exceptionally strong in one area are usually very weak in the other two. The key to success when managing people who have strong specific talents is accepting the fact that they are strong at one skill and properly adjusting their tasks and responsibilities so that their great talents can be used for the most benefit of the business and their own personal job satisfaction. I wouldn't put a strong grinder who may have great technical skills and limited interpersonal skills into a job that requires a lot of customer contact. Then again, I may have someone who is a strong finder that is great at sales yet limited technical skills. This person may not be considered highly productive technically, but they can really do a great job selling. The variety of personalities and skills in any employee team may be quite diverse. Understanding these differences, adjusting for the needs of the business and matching them to the types of employees will not only gain great results for the business, but also create a more motivated and satisfied team members.