The 3 types of Worker

[superatticman]

Just a bit of fun to carry on from my "Types of IT Support Worker" thread a couple of years ago. Have been having a good think about it recently and I'd say you could pigeon hole people into 3 key personality and capability traits. These don't just refer to IT support but anything. These are:

 

Workers

Boffins

Leaders

 

Of course some, in fact most people will have a certain percentage of each in their capabilities. Some though will have an extremely dominant one of those three qualities in their make up.

 

So lets begin:

 

 

Workers

 

These are the guys/gals who are happily pulling up trees whilst others are talking about it. They will happily take instructions from Leaders and will rarely question what is expected of them. They will simply get on with things. They do not like red tape and equally do no like the boardroom environment. Quite often they refuse career advancement because it means having to get involved in the boardroom, or heaven forbid, the boardroom politics. They tend to stick to what they are good at and earn respect for their hands on attitude and outputs. Workers tend to be more conscious of their non work time and are usually glancing up at the clock more often than the other two. They generally get on okay with Boffins and Leaders because there is rarely a conflict of interests. A handful of workers could have easily fallen into the boffin category, but despite having strong intellect, they prefer to do than think.

 

 

Boffins

 

These are deep thinking, naturally gifted brainboxes. Give them a puzzle to solve and they will quietly finish it whilst others are still trying to understand what they are trying to achieve. They respond to scrutiny with logical answers and can usually turn a debate around in a matter of seconds. Despite this natural gift though, they often shun the boardroom and take a back seat when politics are involved. Boffins can usually be spotted because their desk is a real mess. They don't like order because they don't have to be particularly organised to perform their role. They will always be able to think their way out of a situation. They often try hard to bond with workers because they know they need to the workers to perform the roles that need less intellect, but need a more hands on approach of which doesn't come naturally to the boffin. The boffin will often clash with the leader. Boffins are usually over confident and do not like to plan, organise or take a third party view. They feel leaders are treading on their toes when they try to arrange them into an organisation structure or project plan. Boffins can lack interpersonal skills of which puts them at odds with workers. However, when there is a problem of which is looking hard to solve, its usually the boffin of which comes up with a solution.

 

 

Leaders

 

Usually derived from workers who want to better themselves but maybe lack the intellectual prowess of the boffin. Leaders are those which thrive in the boardroom environment and take any chance they can to get involved in an activity that may further their development. They are usually the hardest workers and know to be able achieve results they need to push themselves to areas they may be unfamiliar with. Leaders often have excellent interpersonal skills and are as comfortable talking to cleaners as they are executives. Most workers admire leaders because they know they have earned their position and were probably once in their shoes. However, leaders will soon find themselves under fire if they lose the respect of the workers. Leaders usually know how to handle boffins, because they know they need the boffins sharp mind and problem solving ability for their plans to succeed. Leaders are usually the most vulnerable in any organisation.

 

 

I'd say IT Support workers in general tend to fall into the boffin/worker category. Those who are leaders or become leaders tend to move into IT project management or similar.

 

I'm sure you can pick holes in all the above but then again I'm not a boffin.

Edited July 5, 2015 by superatticman

[Andrew_C]

You missed out SMT - Promoted to their level of incompetence.

[Ephelyon]

What is "the boardroom environment"?

[Dos_Box]

What is "the boardroom environment"?

 

It's where two different kinds of reality meet head-on.

[GrumbleDook]

You missed out Manglement

 

We cannot give you the details of this category as we have yet to receive authorisation from manglement about their present status. They are putting together a working group on this. No work will be done but there is the hope that it will result in a significant serious of questions that can then be raised to a committee. Another working group will have to establish whether that the committee is needed and should they decide it (the committee) is not then a committee will be raised to look at why the original working group had raised questions that did not need a committee to answer them. Should the originally proposed committee be established it may or may not contain people who would be in the second committee, which would have looked at why the original committee was not formed. At no point should anyone presume that just because the members of the proposed committee and the members of the committee looking into the failed proposal to raise the original committee are the same people, that they would presume that they are the same committees. They are not ... and if people are still confused we will need to raise a working group to look for the correct questions to raise to a committee to see why people fail to understand this simple exercise in Manglement.

Edited July 6, 2015 by GrumbleDook

[Wubbalubbadub]

 

My favourite picture.

[Ephelyon]

I agree overall, though there's also something to be said for the concept of "leading from behind"...